It’s possible to spend so much of your time plotting and planning that you never actually end up writing anything. While I’m a big fan of outlines and planning, I’m also a fan of getting it written and out of your head. Your first draft is no place to think about chapter structure. The intentional absence of chapters feeds into the overall bleakness and never-ending grind of the story. An excellent example of this is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. You may find that leaving chapters out of your novel actually adds to the mood. Many readers use chapter breaks as an opportunity to break away and do something else. No matter how spellbinding it is, it’s pretty rare for the average reader to consume it all in one sitting. You’re asking the reader to stay with you through a 200+ page novel. Each milestone means that the reader is one step closer to the story’s conclusion, and that can be both satisfying and motivating.Ĭhapters are also practical. Think of chapters as mini milestones posted throughout your story. Chapter breaks allow the reader to digest everything that’s happened within that section. Chapters give your reader a mental respite. Let’s start with the last question first. Chapters are one of those structural elements that you probably don’t think about much until you’re tasked with dividing your own book into sections.
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