How to Craft Stronger Chapters For Your Novel
As writers, our main objective is to write books that captivate our readers — stories that readers never want to put down.
While this may seem like a big task, one of the simplest ways to ensure the reader stays interested is through how you structure your chapters. At the end of one chapter and before the beginning of another, the reader has time to pause and wonder just how invested they are in the book. Do they really care enough to know what happens next? Hopefully they do.
Chapters are necessary in novels for two reasons:
They give the reader a chance to take a break and reflect on what they’ve just read.
They signal a change or transition. Perhaps this is a change in point of view, setting, or action.
Your chapters are necessary to keep the reader invested in your story. So how can you utilise chapters to engage your readers?
Understanding chapter structure
Each chapter should deliver something significant to the story and plot progression. In a way, chapters are like scenes — focusing on a specific event to progress the story. Narrow down the chapter’s main focus and consider the following points.
Focus on plot development. Plot development is exactly what it sounds like — a focus on progressing the main plot. Each chapter should, in some way, continue to develop the main plot and the main character’s overall goal. This could be through important plot points like obstacles or significant revelations.
Focus on character development. Much like the above point, each chapter should, in some way, develop the characters. This might be through backstory, exploring relationships through conversations with other characters, forcing them to overcome a fear or commit to the, etc. Whatever you include, each chapter should continue to develop the character — and their arc — and keep the reader invested in them.
Include action. This could be anything from a sword fight, to a chase, to interacting with another character, or walking between point A and point B. Incorporating some kind of action will make the book more exciting for the reader. Action also allows for physical movement in the story. This could be physically moving from one location to another to progress the story.
Give the chapter a goal. This goal may not necessarily be related to the overall plot, but the chapter needs to have a purpose behind it. This might be to reach a town before sunset, to find food, to meet another character, to learn something. The chapter needs a focus for it to feel connected to the rest of the story.
Consider the pacing. Depending on the chapter’s focus — whether it’s plot, character, action, etc. — the length of the chapter may vary. For action sequences your pacing will be faster and snappier. For internal monologue or dialogue, the chapter will probably be slower and lengthier. Don’t worry if your chapter lengths vary with pacing.
Crafting chapter endings
Getting creative with chapter endings can be difficult, and chapter endings run the risk of getting repetitive. The most popular technique for ending chapters in interesting places is to finish on a cliff-hanger. Whilst I don’t advocate doing this for every chapter, a cliff-hanger here and there can add a great deal of suspense to your book.
Here are a few options when ending your chapters.
At the end of the day. This is an obvious and easy place to end your chapter. The day has ended, and with it the immediate action and story progression. Ending a chapter with the end of the day means the following chapter will have to start with the beginning of the day. While this is an easy and effective way to end a chapter, it does run the risk of being both repetitive and boring if used too frequently. Too many chapters ending in characters going to sleep can feel unimaginative and runs the risk of slowing the pacing.
At the end of the action. The focus of the chapter may be the characters overcoming a major obstacle. As their opposition retreats, the chapter may come to a close to conclude the immediate threat and story development. This can be a good chapter ending, so long as it’s clear where it’s heading in the following chapter. The next chapter will need to follow on from the resolution of the action.
After a significant revelation. This may be a revelation between two characters or a revelation about the main plot. Whichever one it is, this can also be a good place to end. The reader has just learnt something significant and may be desperate to know more. Depending on the revelation, it may give the reader a good opportunity to pause reading and reflect on what they have learnt, or it may raise questions they’re desperate to have answered. In this way, this ending can be similar to a cliff-hanger.
A cliff-hanger. Now, a writer should never solely rely on cliff-hangers for interesting chapter endings. This can easily get frustrating to the reader, who would benefit from a clear break every so often. A cliff-hanger is an ending (to a chapter or book) that leaves the reader in suspense and eager to know what happens next. A cliff-hanger is a good device when used sparingly and appropriately — eg: the bad guys appear suddenly, they receive shocking news, etc. These “shock value” moments can be good hooks.
Good chapter endings will vary. Try not to repeat yourself too often with how you end (or open) a chapter, as this can become grating for the reader.
Drafting your chapters
If you’re concerned about how to draft your chapters, then I recommend planning them out. If you’re not a plotter by nature, that’s OK. You don’t need to plan the entire chapter out, but making a few points of focus might help you write stronger chapters.
I recommend listing all the possible chapter openings and endings you might include and then ticking them off as you plan your chapters so you know how they will lead into one another.
If you like, you might also want to make some notes of what the chapter will focus on or its goal — for example, the chapter might focus on progressing the main character’s goal, it might focus on developing a romance between two characters, or it might focus on the characters travelling a long distance to get to a specific destination.
Small notes like this might help you see your chapters more clearly to know if you are repeating anything and including all the necessary aspects in each chapter. Moreover, you can ensure that the information in each chapter is necessary.
Questions to consider for your chapters:
Does this chapter progress the main plot?
Does this chapter expand on or introduce a subplot?
Does this chapter develop the arc of one or more characters?
Does this chapter balance action, internal monologue, dialogue, and description?
Does this chapter’s opening and ending differ to the chapters before and after?
Does this chapter open in a good place?
Does this chapter end in a relevant place?
When drafting, it’s OK to let yourself go and not focus on getting everything in your book “right”. You can tweak what you’ve got in revisions.
One of the best ways to know if you’ve structured your chapters effectively is to receive feedback. My Chapter-By-Chapter Critique looks closely at chapter structure to ensure the best progression of your plot and characters. You can learn more about this edit here to see how it can help you refine your story.
