Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [chapters]

This tag should be used for questions about chapters, a way to divide a book into smaller parts.

This tag should be used for questions about chapters, a way to divide a book into smaller parts. You can ask about typical styles of chapters, such as where to put them, or techniques for building a story arc for individual chapters.

68 questions
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Is it necessary to use chapters for fiction?

Life doesn't happen in chapters — at least, not regular ones. Nor do movies. Homer didn't write in chapters. I can see what their purpose is in children's books ("I'll read to the end of the chapter, and then you must go to sleep") but I'm blessed…
K Johnson
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Writing garbage to see if the characters do something interesting?

I need a change ~ 80% of the way through my story. At the moment, I'm just throwing my characters into different combinations and seeing if they come up with anything interesting. Two of my characters don't want to talk at all. I threw them…
SFWriter
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When we start a book from the climax (from the middle of the chapter), what is it called?

Let's say that we have a plot that goes from A-Z and M is the middle (climax) part of it. There is this style of writing in which we start from M, then again back to A-Z. At the start of a book is the chapter containing that M. What is it called?…
Mugen
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Is It Okay to Write Chapters of a Story Out of Order?

I'm writing the chapters of my story, and I wanted to know if I can skip a chapter that I don’t yet know the details of, and move on to other chapters that are already developed Let’s say I’m on chapter 4, but I haven’t developed chapter 6 yet, so I…
stories of the world
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How do you deal with Chapter 2 when Chapter 1 is a volcano opening?

I know the logic behind volcano openings and why they’re problematic (they set the expectation that that level of action and excitement will continue; they’re a hard act to follow; they make a promise you can’t possibly fulfil; etc.) but it is the…
GGx
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Should important events that happen a long time before the rest of the story be in a prologue or in chapter 1?

Context: I’m currently writing a novel that has a built in prologue. I’m unsure if I should use the prologue as the first chapter. It involves the main character being sent away by his parents for his own protection. The rest of the book doesn’t…
user629
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Reusing story title as chapter title

I've come up with a good title for my story, but it would also work really well as the title for the first chapter. However, I wonder whether it's at all advisable to do that. Do other stories do that? For what it matters, the title has a slightly…
Llewellyn
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Building a scene and readability

When building a scene at the beginning of a chapter for instance, before character interactions take place, what are the important elements to consider, and how long should the description be, before getting on with the narration?
Lanet Rino
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Is it okay for a chapter's POV to shift as it progresses?

I have this duo in my novel, they're always together in chapters. Usually the story alternates between them within their plot, though mostly leaning to one of the characters, as he's one of the MCs and he's pretty significant to the plot and world.…
A. Kvåle
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Are there any established rules for splitting books into parts, chapters, sections etc?

I am working with an author, whose approach is to write her text, approximately divided by indicators where she wants the breaks to be, with the idea that later she and I would improve the breaks and decide, what will the sections become: parts,…
user39231
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Sizing of a chapter and how many should I use?

This is basically a follow-up question I asked here: Scene switching and how to do it? I always considered it normal for a chapter to have between 3000 and 5000 words. And people around here thought so too: What is a normal length for a chapter? But…
Totumus Maximus
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Chapters - Writing Order

I, like most writers, have a number of ideas about my current work in progress. I know how some chapters in the story will play out almost precisely (the ending / final chapter, for example) and how some other key chapters will also play out (in…
M.Y. David
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Is starting each chapter with a diary entry cliche?

In my post-apocalyptic story, my narrator keeps a journal, and each new chapter starts with a journal entry of hers that's relevant to the events of the chapter. How often is this done, and is this a good idea to do? I'm actually overhauling the…
user34214
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Is there a place for an epilogue in a standalone novel?

By definition, an epilogue is an additional chapter after the end of a book. Also, it literally means "additional word". I can imagine a need for an epilogue in a series of novels when there is a need to prepare for a sequel. But are there…
iamtowrite
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Is it okay for the final chapter to be a lot longer than all the other chapters?

In one of my novels (it's a middle grade fantasy novel) the chapters average around 2,000 words. But the final climactic chapter is currently almost 7,000 words. I am considering splitting it into two because it feels unbalanced to have it as it is.…
SnootyShrimp
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