The authors are fantastic storytellers. When it comes to selecting the perfect metaphor or weaving characters’ intricate backstories into the plot, authors often know intuitively what works in a story. But while narrative is key to writing a good book, so is structure, which is why you’ll need to decide how many chapters your novel should have.
The number of chapters in your book will depend on a variety of factors, from genre to word count to audience. Research is key to deciding how many chapters your novel should have, so let’s take a look at the purpose of chapters and how some successful books use them effectively.
You are reading: Why do books have chapters
Chapters give structure and readability to your novel. they allow your readers to follow your narrative in a clear and familiar way, while also providing convenient stopping points (after all, even the most nondescript books are rarely read in one sitting).
While chapters are practical for readers, they also give you the opportunity to build tension, shift perspective, and move on to new scenes in a coherent way. in short, they are a key element of almost any novel.
Almost all novels are divided into chapters, so it’s a smart move for new authors to use as well.
Fiction is generally divided into 4 different formats: flash fiction (less than 1,000 words), short stories (1,000-10,000 words), novellas (10,000-40,000 words), and novellas (40,000 words or more). ).
Each format has a different approach to chapters. flash fiction and most short stories are too short to merit chapters, although short stories sometimes include pauses to change the scene or to show the passage of time.
If you are writing a novel, the use of chapters is at your discretion. if it’s shorter, you may feel like the chapters aren’t necessary and interrupt the flow of your story. longer novels, or those with perspective changes and scene transitions, can benefit greatly from inserting chapters.
unlike the other 3 formats, novels need chapters. they make your book easier for the reader to read, while helping you manage the construction of your story. Novels without chapters are often a bit unwieldy and can turn readers off. So how can you use chapters to create a compelling and well-structured story?
As a reader, the number of chapters in a book may seem random, but there is actually a lot of research and convention behind it. still, as a new author, it can be difficult to decide how many chapters he needs for his specific novel. almost as difficult as writing an author biography for the first time!
The books are so unique that there really is no such thing as an average book. but you can still learn a lot by looking at other books in your genre. We’ve researched and analyzed the number of chapters in a variety of popular titles, comparing them to their genre and word count (rounded to the nearest 1,000), to see how these factors affect the number of chapters in a book.
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The number of chapters in a given book ultimately depends on the author (and, if it’s a traditional publication, the publisher). but good authors will consider their readers when deciding how many chapters their book should have.
for example, jane austen’s pride and prejudice has 61 chapters, more than triple the length of hilary mantel’s hall of the wolf, which is nearly twice as long. this may sound counterintuitive, but it makes sense because of the genre of these books. In general, people read romance novels for light escapism, while readers of historical novels expect heavier, more opaque reading. As a result, romance novels benefit from having more shorter chapters, while historical novels can get away with fewer, heavier chapters.
Other books have chapters that give them a specific structure. Despite having a relatively high word count, Bridget Jones’s Diary has the fewest chapters of all the books on this list at 12, but each chapter refers to one month over the course of a year. Since this book is supposed to be a journal, this chapter structure makes perfect sense for this book.
If your novel is over 100,000 words, it may be a good idea to divide your book into parts as well as chapters. Northern Lights, White Teeth, and Wolf Hall use parts to negotiate significant changes in each section of the story, be it character perspective, location, or time period. It might be a good idea to read our guide on how long it would take to write a book where we provide examples and tips!
Just as no two books are the same in terms of number of chapters, similarities are few and far between when it comes to chapter length. but a little research can help you understand how successful authors arrive at their average chapter length.
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Most of the books in the table above are between 3,000 and 5,000 words per chapter, which is a comfortable length for most readers. Wolf Hall and Pride and Prejude are at opposite ends of the scale in terms of average chapter length, due to their genre and readership. but there are other chapter length ideas you can get from the rest of the books on this list.
The Handmaid’s Tale, which has the lowest average chapter length, is a first-person narrative with terse, disjointed prose, so it makes sense that the chapters are also relatively short. White Teeth, meanwhile, is tangential and itinerant, with a large cast of characters, lending itself to longer chapters that let the story breathe.
Many books with longer average chapter lengths make extensive use of pauses within their chapters, such as white teeth and northern lights. this allows them to expand their chapters without affecting their readers. it is also good practice to try to keep chapters the same length throughout the book. this helps your reader know what to expect as they read your work.
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While there tends to be a trend toward chapter lengths of around 4,000 words, authors should let their own voice and story dictate chapter length, rather than overwrite or subscribe to meet a quota.
removing a chapter quota is useful for authors, because it means you’re not striving to hit a certain number; you can let your story decide how many chapters you need. depending on your writing process, you can do it in the planning stage, the writing stage, the editing stage, or a combination of all three.
1. the planning stage
If you tend to outline your story before you start writing, this is a great place to start thinking about where to include chapters. your outline may naturally fall into chapters, in which case adding chapters will be a piece of cake. if there aren’t many obvious pauses or scene transitions, you may decide to create more or keep the number of chapters low.
2. the writing stage
If you prefer to get bogged down in writing without a plan or outline, you may find it easier to decide where your chapters begin and end during the writing process itself. This can be a great way to keep the momentum going in your writing, but when you finish your book, there may be some discrepancy in chapter lengths.
3. the editing stage
Another option is to finish writing the book, the number one priority of all authors, and then break it down into chapters. while this can be a difficult approach, it’s also helpful when you’re editing your first draft, as you’ll be able to easily identify where the tension works and where it needs to be changed. we have more editing tips you should check out!
4. find a combination that goes with your style
When it comes to dividing your book into chapters, few writers get it right the first time. you’ll probably need to go through some trial and error before you find the right structure for your book. you can include chapters in your outline, but you decide to change it when you’re writing the book and then change it again when you’re editing the first draft.
Another key question related to chapters that many writers have is whether to name the chapters or keep it simple with numbers. In short, this totally depends on the author, although you can also check other books in its genre to see which one is the most prevalent.
Chapter names can provide information and structure. White Teeth, for example, uses similar chapter titles to help the reader understand what to expect in that part of the book. for example, chapters titled “the root canals of…” offer backstory on key main characters. The Handmaid’s Tale uses “nighttime” chapters to divulge the narrator’s innermost thoughts, while other chapters are more impassive.
Offbeat comic novels are more likely to use chapter names, as are novels and fantasy books. dramas and thrillers often choose to stick to numbers or dates for their chapter titles. some authors also use a combination of names, dates, and numbers to give structure and form to their work.
Chapters are a fundamental structural tool for authors. Researching new and successful books in your genre can help you get an idea of how many chapters are generally expected in your chosen area. but keep in mind that your word count can also play a role in setting the number of chapters in your book.
As a general rule of thumb, novels between 70,000 and 90,000 words will probably have between 15 and 25 chapters. but in the end, the number of chapters in your book should be secondary to your story. As long as you have an engaging narrative, no reader (or editor, really) will care how many chapters you’ve packed into your novel.
Get more writing resources for new authors and self-publishers in our writing advice hub.
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