Photo by Justine Camacho on Unsplash
Disclaimer: Hey there! It’s safe to assume that links in this article are affiliate links for which I may get paid a commission should you make a purchase (but there is never any extra cost to you!). For example, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. There may be other affiliate links, too, but you can be sure that they are for products I use and love myself! It’s not about the money. It’s about sharing my favorite things!
Mastering the Art of Chapter Breaks: How to Keep Your Readers Engaged
I think all readers would agree, there’s nothing better than a book that is so wonderful it makes you say “just one more chapter” — over and over again.
There’s something special about those hooks at the end of each chapter that make it so you must turn the page, or else. But what else goes into the magic of chapters that captivate readers and keep them engaged? What should writers avoid when it comes to their chapters? Keep reading to find out all the chapter-related “dos and don’ts,” wisdom I’ve accumulated as a developmental editor.
What is a Chapter?
Chapters are simply a way to divide a book into smaller parts. While not strictly necessary, people do tend to like things in more digestible parts. A TV show that has an ongoing story is basically divided into chapters.
Chapters also create natural stopping points. A reader with limited time will often read to the end of the chapter and then stop reading, because it’s a good spot to stop, kind of like a commercial break in a TV show being the perfect time to go get a snack or take a trip to the bathroom. (Though these days, we might just hit the pause button to take a break!)
While chapters (usually) can’t be avoided entirely, you don’t want to make it too easy for the reader to put the book down and walk away. So, we look for ways to make it harder to put the book down, even when they do reach the end of a chapter. Let’s look at some options for doing so below.
End Chapters with a Hook
What exactly is a hook? Most writers who have studied their craft know that a hook is that thing that grabs readers, leaving them with open questions that drag them further into the book. Writers are taught to start a book in the right place, often in the middle of action or tension, or with something so intriguing that the reader needs to know more — with a hook. But that’s the beginning of the book. What does that have to do with chapters?
In a chapter, a hook may just be a few sentences at the end that entice the reader to keep going, leaving them with story-forward questions or shocking them into needing to know what happens next.
Here’s a great example from House of Earth and Blood, a fabulous fantasy novel by Sarah J. Maas:
Wings splaying, lightning erupting, Hunt threw himself over Bryce as the world shattered.
If that doesn’t make you want to turn the page to immediately find out what happened…I don’t know what would.
The ending to each chapter should be a hook, dragging the reader into the next chapter. It’s that thing that, at the end of that “one last chapter,” makes them turn the page anyway, because they must find out what happens.
The thing with chapters, as mentioned earlier, is that they create a natural stopping place. Hooking your readers is super important these days. Everyone’s attention span is short, and if you want to keep your readers engaged with your novel, avoid giving them reasons to put the book down!
Scenes Don’t Necessarily Equal Chapters
It can seem logical to have each scene be the length of a chapter, or alternatively, to just make sure your chapters end at the end of a scene.
What many writers miss is the great opportunity to use something in the middle of a scene as a hook to drag the reader into the next chapter. Find a body? Great place to end a chapter! Character’s boss tells them “You’re fired!”? Fabulous place to end a chapter! What reader would be able to resist turning the page to see what happens next?
When looking for a great hook, consider ending a chapter in the middle of the scene. Then, pick up the scene again at the beginning of the next chapter.
Length Matters – Writing Too Short
I know this is going to lead to the question: “How long should my chapters be?” My feeling is this that your chapters need to be long enough to keep the readers interested, to convey the right pacing for the book and what’s going on at any given moment, and to end in the appropriate spot to provide the maximum hook-factor possible. This may vary from book to book, or even throughout the same book.
Chapter lengths set the pace for a book. Longer chapters can feel meandering and slow, like a leisurely stroll through a forest. Whereas shorter chapters can feel fast and suspenseful.
A client of mine, writing a great cozy mystery, wrote chapters that were made up, mostly, of just one scene apiece. So, the average chapter length was about three to four pages, sometimes shorter. Unfortunately, the author hadn’t been getting any bites from agents. I determined that a lot of it probably had to do with the pacing…and it was mainly tied to the chapter length.
