Do Books Need Chapters

  

 A recent question surfaced during a writer's chat – Are chapters necessary when writing a book. Short answer? NO. The novel is a free form of writing which means exactly that. The author is free to tell the story in any form they want. The caveat is – the reader.

I'll not go into the history of writing. I was not thrilled using leather or papyrus with their limiting space. However, the chapter developed in those days because of space.

There are several reason to break a novel into chapters. One reason most put forth is that they make navigation and place marking easy. My wife is an avid reader, and some books put her to sleep, which of course, generally drop to the floor. Knowing the chapter she has been reading facilitates quickly finding the lost place and resuming the read . . .  until falling asleep again.

Chapters are useful in dividing the action or subject matter. In effect, they become similar to movie scenes. For instance, let's imagine a story with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. We introduce the crime, bring on Holmes & Watson, Holmes investigates the scene, potential suspects are introduced, Watson goes to his laboratory to analyze whatever, the suspects are brought together, and the perpetrator is uncovered. Placing each of these in separate sections or chapters helps the reader navigate through the story.

In a story under construction, changing viewpoint is very effective in describing events leading up to and during a battle. A lot goes on, each element of the action is important to each of the others, like a basket of writhing snakes. Some elements take longer to develop and describe so they become chapters. Other elements are like vignettes, but the reader needs to be alerted to a sudden change in the narrative, thus the use of * * *, ~ ~ ~, - - -, extra spaces, whatever, between paragraphs.

In another novel, the protagonist is introduced, his problem, the reason for running away from home. Some other important characters are introduced/mentioned, and his running away from home. Next chapter – his wanderings in a world away from home, other important characters are introduced, and the discovery of his real problem that puts him at odds with an unknown antagonist. Chapter three – developing skills for survival against the antagonist. It goes up and down hill from there.

In each chapter, there is an obvious change in the action and subject matter. They cover a particular period of time. It is possible to jump ahead or back, depending on the voice chosen for the tale, or switch to the actions of characters away from what is happening to the protagonist.

The key is that the reader should be alerted to these shifts. Yes, readers are generally intelligent enough to figure it out, but they have been conditioned by books, plays, screen, and TV stories to expect chapters and scenes to help them remain organized. Even in longer short stories, it is advisable to denote a break in viewpoint by using a physical notice as mentioned earlier. The reader is then comforted knowing that, “Hey! We're leaving here and going over there.”

A final note. A chapter does not necessarily have a beginning, middle, and end as the completed book does. Also, it can be short (I've seen as little as one paragraph). Interestingly, I have written many short stories where the requirement is about 3,000 to 3,500 words. When doing a novel chapter, guess the length I have unconsciously written? That's not to say there the reader won't find shorter or longer chapters. Word count is only the by-product of what is needed to tell that particular part of the story.