Chapters

[Biffy Pyro]

how do you guys break up into chapters? i've decided on scenes etc. but i'm having trouble deciding where chapters start and end...

[Enjorous]

I always do it where it feels right. Sometimes a character will say or do anything and then it'll naturally come to a close or end up in a natural break.

[Vash the white]

yeah same here, although im not that great at it.

[Biffy Pyro]

you see, i'm just currently doing my scene plans, not started the actual "writing" as such, i just thought it might be helpful to break it into chapters, athough, saying that, one of my favorite authors doesn't use chapters, hmmmm,

the other reason i'm wanting to break into chapters is that i'm using scrivenor on the suggestion of someone on here, and its asking for chapter subdivisions lol

[Enjorous]

Well I wouldn't worry about chapters until you start writing.

[Apocrypha]

I always do it where it feels right. Sometimes a character will say or do anything and then it'll naturally come to a close or end up in a natural break.

I agree with Enjorous on this.  Sometimes it just feels right to end on this spot either due to the completion of a task, or for suspense.  Someone told me once that chapters should be used a bit like commercial breaks.  If you break off at the right point and create the desire to read more than it is most likely that your reader will continue on to keep reading.

I'm not saying that is the best or even only way.  Heck, not even really committing to the idea that it works.  But what I have noticed that in my own reading that a good chapter break can drive me to continue reading to see what happens.

[Starbeam]

you see, i'm just currently doing my scene plans, not started the actual "writing" as such, i just thought it might be helpful to break it into chapters, athough, saying that, one of my favorite authors doesn't use chapters, hmmmm,

the other reason i'm wanting to break into chapters is that i'm using scrivenor on the suggestion of someone on here, and its asking for chapter subdivisions lol

One of the awesome things about Scrivener is that you can work however you want.  My current story doesn't have chapters yet, just scenes, and on the corkboard, those are all individual cards/bits.  Plus it gives you the flexibility of being able to move scenes if they don't quite fit where you originally thought, or to include/exclude from the draft to see if something may or may not be working quite right.  And I still need to watch the tutorial videos for it.

The way I do it is not to worry about anything the first time through, other than just getting the words down.  It's when I go back through that the chapters start dividing themselves up, usually naturally just going by the end of scenes or ending on a line that makes me want to turn the page.  Cause I figure, if I wanna turn the page, then others might, too.

[Biffy Pyro]

cheers for the advice, i haven't looked at any of the tutorials for scrivenor yet i should probably do that 

[LizW65]

I outline each chapter separately and that's how I go about breaking up the text; however, I don't always stick to the outline, so if a cetain place seems right for a chapter break, I'll end it there.

[Biffy Pyro]

I outline each chapter separately and that's how I go about breaking up the text; however, I don't always stick to the outline, so if a cetain place seems right for a chapter break, I'll end it there.

you see i tried this with a previous novel and it really didn't work for me, i really struggled to say what i wanted to say and still maintain readability and i also had problems with continuity, so now i'm using jim's method as outlined on his live journal, which is why i'm not sure about chapter breaks.

cheers
si

[prophet224]

I have to agree that the chapters will end where they end.  There are some books out there about structure, for instance discussing 'scenes' and 'sequels' and the like (scenes are the action, sequels are the scenes of reflection or pauses amidst the action).  Each scene has a certain job to do and when it is done its job, it should go away. Similarly, each chapter will be focused on certain things and where there is a significant break in thought, change the chapter.

I do find, also, that my earlier chapters are shorter and focus more on one character or set of characters at a time, while later chapters start to group more together.