Its probably been discussed and I am sure if I surf the site - I will find something. So, here it goes - When do you/should you break your story into chapters? When you are done or while your writing it? I have read many views, even OSC book (which I bought). I know each chapter should be able to stand alone...but what is the general consensus?
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
When I asked a similar question I was told that chapter divisions are pretty random and up to the author. In my opinion, you should use the chapter break to set the pace you want. Scene breaks can be used to jump from one POV to another, so you don't have to rely on chapters to do so. The reason so many people said "The Da Vinci Code" was such a page-turner is because the author made a point of breaking the chapter right at a point where something exciting was about to happen. In other words, the chapter was NOT complete, and you had to turn the page (and start reading a new chapter) to see what happened. He used the chapter break to keep you sucked into the book.