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:
The scene in question.
Personal preference.
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.
What Shapes Chapters?
Chapters are normally divided with two factors in mind:
The scene.
The point of view.
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).
Not repeat information.
Add something new to the story.
Example: Game of Thrones
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.
Comma splices are horrible things that make editors cry into their pillows. Splices make us cringe when we come across them because they’re both unprofessional and easy to avoid. So, save our sanity! Read this guide to learn not to splice!
What is a Comma Splice?
A comma splice is when you use a comma to join two mainclauses(also called independent clauses) instead of separating them with a period.
Example: I just want to sleep, the comma splices haunt my dreams.
Fixing the Splice
There are a few ways to do that.
The first is to make them separate clauses.
Result: I just want to sleep. The comma splices haunt my dreams.
The second is to use a semicolon (which connects two related sentences).
Result: I just want to sleep; the comma splices haunt my dreams.
The third is to use a coordinating conjunction.
Commas have a ton of different uses, but they are most commonly used to join two main clauses (complete thoughts) connected by a coordinatingconjunction. Meaning, you join two clauses that could be sentences on their own using words like:
But
Or
For
Yet
Nor
So
And
The comma goes before the conjunction.
Result: I just want to sleep, but the comma splices haunt my dreams.
A Guide for the Seasoned and the Not-So-Plot Savvy
This is a subject that a lot of writers tend to struggle with. They have ideas, great ideas, but are uncertain how to string them together into a solid plot. There are many methods that have been devised to do so, and most seem to be based on something you might remember:
The 5 Point Method
This is your basic plot diagram:
Exposition– This is the beginning of your story. This is where you introduce your character (s), establish a setting, and also present your main conflict.
Rising Action – Your story now begins to build. There are often multiple key events that occur where your main character may be faced with a new problem he has to solve, or an unexpected event is thrust at him.
Climax– Everything you’ve been writing has been leading up to this moment. This is going to be the most exciting part of your story where your main character faces the main conflict and overcomes it.
Falling Action – This is mostly tying up loose ends after your main conflict is resolved. They are minor things that weren’t nearly as important as the main conflict, but still needed to be dealt with.
Resolution– The end of the story.
This is probably the easiest way to remember how to string together a single (or multiple) plots. It may be easier for some to define the main plot as the central conflict: the thing that’s causing your main character a huge problem/is his goal.
The 8 Point Method
This method is used to write both novels and film scripts, and further breaks down the 5 Point Method. From the book Write a Novel and Get It Published: A Teach Yourself Guide by Nigel Watts:
Stasis – The opening where the story takes place. Here you introduce your main character and establish a setting (Watts defines it as an “everyday” setting, something normal, but it can be whatever you want).
Triggeror Inciting Incident – The event that changes your character’s life and propels your story forward. This is where you introduce the main conflict.
The Quest – The result of the event. What does your character do? How does he react?
Surprise – This section takes place in the middle of the story, and involves all of the little setbacks and unexpected events that occur to the main character as he tries to fix the problems he’s faced with and/or achieve his goal. This is where you as an author get to throw complications, both horrible and wonderful, at your protagonist and see what happens.
Critical Choice – At some point your character is going to be faced with making a decision that’s not only going to test him as individual, but reveal who he truly is to the audience. This cannot be something that happens by chance. The character must make a choice.
Climax – This is the result of the main character’s critical choice, and should be the highest point of tension in the story.
Reversal– The consequence of the choice and climax that changes the status of your protagonist, whatever that may be. It could make him a king, a murderer, or whatever else you like but it has to make sense with the rest of the story.
Resolution – The end of the story where loose ends are tied up. You’re allowed to leave things unresolved if you intend to write a sequel, but the story itself should be stand alone.
Three Act Structure
While this method is usually for screenplays, it is also used in writing novels (for instance The Hunger Games novels are split up into three acts). From the The Screen Writer’s Workbook by Syd Field: Acts 1 and 3 should be about the same length while Act 2 should be double. For instance if you were writing a screenplay for a two hour film Acts 1 and 3 would be 30 minutes each while Act 2 would be 60 minutes.
Act 1, Set Up – This contains the inciting incident and a major plot point towards the end. The plot point here leads into the second act and is where the protagonist decides to take on the problem he’s faced with.
Act 2, Confrontation – This contains the midpoint of the story, all of the little things that go wrong for the protagonist, and a major plot point towards the end that propels the story into the third act. This is the critical choice the character must make.
Act 3, Resolution – This is where the climax occurs as well as the events that tie up the end of the story.
