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So, I’m a little ways into a first draft for a new fantasy novel. The farther I get into it, the more I’m wondering: should I split it up into chapters as I’m writing, or should I wait until a later draft? It’s third person limited with two main POVs, so right now I’m just marking where I’m changing POV. What do you all do as far as chapters go in first drafts?
@dekreel @rochellaine @jenwriter17 @seekjustice @sam-kowal @aislinn-mollisong @anyone and everyone@waterlily I’ve done it both ways. It’s not that important in the first draft, but if in writing it you feel that you really want a chapter break somewhere, you could put it in as a page break and a “CHAPTER” above the text without signifying chapter numbers. Or instead of this you could just put in a line break such as: ~~~. That is what I usually do when I want to skip a period of time in the story, and don’t want to confuse. Then go through and add or discard chapter breaks as you like during the editing period.
It’s hard to put in cut and dried chapter breaks during the first draft because usually you want the chapters to be around the same number of pages long, and it’s hard to check that when you’re writing at first. It’s easier to do it during the editing period.
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@rochellaine I’ve never thought about this before. I’ve always just had the chapter breaks right from the start. I assumed that’s how everyone did it. I suppose it’s not a big deal, but it does work well for me how I do it. It helps me plan chapter breaks well and gives me an added sense of completion when I finish a chapter.
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I didn’t start out using chapter breaks, but as I started working on more complicated plots, using chapter breaks became necessary. When you get into writing, there’s a kind of flow to it, and you get a feel for where to end. Even if you don’t hit a consistent word count, it’s only the first draft, so don’t worry.
I say go for it.
Oh, and another thing–I don’t worry about titling my chapters in the first draft. I just have “chapter one” or whatever number I’m on. In my current WIP, I use “chapter two~ Everett” to mark a POV change, but that’s mostly for my sake, so I can keep track of things.
Hope this helps.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@waterlily I’ve always put in chapter breaks as I write and then rearranged them later as needed. I know some people who do it other ways and it works for them, so I’d say the answer to this is the same as many writing questions – do what feels natural.
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@daeus Haha, okay, I guess people do it in different ways. I rarely plan more than the sparsest of plots, and sometimes even those get changed as I go along. So when I put in chapter breaks, they often get switched back and forth during the editing period. My completion marks are more set where the character decides something or goes somewhere they need to go, rather than for a certain number of words or pages. 🙂
@waterlily So you see, you’ll have to experiment to see what works best for you since there’s a difference of style preferences here. 🙂
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@rochellaine @daeus @that_writer_girl_99 @mnvalentine Thanks everyone for the input! I’m gonna stick with what I’m doing right now (marking POV changes but not chapter breaks) and see how that goes.
@waterlily 🙂 Looks like you already got some great advice, but I’d say, if you actually don’t naturally add them, go ahead and just do what you’re doing.
I actually haven’t even thought of not adding chapter breaks, I usually have it at least roughly planned in my mind where things will be divided up.
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Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.I think everyone’s perspective on this is interesting…I’ve always found adding chapters to be one of my least favorite parts of writing.
I’m currently writing a limited third person with two main characters and I’ve always just switched back and forth between them when it felt natural. Recently I’ve started just writing all of the sections with one character, and then I’ll go back in later and add all of the sections with the other character. This has been working super great for my writing flow, but it’s making chapters even harder to figure out.
Do y’all try to keep them chapters the same word count? Are books supposed to have a certain number of chapters? This is the main thing I’ve always felt totally confused about, lol. I feel like in the books I’ve already edited that I just stuck chapters in wherever there seemed to be a cliffhanger! XD
Any advice @sam-kowai @daeus @that_writer_girl_99
@naomijackson I don’t think it’s best to just insert chapter breaks wherever there is a cliffhanger. You want chapters to be fairly similar in length with just a handfull of short and long ones thrown in there. I believe writing chapter breaks in the first draft helps me craft nice chapter breaks and more cliffhangers because I’m planning for the chapter break.
As for the length of chapters and how many you need, it’s really up to you, though, like I said, you want to keep them similar length. Normally, I’d say a novel would have between fifteen and sixty chapter with chapters ranging between 2-4,000 words.
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Hey @naomijackson,
I’m not really sure what you’re asking here, but I’ll answer two things-
One: I try to give each of my chapters a word count consistent with that of my other chapters, but if a chapter is a few hundred words shorter than the others, I don’t sweat it. Any amount of changes can happen based on how I feel about the chapter by the end of the draft, so it’s no biggie. Also, it comes down to your personal preference, so I’d say don’t worry about it too much.
Two: The amount of chapters a book has is completely up to you. Once you feel like your story has ended, I’d say end it. It doesn’t have to reach a certain number of chapters just to match up to some other book, or what some other author did. It’s your book, after all. You also don’t know how much you’ll need to change when the time to revise/add things in comes, so don’t worry about it too much.
Hope this helps.
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@waterlily
First, I love your profile pic! Are you a horse lover?!
I see you’ve already got some good advice and seem to know what you’re doing, but I thought I’d give some input, if you don’t mind that is😊….When I’m outlining, I usually don’t think about chapters until I have the book mapped out the way I want it. I’ve heard of some experts saying you should write the book, then split into chapters after the first draft, but this never works for me. It helps for me to write down what happens in each chapter so I know what I’m doing.
Hope your WIP goes well and that fiend writer’s block will stay in his black hole where he belongs!
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@jenwriter17 Thanks for the advice! I like getting it as much as I like giving it. Which is a lot.
And yes, I love horses! The one in my profile pic is my horse. I assume you like horses, too, based on your profile pic? Do you ride at all?
@waterlily YOUR HORSE?! That’s so cool! What breed? Name? Yes, I looove horses. I take riding lessons weekly and have been for about 4 1/2 years. I’m guessing by your profile pic you ride western? I ride english and show jump sometimes.
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@jenwriter17 Actually I’m a dressage rider. 😉 But since I’m in 4h, I want to do as many classes as I can, so I’m also training my boy western and some other stuff on the side. His name is Salsa and he’s an Arabian and he’s wonderful. He’s my first horse and I’ve only had him for about 6 months, so I leased a whole bunch before then.
So you showjump? That’s cool. I used to take jumping lessons, but it just wasn’t up my alley. It didn’t help that the snotty little pony I learned on avoided the jumps at all cost. Do you show at all?
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