Chapter Numbers

Shady Lane · Nov 22, 2007

A mini-third-draft-freakout:

Is it preferable to have a nice round number of chapters, like 30, 40, etc? If I have 43 chapters, should I try to combine them into 40? Or am I totally overthinking this?

Thanks much.

Death Wizard · Nov 22, 2007

The obvious answer is that you're overthinking it. That said, if the number of chapters has symbolic or structural undertones, that's another story. For instance, a novel about the devil might have 18 chapters, each broken into three sub-chapters. But if your number of chapters plays little role in that regard, then 43 is no better or worse than 40, in my opinion.

blacbird · Nov 22, 2007

If you're writing a story about demonic possession, it must have exactly 666 chapters.

Seriously, get thee to a bookstore or library and actually look at a few books, and your question will be answered.

caw

KTC · Nov 22, 2007

lol. I do the amount of chapters that the story calls for. I wouldn't dream of considering the chapter number based on any kind of scheme other than how many chapters the story ends up being.

Shady Lane · Nov 22, 2007

blacbird said:
If you're writing a story about demonic possession, it must have exactly 666 chapters.

Seriously, get thee to a bookstore or library and actually look at a few books, and your question will be answered.

caw

Uh, crap. Sorry I asked.

Thanks for the help, guys.

ishtar'sgate · Nov 22, 2007

Shady Lane said:
A mini-third-draft-freakout:

Is it preferable to have a nice round number of chapters, like 30, 40, etc? If I have 43 chapters, should I try to combine them into 40? Or am I totally overthinking this?

Thanks much.

Yup, you're overthinking.

Your story will find its own length and number of chapters. The chapters in my book were shorter toward the end which kept up the momentum. While I could have combined a couple, that would have ruined the pace. Let it be what it is. It'll be fine.
Linnea

ORION · Nov 22, 2007

In LOTTERY I have 61 short chapters and a prologue and epilogue...no one said anything - although some of the book clubs that I have talked with asked...My rational was that I wanted short chapters to parallel my characters thought process.

maestrowork · Nov 22, 2007

Shady Lane said:
A mini-third-draft-freakout:

Is it preferable to have a nice round number of chapters, like 30, 40, etc? If I have 43 chapters, should I try to combine them into 40? Or am I totally overthinking this?

Thanks much.

Is 42 a good number?

Seriously, it makes no difference. Just break your chapters the way you want it. There is ABSOLUTELY no rule on that.

Shady Lane · Nov 22, 2007

Okay. Thanks for killing my stupid worries, guys.

Off to worry about important things...

Enzo · Nov 22, 2007

It doesn't really matter.

My WIP progresses from Monday to Sunday in a straight chronological manner, so I have Chapters I to VII in Roman numerals for each day, and then 'subchapters' named after the places where the story happens.
So inside Chapter IV Thursday for example I might have 5. Brussels followed by 6. Paris.

But that's just my way of doing things for this story and its sequel. Chapter titles and structure shouldn't take precedence over story unless you're really going for something symbolic, like The Ten Commandments.
But someone already wrote those, right?

Sean D. Schaffer · Nov 23, 2007

Shady Lane said:
A mini-third-draft-freakout:

Is it preferable to have a nice round number of chapters, like 30, 40, etc? If I have 43 chapters, should I try to combine them into 40? Or am I totally overthinking this?

Thanks much.

You're overthinking this, Shady. Don't worry about the amount of chapters you have in your work. Just write the amount of chapters needed to tell your story, and you should be fine.

KTC · Nov 23, 2007

ORION said:
In LOTTERY I have 61 short chapters and a prologue and epilogue...no one said anything - although some of the book clubs that I have talked with asked...My rational was that I wanted short chapters to parallel my characters thought process.

61! And they still published the book!? This must be an industry first.

L M Ashton · Nov 23, 2007

13! Exactly!

truelyana · Nov 23, 2007

I have four chapters so far, and it feels like i'm putting the chapters first for the sake of the story. It is helping this way though, as I'm adding on more story inbetween some missing years. My chapters seem to be quite massive though, one is 3,600 words and another is 2,400 words.

KTC · Nov 23, 2007

quidscribis said:
13! Exactly!

I just checked the one I have in at a publisher's. I had no idea how many...because I'm not really a details person. Turns out it has 13 chapters. I hope this is a good omen? (-;

David I · Nov 23, 2007

Shady Lane said:
Uh, crap. Sorry I asked.

I doubt that there's any virtue in round numbers, but it's not a silly question at all. I have a book that has 32 chapters (or maybe 32 +1) because that's the number of paths on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and it's relevant to the novel. Also how many tteh we have, adn pinal vertabrae...except for our little tailbone vertaba, which makes it 32 +1 again...)

There's no optimum number, but some critics like Grumpy Old Bookman say the first thing they do is divide the number of pages by the number of chapters and look for a low number. I think this is a crappy guide, as many bad books, like The Da Vinci Code, have relatively few pages and a zillion chapters. But some folks pay attention to it.

Unless I had some specific thematic design, though, I wouldn't worry about this until the book was finsihed and fully revised. But thinking about it isn't crazy. Premature, maybe.

And, as Maestrowork points out, 42 is worth thinking about. If I recall, In Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 turns out to be The Answer. (The problem is that no one knows the question.)

KTC · Nov 23, 2007

David I said:
And, as Maestrowork points out, 42 is worth thinking about. If I recall, In Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 turns out to be The Answer. (The problem is that no one knows the question.)

The question is obvious. WHO IS JOHN GALT?

RLSMiller · Nov 23, 2007

I have 25 chapters + an epilogue for a 301 page book. Don't think it matters much.

L M Ashton · Nov 23, 2007

KTC said:
I just checked the one I have in at a publisher's. I had no idea how many...because I'm not really a details person. Turns out it has 13 chapters. I hope this is a good omen? (-;

Or a curse?

KTC · Nov 23, 2007

quidscribis said:
Or a curse?

Argh! I'll let you know in about 2 months.

(of course I'll blame the rejection on 13.)

seun · Nov 23, 2007

I like a round figure for my chapters but that's just me. If it doesn't work out that way, I don't force it.

KTC · Nov 23, 2007

seun said:
I like a round figure for my chapters but that's just me. If it doesn't work out that way, I don't force it.

Yeah. Me too. I just automatically know when a chapter is over and I move on to the next one. When I'm done, I gots what I gots.

Julie Worth · Nov 23, 2007

Shady Lane said:
should I try to combine them into 40?

There's something to be said for putting artificial restrictions on yourself. You could be the guy who never uses the word the, or the woman who aways has 40 chapters.

David I · Nov 23, 2007

KTC said:
The question is obvious. WHO IS JOHN GALT?

Who is John Galt? The guy who makes a thirty-page speech, if I recall...

The question, of course, was rwally "How many roads must a man walk down...?"

But "Who is John Galt?" is quite a bit funnier.

Shady Lane · Nov 23, 2007

Okay, guys. Thank you!

Chapter Numbers

my name is hannah

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Stand in the Place Where You Live

my name is hannah

living in the past

Sailed away years ago

Fear the Death Ray

my name is hannah

Stand in the Place Where You Live

crazy spec fic writer

Set yourself free

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Stand in the Place Where You Live

crazy spec fic writer

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Horror Man

Stand in the Place Where You Live

What? I have a title?

my name is hannah