Another way to look at this method is that there are actually three major plot points, or disasters, that move the plot forward. The first is at the end of Act 1, the second is in the middle of Act 2, and the third is at the end of Act 2.
The Snowflake Method
A “top-down” method by Randy Ingermanson that breaks novel writing down into basic parts, building upon each one. You can find his page on the method here. His ten steps:
Write a single sentence to summarize your novel.
Write a paragraph that expands upon that sentence, including the story set up, the major conflicts, and the ending.
Define your major characters and write a summary sheet corresponding to each one that includes: the character’s name, their story arc, their motivation and goal, their conflict, and their epiphany (what they will learn).
Expand each sentence of your summary paragraph in Step 2 into its own paragraph.
Write a one page description of your major characters and a half page description of less important characters.
Expand each paragraph in Step 4 into a page each.
Expand each character description into full-fledged character charts telling everything there is to know about the characters.
Make a spreadsheet of all of the scenes you want to include in the novel.
Begin writing the narrative description of the story, taking each line from the spreadsheet and expanding the scenes with more details.
Begin writing your first draft.
Wing It
This is what I do most of the time. I tend to keep in mind the basic structure of the 5 Point Method and just roll with whatever ideas come my way. I’ve never been a fan of outlines, or any other type of organization. According to George R.R. Martin, I’ve always been a gardener, not an architect when it comes to writing. I don’t plan, I just come up with ideas and let them grow. Of course, this may not work for some of you, so here are some methods of organization:
Remember, none of the methods above are set in stone. They are only guidelines to help you finally write that novel.
-Ash
Updated as of 12/6/2018
Another note: While I still do the ‘Wing It’ method for a lot of shorter works, I’ve settled into actually outlining my novel using the three act structure as a guide and a ton of bullet points. It’s completely okay to adopt a new plotting method when you’ve been using the same one for years. I’ve got 7 pages of outline for Act 1, and it was probably one of the best writing decisions I’ve made. Don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t click. Instead, try something different.
For someone starting out in writing, figuring out what to write can be daunting. There are so many different formats and categories that it’s enough to make your head explode. Well don’t fret, because I’m going to make this easy for you.
First, what’s fiction you ask? And on that note, what’s genre fiction?
Fiction – Literature (short stories and novels for example) that describes imaginary events and people.
Genre – A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Genre Fiction – Stories with with specific settings, roles, events, and values allowing them to be categorized into genres and subgenres.
Sources: Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia.
There are several genre categories that I feel everyone will agree on, and others that some that people will argue over. The categorization is pretty subjective, and a lot of these genres can be broken down further into subgenres where things start to get pretty specific. I’m just going to stick with the main categories for now.
Genres
Science Fiction or Sci-Fi
Fantasy
Romance/Erotica
Horror
Western
Mystery/Crime
Thriller
So what separates these genres?
Science Fiction – A lot of people will identify this genre as having futuristic elements like advanced technology, but it encompasses a lot more than that. Science fiction poses the question: ‘What if?’ What if the Earth ran out of resources? What if we were invaded by aliens? What if an epidemic broke out? What if we got stuck in a time loop? The genre then goes on to explore how humanity would handle these situations. Science fiction isn’t all about space ships and lasers, but also about the human condition. It often explores complex issues like identity, desire, cultural structure, societal norms, and morality. While this genre may contain some fantastical elements, it differs from fantasy because there’s a chance that these things are scientifically possible. Book examples: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Fantasy – This genre contains the supernatural and magic; things we can’t explain with science and uses them as primary plot, setting, or character elements. Many fantasy stories take place in imaginary worlds that can be just as complex as the real world. Like science fiction, fantasy also asks: ‘What if?’ What if man had access to magic? What if the world was overtaken by an evil wizard? What if there were dragons? It can often explore real world problems without being tethered to its laws. Many fantasy stories use imaginary races to explore racism, cultural differences, war, politics, religion, class struggles, or that age-old battle between good and evil. Book examples: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, and The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
Romance/Erotica– With a focus on romantic love, this genre can resonate with a large audience. Traditionally, this genre started out featuring love between a man and a woman but it’s evolved with time to include love in all of its’ forms. These stories tend to focus on the ideals of relationships to make them emotionally satisfying to readers and also tend to have happy endings after some sort of struggle. Are the star-crossed lovers kept apart by families that hate each other? Do they have some sort of major fallout in their relationship and then get back together later? Are the separated by war? Sometimes stories in this genre will emphasize the explicit, sexual side of romantic love. Book examples: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks, and Outlander by Diana Galbadon.
