Okay guys so I need some help. I've been writing a lot of random stuff for a while and then I got 2 big ideas. So I started forming my stories. But I've gotten to a point where I need chapters. Like specific chapters. I don't know how to really make a chapter though. How do you guys know when to say the end of chapter one and the beginning of chapter 2? How do you guys decide how much is in a chapter? etc? I just don't know how to make my chapters.
Help!
Jess
Hmm...it's a good question.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I really 'decide' exactly where to end a chapter. Mostly, just when it feels right, or when there's a suspenseful moment, that's where I cut it. It also depends if you want short or long chapters. In most of my stories, I have pretty long chapters, but Ned's book 'Unwanted' has short chapters. It all depends on your writing style and the type of book you're writing.
Sorry I couldn't be more help. =(
I used to be so efficient and average out how many Word pages I need, and how many words I needed. I don't know if I'm lazy now or more laid back, but I just guess now. Writing anything is better than writing nothing, and you can always go back to it and add to it, or shorten it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I begin a new chapter, I just KNOW what I'm going to write there, and how to begin it. It's...instinctive. All writers can do it; just relax, take a few deep breaths, and just ask yourself how you want to begin this chapter. Then just let yourself take over and begin writing.
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't seem right, then you can always go back and edit it, or even write the chapter over again.
At the end of a chapter, like Nat said, you just have to feel that it's right and that you should end it there. Most of the times I end it with a cliffie to make the reader want to go on and stay interested. Just stop when you think you need to.
I just put down the title of the chapter, sit back, and write the first sentence. Then it just takes over and I continue. I don't really care how long or short my chapters are; sometimes they're fourty pages long, like Chapter Seven of mine, and sometimes they're two pages long, like Chapter Seventeen or whatever the chapter is that's really short. Sometimes it's five pages, sometimes eleven. It all depends on when I think it should end and how much embellishment it needs.
Lately, I've been trying to plan out my chapters, where they start, and when I want them to end.
ReplyDeleteI then try to write an ending sentence that creates a cliffhanger, even when there is none, this would be longer but I have to go. Bye!