Which do you prefer to read?

I'm reading a James Patterson novel at present - (Big Bad Wolf).

He uses VERY short chapters - usually only 2-3 pages, and sometimes even less - which seems to break all the 'rules' and 'formulas' I've read about chapter length - and yet he's wildly successful.

As a reader - do you LIKE books with this kind of snappy chapters? Prefer them? Do you prefer longer ones? Or does it matter?

As a writer - which do you think is easier to write?

Thanks!:snoopy

Re: Preference

I think it depends on the story. Shorter chapters speed up the pace. D. Preston/L. Child’s Thunderhead had very short chapters but it was meant to be a fast paced story throughout. Alternately, The Gripping Hand (Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s sequel to Mote in God’s Eye) had endlessly long chapters IIRC. I remember thinking, “Will this chapter EVER end?”

Re: Preference

It depends. If your book is meant to be fast-paced, shorter chapters are better. You should really just put what BELONGS in each chapter and not worry too much about length. Your ability to write well can help you make a chapter short or long, deopending on what you want it to be.

With me, it depends on the type of book I'm reading. If it's a thriller or suspense, short chapters work well. If it's mainstream, long chapters are the norm that I expect from them.

If a chapter is too long, then readers will, like Nameless said, start wondering if the darn thing will EVER end.

Re: Preference

:grin

I personally prefer longer chapters, as a reader, than what Patterson puts together. I haven't been a fan of his becuase his books seem to "simple" for lack of a better word. I think his plotting is good and exciting, but the detail is too short in my humble opinion.

Again, as a reader, my favorite authors such as Cussler, Vince Flynn, Nelson Demille, etc. have chapter around 10 pages give or take a few.

The book I am writing has approximately 7-15 page chapters as well.

later,

keller
reno

Re: Preference

I'm reading a book right now and each scene is a chapter. Sometimes I wish there was more development but if I removed the chapters and just went on to the next scene I may not have noticed it. It feels like I'm watching a television show - not good nor bad, just different, I guess.

Re: Preference

It depends of the story and genre. Patterson did that to create a break-neck pace, suspense and excitment. His chapters are longer and more lanquid in his romance such as "Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas." (But you're right, his writing always seem to lack details and vividness)

It's like watching a movie. I enjoy a break-neck pace when I read a thriller or suspense -- and it usually means I finish the book in a day or two. I like the chapters longer and the style more relaxed when I read a drama -- it may mean that I won't finish the book in one or two sittings, but it's satisfying nonetheless.

Wisdomquest wrote:

As a reader - do you LIKE books with this kind of snappy chapters? Prefer them? Do you prefer longer ones? Or does it matter?

Click to expand...

As a priority in reading enjoyment I tend to rank this just ahead of descriptions of a character's navel, but way behind occurrences of the letter 'o'.

Some writers find short chapters work for them. Some writers write longer chapters. Terry Pratchett usually doesn't use chapters at all, and he's one of the bestselling writers in fantasy today.

Find your flow and write to it. If your flow is off, a beta reader will tell you -- but it probably won't be. This is one of those things it's easier to worry about than to get wrong.


Have Fun,
- Steve Eley

The only time I notice chapter breaks is when there's extra material at the start (and sometimes not even then) or when I'm looking for a place to stop for the night.

I think chapter length depends entirely upon what the story needs. One chapter per scene I think would be pretty annoying, though I've read very enjoyable books with chapters of all sorts of lengths. In the same book even.

it don't matter to me!

long's the story and writing quality keep me so riveted i don't even notice how long or short the chapters are... m

Re: it don't matter to me!

I just finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes which doesn't have chapters at all, but rather it's broken up into "Progess Reports," and are more like scenes than chapters. They're very short in the beginning, then get longer in the middle, then trickle down to be short at the end. If you know the book, you'll know the reason for the length change. It works very, very well for the story, and it's not noticeable either way.

Re: it don't matter to me!

I just finished 'The Gunslinger' by Stephen King. 300 pages, 5 chapters. Each chapter is broken into scenes with roman numerals. One scene was 3 or 4 lines long, another ran for a dozen pages or more.

I really liked the book, so I didn't even think about it much until now.

Re: it don't matter to me!