Horror – Like science fiction and fantasy, this genre also asks the question: ‘What if?’ It is the third genre in a category of literature known as speculative fiction. It’s also sometimes called horror fantasy, because it uses imaginary, sometimes supernatural elements to frighten readers, inducing feelings of dread and terror. The environments it creates are often dark or surreal in some manner, as if something feels out of place. Horror fiction tends to use legends and folklore as a basis, focusing on evil, the afterlife, death, monsters, unsavory religious practices, and anything else found in the dark depths of the human soul. Book examples: At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (and really anything else by him), IT by Stephen King (most of his novels are also horror), and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Western– Stories in this genre usually take place in the American Old West. Common themes of the genre involve man’s conquest of nature in the name of progress and civilization. “The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice such as the feud, rather than one organized around rationalistic, abstract law, in which social order is maintained predominately through relatively impersonal institutions. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns” (Source). Book examples: True Grit by Charles Portis, The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour, and The Gunslinger by Stephen King.
Mystery/Crime – The traditional genre for detective novels. These stories usually have a cop or a detective wrapped up in a crime that he’s trying to solve. The crime has already happened. It doesn’t necessarily have to be logical either; it can be supernatural. Some of these stories will focus on the suspense or puzzle aspect of the crime while other will focus on the gritty action. Mysteries tend to have many suspects, various clues for the investigator to follow, and a lot of twists and turns. The outcome may not be what the reader expects. Book examples: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and The Nancy Drew Mysteries by Edward L. Stratemeyer.
Thriller – This genre uses suspense, tension, and excitement to heavily stimulate the reader’s mood. The goal is to give a high level of anticipation or heightened expectation, evoking a rush of different emotions by using a quick pace. These stories often utilize certain literary devices like the red herring, plot twists, and cliffhangers to the point where they may seem a bit silly. A thriller usually has a villain-driven plot, where they tend to throw obstacles in the way of the protagonist that must be overcome (Source). A lot of spy stories come out of this genre. Book examples: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, and The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown.
Many of these genres have elements that overlap, and that’s okay. It’s not necessarily important that you stick with all of the conventions of a specific genre. The fun of writing is picking and choosing the elements that you like and using those to create your story.
Alright, so it’s three in the morning, and you’re staring at a blank sheet of paper – possibly drooling – as you try to will the opening of your novel into existence with your self-proclaimed psychic powers. You’ve been at it for the better part of the evening, and after giving yourself one hell of a headache you’re finally starting to realize that you have no idea what you’re doing. Wonderful.
Anyone who has ever tried to sit down and write a novel, or even a short story, knows how hard it is to simply get started, let alone create something you’re happy with. Novel openings get even more complicated when you realize that you’re not just writing for yourself, but for a bunch of people you don’t even know who are always watching, judging you. Compound those things with a tendency to over think, a bit of self doubt, and a lack of experience and the only thing you’re left with is a fleeting hope that someone will throw you a lifeline. Lucky for you, I make them as a side business.
The Opening Line:
This is your hook. Make it mighty, because this is the line that will draw your reader into the story (as well as an agent and/or editor) and propel them through the rest of the novel. If it fails to do its job, the reader may put your book down, and no matter how great the rest of your story is, they will never get to read it.
The best first lines are the ones that not only set the scene, but initiate a series of questions in the mind of your reader. My favorite example of an opening line comes from the sixth book of The Dresden Files, Blood Rites by Jim Butcher:
“The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.”
What a great hook for a novel! It immediately pulls me in and floods my mind with questions:
What happened to set the building on fire?
What sort of trouble did you get into this time Harry, and who did you piss off?
Is Harry inside of this burning building or is he outside?
If he’s inside, where in the building is he and how does he plan to escape?
If he’s outside, is there anyone else around? Is he staying at the scene or is he running away?
Granted, being that this is the sixth book in a series I have some pretext about the narrator, but that doesn’t change the fact that this opening sentence serves its purpose, and serves it well. When trying to devise a great opener, try taking a look at some of your favorite books to see what kind of hooks they have and use them as an inspiration for your own.
You Had ONE JOB Opening Line, Just ONE JOB…
It’s also beneficial to look at openers that aren’t that great so you can see what others did wrong. A great source for these is an amazing contest called The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/). It invites writers to come up with their own terrible openers and is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who penned what’s been considered to be one of the worst by the literary world:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”
Now wait, the description in this is lovely and I certainly get a good sense of the setting and tone, so why is it considered to be a bad opening line? To answer, look back up at the line from Dresden and compare. This line gives us a definitive sense of the scene’s imagry. We know it’s raining heavily in London and not much else. I am left with no questions. There are no characters, no set up for a conflict, and no idea where the story might be going.
