McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Ending a chapter

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Wolfie:
Thanx you guys. I'll have to read this in a bit more detail on the couch. (works for me)

I'm getting to see how a chapter should make a break in the storyline.

Thanx again!

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
Every chapter ending being a cliffhanger gets annoying really quickly, with the possible exception of one Roger Zelazny novel the title of which escapes me, and fast-moving wise-cracking exciting was something Zelazny on form was about as good at as it's possible to be. From somebody who isn't that good, it can make a book read like a Road Runner cartoon, which doesn't really help with taking things seriously; if nothing else, putting people in jeopardy too often, and having them escape time and time again, kind of undercuts how credible the jeopardy actually is.

I'm usually with the theory of ending a chapter on a scene break, not for any carefully thought-out reason, but because that's what comes naturally to me.

Wolfie:
Really? Wow, I never looked at a story this way. I'm starting to warm up to it.  ;D before you know it, I might start writing myself. (instead of the very short stories that never seem to grow into books)

Abstruse:
Jim has a thing about leaving chapters in cliffhangers which is great for making you want to keep reading, but is horrible for people like me who read while waiting on the bus or on lunch at work or whatever.  It's REALLY hard to put it down because there's very few good stopping places.  Take Summer Knight for example.  You think you've got a stopping point after the attack at the park, but then it goes right into the meeting with Mab.  That's too interesting to put down, so you keep reading.  Maybe after he leaves the office...but wait, next up is the Council meeting, really want to know what that's about.  And after that, a great stopping place, right?  Nope, then Elaine pops up!  Well shit, have to see where this is going.  Maybe after this...no, no, Morgan shows up...

So I miss two buses until I get to a real stopping point and remember to look up and see my bus driving up.  The moral of the story?  It's good to make your reading want to keep turning the pages, but you also need to make sure they can stop for a while if they need to.

The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.

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