A client has me thinking about chapters.
Chapters can feel essayistic (coving a topic) or episodic (covering an event). Some writers care most about their length.
I consider their shape & how they make patterns & how the breaks influence a reader's experience.
They're kind of arbitrary like paragraphs--which is fun.
How do you think about chapters?
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@allisonwyss And yet when you read a book without chapters, like "Mrs. Dalloway" you notice their absence. Though it's not to the book's detriment — it'd be really weird with chapters.
I feel in most novels though they're a service to the reader and a convenience to the writer. How often do I organize my reading time around a chapter break? And how often does an author use it to make time/location jumps?
My god, how would you chapter Mrs. Dalloway? It would be like slicing into a brain.
They're kind of like violence when you get to one, aren't they?
It's been a while since I've read it too.
Allison Wyss
Colorblind Cowboy