When should a chapter end?
When writing a novel, when should I end a chapter?
Note that I'm not talking about chapter word-count (that topic was discussed here). I'm interested to know when should I end my chapters conceptually.
Is there a rule of thumb? Examples will be appreciated.
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The last line or lines should have some reason for being there. They can:
- be suspenseful ("What are you doing here?")
- be funny ("Tinkerty-tonk," I said, and I meant it to sting.)
- close a scene (She slammed the door behind her, hard enough to make the glass rattle in the windowpanes.)
- bring resolution to an arc of any size (He held John's eyes for a long moment, then leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth.)
but don't end mid-thought or mid-scene arbitrarily.
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Remember the guideline about every "scene" has to contribute to the overall story you're trying to tell. Any chapter that doesn't further the overall story in some way should be cut.
This means that every chapter has a little part of the story to tell. And as soon as the chapter has told its part of the story, it should end.
I disagree about keeping them all a standard length. Just like every scene in a movie can be a different length, every chapter in a book can be a different length. Short chapters can just add a detail or two, but important scenes will have more to say and may take longer to say it.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18267. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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