Chapters of twenty to thirty pages used to be the adult fiction norm. When I started attempting to write novels, I crafted long chapters—and proud of it.
Guess what. Nowadays I’m cutting those long chapters by half, thirds, and sometimes even by quarters.
What changed? I think technology transformed reading habits. When I was learning to write, transitions were a big deal. Writers were advised never to change a scene, setting, or time period without preparing the reader with a well-developed transition. Figuratively speaking, the writer had to take his reader’s hand and lead him down the narrative path so he/she didn’t get lost.
Today—not so much. When I first became aware of this shift I was cleaning up in the kitchen while listening to a television show in the other room. Because I wasn’t actually watching the show, it dawned on me that the scenes were extremely short and the cuts between scenes lacked transition. Viewers were making the narrative jumps without help. Was this because transitions were no longer required? Are consumers of media so accustomed to sudden swings in narrative point of view that they no longer need guideposts to follow?
I think technology has trained people to accept quick bursts of action and move right on to new themes and points of view with very little preparation. Nowadays viewers and readers are sophisticated consumers who can navigate non-linear plots, lightning fast scene changes and shifts in time and space with ease. Or, at least, that’s what they’re asked to do in our culture’s mass media environment, and it seems to be working.
On the other hand, I think most consumers these days have very little patience for long drawn out scene and character development. They have become acclimated to mass media offerings that move at a pace an older generation might have found perplexing.
So what is the takeaway for writers? The advantage of a long chapter is the slow and steady development of character and scene. The reader feels the writer isn’t skimming the surface of a story, but digging deep, offering insights that only come with a leisurely and thoughtful pace.
The advantage of a short chapter is the reader knows he can move from one chapter to the next without feeling trapped by a lengthy narrative. In other words, keeping your chapters short make it easier to write a page turner.
What’s the caveat? Short chapters can make a story feel chopped up. What’s more, they all need to end on a hook that makes the reader want to stay engaged with the story. If your chapters are only three-five pages long, that’s a lot of hooks. On the other hand, maybe writing in short cuts is a good exercise in keeping a story moving with action, dialogue, and heart-racing events.
If you’re not into heart-racing, the uninterrupted, more detailed narrative might be more satisfying. Decisions, decisions. Well, there’s always the happy medium—short enough to keep things moving, but long enough to make it seem worthwhile.
Claire Matturro
Good article. Might I ask your view on whether consistency in chapter length is necessary? That is, is it all right to have a short chapter, then a somewhat longer chapter–or should all chapters be about the same length? Thank you.
Iris Zerba
Excellent insight into how modern technology has changed writing, emphasizing an increase in pace, with less emphasis on transitions
BJ Phillips
This was a great reminder of how things have changed for readers and writers. Not for the better or worse, just different.
J. H. Tabbott
Interesting article. In my (first) novel* I focussed on specific scenes, each pushing and tugging at the narrative to advance the major plot points. The result was some scenes chapter length (though generally no longer than ten pages), and many scene exceptionally short–one to four pages. During writing, each scene was framed by a title (usually a little tongue-in-cheek) that helped me later identify the action more easily, when reviewing/editing.
While I did this for my writing process, and most were clearly not “real” chapters, I found these breaks impossible to dispose of when I felt ready to publish. So I let these titles and scenes stand alone as chapters, despite what some might consider appallingly short lengths.
I agree with your premise that we’ve all grown accustomed to faster or no transitions in our story-telling, and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It all depends upon who your reader is, I suspect… but then again it always has.
*PRELUDE:The Expanding Seas of Earth
Niki Kantzios
Are we seeing a real structural cleavage between literary novels (character development, “digging deep,” etc.) and pop novels, which are expected to be page-turners? No question that technology has changed our expectations as readers.Thanks for pointing this out.
Louise Titchener
In answer to Claire’s question, I shoot for a relative consistency in my chapter lengths, but it isn’t always possible. I do think the reader is more likely to stick with you if there’s a rhythm to your chapters. An extremely long one after a short one is probably not good. Just my opinion. Louise