Writing Techniques

Most category chapters average 15-24 pages. I'm a 20 pg--5k words--gal myself, with some give or take.  There's some room to go over, but not a lot. It just moves too fast or slow otherwise, but that might be me.

Dee

I've actually been trying to go for shorter chapters because it seems to force tighter pacing.  But I remember the old days, in historical and contemporary, when pacing allowed for lush language, beautiful scenery, the mulling over of themes. 

Not that romance doesn't still have room for all those things, but we seem to do it with a bit of a journalist's eye these days.  Get in, get it done, get out.  And this wasn't so much about chapter length, was it?

Thank you for the comments.  I know pacing is always an issue, both in how fast the story moves along and how fast it reads for the reader.  I like the idea of a maximum chapter length.

I am trying to end my chapters with the end of a scene or a bombshell being dropped, so folks will want to read on.  It really is tricky.

 Sam,. I am glad the lengths can really vary in the same ms.  I think I will write the next ms using chapters so I don't have to figure this out the hard way.  Before I wrote the scenes and them put them in order and then wrote some links and then tried to figure out the chapter breaks. lol!

Ditto, Tara.

I'm working on that.  Last line edit, I apparently considered a bit of startling dialoge the perfect factor--when it actually became repetitive and annoying. 

Trying to be a little smarter this go-around.

Anna

I like the idea of ending when POV changes.  And I like to end in the middle of the scene.  Once in a rare while, it seems natural.  That's scary.

I don't write in Courier, so I try to keep my chapters around 15-18 pages (because the font is more closely spaced, so more words per page).  I don't obsess about it, but I do try to keep my chapters fairly consistent.  My 60K SSEs average around 13-14 chapters now.

As for ending them, I have to say the one thing that annoys the livin' daylights out of me is fake cliffhangers -- manipulating the chapters (and readers!) with some sort of teaser to get them to keep turning the pages, only to have the "Oh! Now what?" ending be completely resolved within the first para of the next chapter. 

As Dee said, you don't have to end every chap on a cliffhanger, but you should end it in such a way that the stakes are raised/the character is in more danger then he/she was at the beginning of the chapter.  For instance, it can end with the char's declaration of his/her next step -- Plan A bombed, so on to Plan B, that kind of thing.  Whatever you do, though, resist the temptation to end every chapter the same way -- bombshell endings get old by the eighth or twelfth time the reader sees them...even in suspense.

Of course you want to manipulate the reader into turning those pages, but she shouldn't be aware of it.

Hi all.  I finally made to this thread. Again, I don't know if I'll find my way back, but....

 I would like to know how many manuscript pages make a chapter. For example in my current WIP my first two chapter are only about 14 pages each. How many finished book pages would that be? 

Thank you everyone for your posts and input on this topic.  I really appreciate it as I need to get this process right. 

I agree with you Karen and Mel that too much of the same thing gets on my nerves.  I read a book a couple of weeks ago that harped a lot on the secondary characters.  Then the secondary characters have a big blow up that affects the main hero and heroine.  The main characters' story gets resolved, but the secondary is not mentioned or resolved.  First time I got really aggrivated in a long time. I wanted to know what happened to them.

I also get annoyed at books that have a plot that a good conversation would clear it up.  After a while, I want to put the hero and heroine in time out and not let them reappear until they talk it out.

I'd like to hear what some folks think is an acceptable "wow" moment.

Dr Evil??

BettyNW -- all books in any given series are still the same number of pages (give or take a couple), but when they used to use the page count system -- counting each page in Courier 12 as 250 words, even if it only had a few words on it -- the word counts varied hugely.  In SIMs, for instance, some of us wrote right up to the 80K (old) limit, while other authors turned in mss with 60K -- or even fewer -- words.  Which was why the print size varied so much, as well.

Now that we're really, truly supposed to use word count, you won't see some books with primer print, and some with teeny, tiny print -- there should be less variation now.  But the books still all have the same number of pages in any given line.

Thanks Karen for the info.  I always wondered what the specifics were.  I do like computer word count, although I always do the counting before adding headers and page numbers, just in case!

Dee - Would you believe I have not watched any A.P. movies?  I know, I lead a sheltered life.  DD says she will borrow one from a friend.  I agree, there are times when it naturally comes to an end, and I think, man are they in a mess.

Great question, thanks Betty!  Taking notes on all the responses... thanks everyone.

Dee-  my fav qoute from A.P.  "It's Dr. Evil, I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called "mister," thank you very much."   LOL

Melissa 

I agree the AP movies can be a bit much.  I don't mind the first one so much but the next two are kind of hard to take.  However my fave AP moment is when Dr. Evil puts Austin and the girl "in an easily escapable situation, and then leaves assuming everything goes to plan."  Of course his son is like - just let me get my gun.  It'll be fun.   So Batman and Robin (the cheesy kid show not the movies) - it kills me everytime. 

Sandy 

I know what you mean. One or two here and there of those itty bitties breaks it up. Sometimes...a chapter is just over and that's okay. But if it's always...gasp, gasp O-V-E-R!!!! (dun-dun-duuuuuun!)...I don't know something gets lost.

Think maybe there's a finite list of ways to end a chapter? Like there is for dialogue tags? Maybe we can make a list and keep them handy so we know we're breaking stuff up.

Dee

I'm writing mine and to summarize my plot, it's hard to sound interesting. To what extent do I focus on what the scenes are doing for the plot and to what extent on the content of the scenes?

SAO

As a contest reader, I've seen a lot of syns that seem to focus on everything but the romance -- I even had one a while ago that I couldn't tell who the hero was, or whom the heroine ended up with! So, those basics should be clear.

Then, after that, I would say character growth should be evident -- what motivates the characters and how do they go through growth curves that lead them to the end?

After that, any relevant plot details, and this is where it gets more difficult, because you can't and shouldn't include every little thing, but you have to think in terms of "beats" and turning points -- I think usually if you address the first two things, the romance and the character growth, many times the important plot points fall into place.

Also, a synopsis can be chronological, but it doesn't have to be -- sometimes to summarize, you may tell things in a different order in your book, and there should be no cliffhangers or surprises -- you want all the information there. It's never a good idea to leave an editor hanging.

Hope that helps! Synopses are hard, and they're all different, I find, for different books.

Sam