If you’ve ever intended to read “just one last chapter” and found yourself bleary-eyed as the sun peeks out the horizon the next day, you know what it means to have a book that you can’t put down. One reason this happens is because the author strategically planned their chapter breaks!
A well-written novel will take you on a roller coaster of emotions, and often leave you breathless at the end of a chapter, eager for more.
As a writer, knowing how to break up chapters in your story is an important element in getting the pacing just right to keep your readers as engaged as possible until the end of the book.
What Is a Chapter Break?
A chapter break refers to the way you split up chapters in your book. It implicitly tells your reader that you are ending one scene and starting another.
Chapter breaks support switches in point of view (POV) or chronology, such as when you insert a flashback scene. Chapter breaks are also tools that can help you build suspense and excitement.
What to Consider When Placing Chapter Breaks
Here are four things you need to consider when trying to decide on the chapter breaks for your novel:
What genre are you writing in?
Generally, your genre is the first thing to determine how many chapters you will have, or the length that each chapter should be.
Although there’s no hard and fast rule, when you look at other books in your genre, you should have an idea of whether you’re within par, or pushing the limits. After all, the other books already out in your genre, especially the bestsellers, would have a proven track record of meeting the target audience’s preferences!
Are you writing a romance novel or a thriller? A romance novel might have lengthy chapters where the characters are just admiring each other, or contemplating things; it may also have several POVs to give you a look at what each character is thinking. In contrast, a thriller will likely have more short, action-packed chapters!
How long is your book?
This goes without saying, but a short story usually doesn’t have chapter breaks—although some longer pieces do have them, it’s not the general rule.
A novel usually needs chapter breaks, because of the many change in scenes, but to give some breathing space for your readers. Besides, it’s easier to remember where you stop reading when you finish a chapter, isn’t it?
How would you like to pace your story?
Your story and the desired pacing also factor in to your decision on how to designate your chapter breaks.
Some authors intentionally mix up long chapters and short ones, as a way to pace out a story. For example, the World War II series by Bodie and Brock Thoene have short chapters portraying a scene of peace and quietness in the middle of action-packed ones, as a way to give readers a little respite in between all the suspense.
What is your target audience’s attention span?
This is related to genre, but a bit more specific: if you’re writing a children’s book, obviously you will have to take into account how much reading a child can do in one sitting. But for other genres, you will still have to break it down to your target audience’s average attention span.
For example, if you’re writing a YA novel targeted at readers who enjoy a bit of light reading, you will need shorter chapters than if you’re writing a coming-of-age YA novel geared towards more serious readers.
6 Tips for Creating Effective Chapter Breaks
Breaking up a book into chapters isn’t something automatic; after all, you probably have a general storyline in mind but not exactly the specific parts in it. If so, here are some tips to help you:
1. Make an outline.
Some writers prefer to write spontaneously, while others like to make detailed outlines. (In the fiction writing world, we call them pantsers and plotters.) However, unless you’re Stephen King, pantsing your way through a novel will probably mean you won’t get to think much about whether your chapter breaks are working well!
Our suggestion is really to make an outline. It doesn’t have to be as detailed as writers like James Patterson make them, but you have to see where your story is going.
That said, if you’re a panster, you might want to create an outline after you pant your way through your first draft, instead of before. But the outline will help you see a bird’s eye view of your novel and find effective chapter breaks.
With your outline, you can see how each chapter breaks naturally when you change the location or time in your story. However, the next few tips will show you more effective ways of stopping a chapter to keep your reader going.
2. Answer something in each chapter—then ask a new question.
A great way to get your readers turning the pages is to get them to ask questions. And then your job is to answer each question in a chapter! Why is the girl crying? Where did she find that old leather book? What’s in the book? What happens when she opens the pages? When your reader starts asking questions, it gives you a reason to talk about the answer in a chapter.
But remember to end your chapter by stirring up a new question in your reader’s mind, because that’s what will keep them reading to the end!
3. Stop at a cliffhanger.
Sometimes you may be tempted to tie up everything neatly at the end of a chapter. But a more effective way of keeping your readers interested is to leave them hanging—by ending with a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger is essentially that: stopping right in the middle of a climactic event while the action is still happening instead of wrapping it up.
Is your heroine about to open the treasure box? Stop before she manages to see if there really is treasure inside. The suspense will cause your reader to want to keep reading in order to find out what happens.
Another way of dangling your readers to the end of a chapter is to pop in a surprise, or a plot twist. The key is to leave your reader thinking, “Whoa, what happens next? I’ll read just a little bit more to find out…”
A less subtle way of indicating something big about to happen is by using an ominous metaphor. For example, everything is peaceful when suddenly the clouds loom overhead with thick rainclouds. Does this indicate a coming tragedy?
4. Be ruthless at refining how your chapters begin and end.
With the previous suggestion of using cliffhangers, take a look at scenes that you’ve written and wrapped up neatly. Try rewriting it into a scene that stops midway, and move those paragraphs to a new chapter. Don’t be afraid to experiment! That’s the beauty of writing, you get to figure out the best way to tell your story.
You can also practice adding a surprise at the end of your chapters. Do your characters find something new? Or, thwart your readers’ expectations by not delivering what they think the answer should be, and instead trigger more questions.
5. Set goals for each chapter.
Whether you have a written outline or not, make sure you are intentional with what each chapter is there for.
It may be best to have a goal in mind before you start writing. But if you already have a first draft, check each chapter to see what the goal is. If the goal doesn’t seem to add to the story, don’t be afraid to scrap it.
6. Use urgency.
Urgency is a good friend to have when writing your chapters. Make sure you start a chapter in the middle of some serious action, or an important question, or an interesting development.
Then vary the pace a bit, and again end the chapter with something that will propel your reader forward as soon as possible!
Using Chapter Breaks to Your Advantage
Remember, chapter breaks can be powerful tools when you know how to use them well. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. The more you refine and edit your drafts, the bigger the chances that you’ll be able to find a good balance between answering your readers’ questions and causing more curiosity.
Also, continue learning about how to write concise, well-structured chapters, such as by practicing show-don’t-tell writing, learning how to write powerful dialogue, and using strong words in place of weak ones.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- How to Write Fiction from Multiple Viewpoints: Picking the Right Point of View
- How to Write Serialized Fiction (and Why You Should)
- The Best Novel Writing Software: Tools Every Fiction Writer Should Use
- How To Write a Fight Scene: 6 Hard-Hitting Rules for Violence in Fiction
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