As a reader, I prefer short chapters, if only for the reason that it gives me a break if I want to go and do something else. It also works to set a faster pace for the book, and that's why I'm using it in my novel-in-progress. In my OTHER novel-in-progress I'm using longer chapters, mostly because I'm adding a lot more background information.
Ellen:star

finished Patterson ...

Well I finished 'Big Bad Wolf' a couple of days ago.

Having read it as a "writer" - I have to say I was a little disappointed.

Not that I'm a sex fiend or anything (really! I'm a Canadian !:b lol) ... but I was dying to know WHAT happened to these women (and men), when they were supposed to be 'slaves.'

Seemed to me that Patterson missed the opportunity to enrich the story by saying things like: "she had been raped five times". (which is telling not showing, right?)

I wasn't really itching for pornography - although in adult fiction of this type, some explicitness certainly would not have RUINED anything - I guess I wanted more "meat" (no pun intended) in the story.

Also, I think I felt a bit cheated. The whole premise of the book - at least according to the cover blurb - was that people were being kidnapped to be SOLD as SLAVES.

What little the lowly reader was TOLD about what happened to these people made them sound more like CAPTIVES - than slaves. Sooo little detail ... like a whole side of the story (THE main story), went undeveloped.

So, right now I'm wondering if maybe longer chapters might give you more room to develop a well rounded story with lots of detail and no glaring holes of this kind?

I'm not real familiar with Patterson, so I wasn't sure if this was just NOT one of his better efforts or if it was, maybe, something to chalk up as one disadvantage to writing short (short!) chapters ... almost like the chapters moved along at such break-neck speed that the real story line got left behind.


wisdomquest :snoopy

PS: Came back to add - I DID like Patterson's short chapters for bedtime reading. There was always a stopping-off-place near, so you could easily read as much or as little as you wanted. :snoopy

Also - I liked the analogy of Patterson's short-short chapters moving along like scenes from a movie - that's exactly how it felt. :snoopy

Re: finished Patterson ...

I enjoyed reading this thread. I'm not currently even worrying about chapters, but it was interesting. this brings up another question: when do you start to worry about chapters anyway?

my first outline laid out 23 chapters each with a thematically appropriate name derived from light or fire. light and darkness were among the themes of the book, so it worked. las what i wrote diverged from the outline, i wasn't sure where new scenes belonged. the tone of things changed, the names were no longer appropriate. chapters were too short, than got longer when i re-wrote them.

now, i have no chapters at all. i save big chucks of trhe novel as "section 1" "section 2", etc. after i'm done, i'll go back and mdivide it up, giving each chapter a name and one or more quotes. (some from characters, some from Paradise Lost. i considered drawing some from Jesus Christ Superstar, but i'm not sure of the legality.)

at what point in your works do you designate chapters? outline, wiritng? rewrite? final version?

what are the advantages or disadvantages of different methods?

Re: finished Patterson ...

For some writers, chapters are something they write by naturally, derived from their outlines.

For others, chapters are one of the last things to worry about. Currently, I'm not writing chapters. Even after 20,000 words, I haven't stopped to consider chapter breaks.

However, when I'm writing, I can "feel" where some of these chapters may end up. Line breaks, scene breaks - I have quite a few of these which will probably end up as the end of a chapter because I feel there is an extra "pause" needed before continuation. Then again, I have a chunk of about 7,000 words where I have no idea where chapter placement will be. When I go back for revisions, some of the line breaks may become more defined in my head.

I'm more visual, so when I write I think of it as a movie. My chapter breaks are where there would be "fade out" into the next scene, rather just a plain scene jump.

Re: finished Patterson ...

I write in chapters as I go. I often start with only a few in mind, but fill them in on my outline as I work. I guess I need to see at least a rudimentary framework as I write.

With that said, after the first draft (and sometimes during) I often pull chunks from one chapter and stick it in another, or combine two into one, or dump a chapter altogether or write a new one if needed.

I also see each chapter as a coherent scene that needs to have a beginning, middle and end just like the book itself does on a larger scale.

Now, thinking about this stuff and implementing it are two very different animals. I find it a continuous struggle.

Re: finished Patterson ...

I know a chapter break when I see it. There are no rules, but usually it's a nice little conclusion of scenes, just before another transition, or it's a mini-cliffhanger (also a transition).