Chapters

Well howdy there!

...You're right, I can't pull that off. Let's just answer a question, shall we?

How many...

Today's Question: 

How many chapters should I have, or should I have chapters at all? 

1. How many... 

 For my books, I have a standard number of chapters (post Advanced series, that is). Will I tell you what number that is? Nope. But I'll let you read Coetir and find out for yourselves. ;-)

Really, you'll want to figure out chapter numbers based on word count. If you have a lot of words, you can afford to have a lot of chapters. I like to start with around 8,000 words per chapter, but as we've already said, I overwrite eeeeverything. Really, it's just a matter of what you're comfortable with. Your chapters don't have to match in length, they don't have to be an even number, and they don't have to be based on someone else's logic. If you have eighty-three chapters in an eighty-three page book... then you may wish to reevaluate your choices.

2. Should I have them? 

Again, it's up to you. My first books were not written with chapters. You'll note that they have chapters now. That's because I had a friend read the book, and she said it would be MUCH easier to read if it had chapters. It's now what I generally suggest to writers: if you're going to write a book, use chapters.

BUT you don't have to write it with chapters. You CAN write it as one big chunk and add the chapters in later, if you're having concerns about how many chapters you want to have. That way, you can organize it into the exact number of pages you'd like.

You could also go into it with the idea that you're writing a series of short stories that will make up a novel. Every short story would then equal one chapter, and then you'd already have an idea for how many chapters you'll have. 


I hope this answers your question! And please don't be shy about sending others in :)

[love]

{Rani Divine}