How To Be More Intentional With Chapter Structure

Chapter structure, like plot structure, is key to achieving a believable and engaging narrative. There’s a lot out there on how to create a strong plot, but we don’t see as much attention paid to chapter arcs. In the same way that a novel has to hit certain beats, maintain an engaging pace, and find balance between scene and narration, so do the individual chapters. Here’s how to make sure your chapters are complete and doing as much work for you and your story as possible.

A chapter is like a story within the story …

What Is A Chapter?

First, before we dive into the contents of the chapter, let’s talk about what a chapter is supposed to be. As you know, chapters break up the story into smaller more palatable sections. They make keeping your place in a book easier as you come and go to the story throughout your day. Chapters also guide readers through the narrative in an intentional way by acting as “press pause, press play” moments.

Take a 200-page novel as an example. If there were no chapters, just words from page one to the end, it would feel like you’re reading one long continuous elaborate thought. That’s perfectly fine – might leave you feeling out of breath and stumbling to parcel through what you just consumed, but fine nonetheless. Now, imagine how much more organized those same 200-pages would feel if they had breaks – if you were told when to pause, what is a complete thought/moment, and you knew what images/scenes/situations stand apart from others and why.

Even though your story should have a sense of continuity, and the transitions between chapters should be seamless so that you don’t knock your readers out of the narrative, chapters are your chance to tell the reader to pause. In that pause, readers will take a breath, wrap up the complete thought/moment of the chapter, and understand where they are in the story and why they are there. Then, they’ll turn the page to the next chapter and press play.

The beginning and end of your chapters should work like seamless and intentional transitions. Now, let’s talk about what happens in between.

Plot Development Tools Inform Chapter Structure

Chapters are parts of a whole. Each one functions like a story within the story, using its own message to inform readers about the larger message of the narrative. So, as a story within the story, each chapter has to have a clear chapter structure – a beginning, middle, and end and a specific goal. The goal can range from something simple, like introducing the main character to testing the message and affirming for readers why they experienced your story. These goals are informed by where you are in the plot and what you need to do to keep the story moving forward.

Once you know WHAT you want to have happen in a chapter, then you can ask yourself HOW best to express/accomplish that goal in a well-rounded way. Let’s use the goal of a character introduction as an example. In the name of show don’t tell and kicking off a steady pace for the opening of the novel, you’re not simply going to introduce a protagonist by saying “This is Susie.” You’ll characterize her through her actions and reactions in scene (the scene being thought out based on the fact that this is the beginning of the novel). You might write one scene or multiple, either option just has to be accomplishing the chapter goal while also working toward the larger goal of the story.

In terms of the chapter arc, you’ll OPEN by showing us the character. Once we see the physical character moving through the world of the story, you’ll use the MIDDLE portion of the chapter to convey who she is (creating some essence). For this specific example, the middle portion doesn’t have to give readers everything there is to know about the character, but just enough information that they become invested in her. Then, the chapter will END, and readers will take a breath – having just met the protagonist and learned something about her that they’ll digest before pressing play and continuing on to the next chapter.

One More time, for the People in the Back!

To break it down, chapters – like the narrative at large – have a goal and have to pursue that goal in an intentional and well-written way. Once you establish what the goal is, you use the arc – or chapter structure – to execute it. The chapter itself marks a complete moment in the story, and readers are guided by the beginning and ending transitions of the chapter to know when a moment is complete. Even if the next chapter opens in continuation of where we left off in the prior chapter (even if the character runs headfirst into a cliffhanger at the end of one chapter and the next chapter opens with them still metaphorically hanging from the cliff three minutes later) the chapter break still signals a pause for the readers.

That pause allows your readers to wrap their head around what just happened, developing their understanding of your narrative every step of the way instead of feeling like they’re being pushed along without a chance to breathe. By consuming your narrative in bite-size chunks, the chapter message will be easier to digest and the novel theme will be clear and earned (and easy explain to other potential readers!).