On chapter length

A few folks have asked if I've moved to shorter chapters so that I can write one chapter in one day's writing session. The answer is most definitely, no. I thought I'd give a bit more information, though, about why that's the case.

First, I don't plan chapters during my outlining. Instead, I plot in a sort of top-down fashion. I start with a very brief, almost elevator-pitch version of the whole story. I then break that story into what strike me as the major parts of the tale. (Overthrowing Heaven has eight of these.) I then write key action, characterization, and setting notes as text summaries in paragraphs in the plot outline. It's tempting to believe that these paragraphs would turn into chapters, but they don't; again, there's no relationship.

The way I pick chapters is simple: As I'm writing the book, I look for moments that will both close one door and almost--almost, but not quite--open another, and I end chapters at those moments. My goal at the end of each chapter is simple: To entice you, to pull you along, to make you want to read the next one. That's it. I love reading books at night, and I love books that always make me want to read one more chapter, so I'm trying to write them. If I can do that, I'll be happy. My test reader is me; if a chapter ending doesn't make me think hard about and yearn to write the next chapter, it isn't right yet.

Finally, I routinely stop a day's work well before the end of a chapter. I don't think I've ever stopped in the middle of a sentence, but I've stopped in the middle of paragraphs, sections, and chapters. Time and, occasionally, stamina determine when I stop writing, not chapter boundaries.

And now, back to the middle of one of the final few chapters of draft 1 of Overthrowing Heaven!