A Quick Guide to Slicing Your Novel into Delicious Manageable Bits... Mmmm Bits.
A lot of aspiring authors tend to find the idea of chapter creation a daunting one. They have a fledgling story, and are afraid to clip its wings in the wrong spot, so instead of soaring it spirals into a dead free fall. Not to worry! Chapter creation isn't nearly as difficult as people make it out to be.
Length: What Everyone Worries About
Out of all the things to fuss over, length seems to get the most attention. This is probably because chapters can run a wide gamut and determine the always-talked-about overall word count. They can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to 20+ pages, but know that a lot of length determination comes from two things:
I'll get to that first point shortly, but as far as personal preference goes, do what feels best. There's no hard and fast rule about how long (or short) a chapter should be, but know that chapters that are too long may feel like they're dragging while chapters that are too short may feel incomplete. A good compromise is to meet somewhere in the middle with a medium-length chapter, otherwise known as a 'hey, I need to take a break from reading your book, but I don't want to stop in the middle of a chapter' length. There's also nothing wrong with having chapters of varying lengths.
Chapters are normally divided with two factors in mind:
These two factors can, and are often, used together.
Separating by scene is probably the most logical way to handle chapter creation. A scene is an individual plot beat or thread that, when put together with other scenes, will make up your novel. Outlining is an easy way to identify different scenes. Chapters are usually one scene with the last sentence enticing the reader to continue on to the next chapter. However, there can be more than one scene in a chapter, especially if the scenes serve a similar purpose. Inserting a page break is a good away to distinguish different scenes within chapters. These scenes are usually related in some manner.
When you have multiple points of view, separating chapters by different characters is also a logical way to handle chapter creation. The multiple points of view can be completely different scenes or part of the same scene. Keep in mind that the point of view swap (this can also be true for scene changes) should:
Be clear, either with a page break or chapter break. A title with the character's name can be used to show a change. If not, it should be clear the point of view has swapped within the first few sentences (voice, character's name mention, distinguishing physical characteristic, etc).
Add something new to the story.
Chapter Titles: Should I Use Them?
If they work, sure, though there's nothing wrong with just using standard chapter numbers. You often see titled chapters in novels geared more towards children, but they do exist in adult novels as well. If you plan to use them, consider these things:
Chapter titles often introduce something new in the current chapter that either hasn't been mentioned in previous chapters or was mentioned towards the end of the last one.
Chapter titles may summarize a chapter, but because the element hasn't appeared in the story yet, nothing important is really given away. Don't give plot breaking points away in chapter titles. It destroys the mystery.
Updated as of: 12/7/2018
-Ash