The line doesn’t propel the reader forward into the rest of the story and because of that, it fails at its job.
Start with Action:
This advice has been repeated time and time again, and in the majority of cases, it seems to hold true. Give the reader an event, such as a car crash, a gun fight, or a brawl, that will keep them latched onto your story like a lamprey on the body of a fish. Of course, the event doesn’t have to be something out of an action movie; just have your character doing something. It can be as simple as him being late for a dinner date or sprinting to his destination when fate decides to intervene.
Be creative here, and don’t be afraid to do something different! Remember to keep the scene moving. Action, in a writing sense, is often defined as:
A series of events that form the plot of the story, moving it forward.
An activity to accomplish an objective.
The event you choose to start your novel should propel your story forward to whatever your next plot point (beat) may be.
Introduce Your Main Character:
Be sure to introduce your main character early on in your novel, usually within the first few sentences. They will be the reader’s window into your fictional world and, unless you have multiple protagonists, will be the character that the reader spends the most time with. Unnecessary Information:
Since the beginning of your novel is your reader’s gateway, you never want to bog down it with unnecessary information. This includes exposition that would be better served in a later part of the novel and mundane scenes that have no bearing on the actual story. When in doubt, understand that the scene shouldn’t be included if it doesn’t accomplish one of four things:
Advance the plot.
Build your world.
Establish an effect, tone, or mood.
Develop your characters.
Including scenes that have no purpose will either bore or frustrate your reader (or both), and probably cause them to put the book down. If you painstakingly describe every minute detail, like the number and placement of the fibers of your character’s clothing, or have her stare at the magnets on a refrigerator for a full two pages only to accomplish nothing, your reader is probably going to throw the book across the room. If those damned magnets don’t open up a portal to another dimension when rearranged (or give us insight into something important about your character), don’t waste time on it.
When it comes to exposition, only give the reader what they need to know to understand what’s going on in the current scene. Don’t give them extra information that they don’t need; front-loading exposition is not the way to keep a reader interested. As an example, if your character is an officer of some special secret agency, your reader doesn’t need to know, for the moment, that they’re also an acrobat, card shark, and bookworm. Reveal that other information later on when the topics actually surface and are relevant to what’s occurring in the story.
I recommend reading the first few pages of the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front. Jim Butcher executes this technique exceptionally well:
He lets us know that Harry is a wizard shortly after a scene when his new mailman comes around and reads the sign on his door. Butcher gives us exactly what we need to know at that moment, as well as just enough to keep us wanting more. He poses a question with the line: “But then, if you’d seen the things I’d seen, if you knew half of what I knew, you’d wonder how anyone could not think I was serious”. He makes us wonder exactly what are those things Harry has seen and what does he know that the normal person doesn’t.
And we continue reading. You need to keep your reader wondering. Throw them a few pieces, but not the whole fish.
General Tips:
Think about your opening as if it were stand alone. Does it draw you in with its premise or voice? Does it make you want to know more about the story? If you were a member of your audience, would you care about the main character from reading just that section? If your story is more plot-centric, would you care about the event? If your answer to any of that is no, then you need to go back and edit.
Simply stated, when it comes to openings less is more. The less your audience knows about the situation or the characters involved, the more they’re going to want to continue to read to find out what happens next. But keep in mind there’s a fine line between just giving enough and giving too little.
One final piece of advice is take a break once in a while. If you’re staring at your writing for too long, focusing on how to improve it, you’re never going to actually improve it. Take a step back. Go watch a film or play a game. Then, come back to your story, regardless of how long it takes. The best ideas sometimes come when you least expect it. I suggest that you carry a notebook.
-Ash
Updated as of: 12/6/2018
I am starting to go through and edit the articles on this site. You can see what’s been edited by checking out the Main Articlespage.
As some of you know, and others were able to guess, it’s an event that starts every November 1st here in Internet Land where you try to write a 50k novel in a month by setting up a daily word count goal. There’s a website for the event, which you can check out here. You can sign up on the site to participate, but it’s not a requirement.
To help you guys out, I’ve complied some links from this blog and from others in the community. If there’s a post you really like that I missed, let me know. There are likely a ton. These are just some of the ones I had bookmarked.
