How many is too many chapters?

PinkAmy · Dec 24, 2010

My 96,000 word memoir manuscript is divided into 6 sections and a total of 50 chapters (revised down from 72)
Section 1 40%
Section 2 20%
Section 3 25%
Section 4- 6%
Section 5 7%
Section 6 2%

Will this many chapters in a proposal turn off an agent. (I summarize them in one or two sentences, my proposal is about 50 pages)

Wayne K · Dec 24, 2010

Chapters are as long as they need to be. If an agent asks to see your proposal, you should ask them. They might prefer to see a synopsis. 72 is a lot. Personally, I'd do both to cover all bases

CaroGirl · Dec 24, 2010

Seventy-two chapters is a lot for 96K words. Not having seen your ms, however, it might work.

Do you use scene breaks at all, or only chapter breaks? You might consider reviewing your structure to include scene breaks instead of so many chapter breaks.

shadowwalker · Dec 24, 2010

From a personal perspective only, I don't care for short chapters. Makes the story seem choppy. Again, personal taste, but you may want to check to see if these are really chapters or just scenes...

PinkAmy · Dec 24, 2010

Thanks... I think I'll go back to the manuscript and see how many I can combine. For the smaller sections I can probably truncate them into 1 chapter each.

Susan Coffin · Dec 24, 2010

Amy,

It's your book. You get to decide how long the chapters are and how many. There is no set rule. Some people like shorter chapters, others don't.

Wayne K · Dec 24, 2010

Okay, I'm going to admit to reading James Patterson :chair

......Anyway, I liked the short chapters because when I read I have a short attention span.

scarletpeaches · Dec 24, 2010

I read James Patterson's books as well. Don't care who knows it. He credits the ghost writers on his actual covers, never mind the copyright pages, which is a hell of a lot more than other 'writers' do.

But back to the OP - it's a good rule to make sure each chapter is a scene complete in itself. JP has a habit of breaking off mid-scene and starting another chapter, which is, to me, a false cliffhanger.

For example:

###

...then she said something I'd never expected to hear.

Chapter 104

"I really need to go pee-pee!" she screamed.

###

^^^Not JP's actual work.

A chapter is as long as it needs to be, to properly convey the action or dialogue. It's tidier if they're all roughly the same length but they don't have to be.

Short answer? There's no such thing as 'too many' chapters.

dbfitzgerald · Dec 24, 2010

Let's not forget Faulkner's famous chapter: "My mother is a fish."

PinkAmy · Dec 24, 2010

Ok I got my manuscript down to 50 chapters. I just can't combine anything else.
My revised question--is 50 chapters too many?

scarletpeaches · Dec 24, 2010

I refer you to my previous post: there's no such thing as 'too many' chapters.

PinkAmy · Dec 24, 2010

scarletpeaches said:
But back to the OP - it's a good rule to make sure each chapter is a scene complete in itself. JP has a habit of breaking off mid-scene and starting another chapter, which is, to me, a false cliffhanger.

For example:

###

...then she said something I'd never expected to hear.

Chapter 104

"I really need to go pee-pee!" she screamed.

###

^^^Not JP's actual work.

LOL--
I definitely DO NOT do that! Each chapter begins a new scene/theme.

PinkAmy · Dec 25, 2010

After an exhaustive morning, my manuscript now has 30 chapters. Thanks for all the support and help.

memoiries · Jan 12, 2011

I just wanted to pipe in. There is no such thing as too many chapters. It's whatever works for your MS. (i.e.) Eat Pray Love (136,000-words), which I hate to bring up, has 108 chapters.

PinkAmy · Jan 12, 2011

Thank you memories. I didn't realize EPL has so long or that it had that many chapters!

How many is too many chapters?

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!

Wayne K

CaroGirl

Living the dream

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!

Susan Coffin

Tell it like it Is

Wayne K

scarletpeaches

dbfitzgerald

Crime, Washington DC

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!

scarletpeaches

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!

memoiries

PinkAmy

New kid, be gentle!