Agents (and readers) need to be hooked from the very beginning. However, in this particular book, some of the biggest reveals, those that provided the amateur sleuth protagonist with the motivation to solve this mystery, didn’t take place until the end of the fifth or sixth chapter, since they were all so short.
The very short chapters in her novel also provided readers with plenty of spots to “take a break,” which we definitely don’t want to encourage! With not much happening in each chapter nearer the beginning of the book, and since each chapter involved only a short scene, I recommended combining multiple scenes into a chapter. This created longer chapters, so readers had more time to get invested in the story and the main character, before being given a point at which to decide whether to stop or keep reading and to make sure that each chapter actually moved the story forward. We, additionally, looked for better, more hook-like, endings for each chapter.
Giving readers time to get immersed in the story is key. Imagine if you were allowed to watch a two-hour movie only ten minutes at a time before having to shut it off and take a break of anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It would probably take you a lot longer to get into the movie (if ever), to get to know the characters, or to get hooked on the story it’s trying to tell. Super short chapters can cause the same problem.
That’s not to say that shorter chapters aren’t ever a good thing. Shorter paragraphs can give the illusion of tension or action, leading the reader to feel like they’re being pulled along with the action, moving faster and faster, through the story. This is a great way to create a sense of movement.
Same goes for chapters. Suspense novels and thrillers may have shorter chapters nearer the end of the book or any time the action picks up…because there are more hooks, pulling the reader into the next chapter and the next and the next.
However, when things are slower-paced, short chapters can make a book seem boring. Having short chapters, during which not much happens—especially if they don’t end on a proper hook—just means a bored reader, who has more opportunity to shut the book and go do something else. Oops! Just read another chapter where nothing really happened! Time to go do something more fun!
Worst-case scenario is that the reader just simply gives up entirely and puts the book down for good.
Length Matters – Writing Too Long
Conversely, chapters that are too long can make readers feel like they’re running a marathon or swimming underwater for too much time without being able to surface for a breath.
Instead, make sure you purposely craft your chapters to be long enough to get your reader invested in the story, but not so long as to feel aimless.
Ideally, chapters need to serve more than one purpose. Three of the most important purposes are to add to character development, advance the story, and to provide the information a reader needs to understand what’s happening.
If you suspect your chapters may be too long, look for hooks you might have missed. Or, look for extraneous information. Have you dumped a bunch of unnecessary backstory or character details? Be sure that you’re not over-describing the setting or fluffing the book up with unimportant information. More isn’t always better.
Be sure to provide your reader with some breathing room. More can definitely work, as long as it fits the pace of the story, balanced with giving the reader time to process.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Start and End Chapters in Bed
Okay, maybe if you’re writing a romance or erotica, you could start and end your chapters in bed and get away with it. But I wouldn’t recommend it for most authors.
One client of mine was struggling with her manuscript. It felt boring to her (and to beta readers). When I read it, I realized the problem was partially with her chapter pacing.
She started and ended each chapter in what I knew she felt was a logical manner (particularly as a newer writer). Each chapter opened with the protagonist waking up and ended with the protagonist going to bed. It made sense to her to have each chapter cover a day in time.
Unfortunately, this logical sequence of events only works for us humans. In most commercial fiction, starting with a character waking up and closing with the character going back to sleep does nothing to keep the reader from closing the book.
Ending a chapter with the character going to sleep is more likely to make the reader think to themselves, “Well, nothing’s going to happen for the next eight hours, so this is a good place to stop.” After which, they shut the book and get some sleep themselves.
Instead, create chapter breaks that lure the reader into the next chapter. Stop in the middle of tension or action, leaving the reader with questions they simply must have answered or they know they won’t be getting any sleep themselves!
What If You Don’t Know Your Hooks?
What if you don’t know where your chapters should end, or you aren’t sure you actually have hooks with which to coax readers on to the next chapter? Don’t worry about it too much in your first draft. Just put the chapter endings where you think they should go. They can always be moved later.
Some writers even write the whole book without putting any chapters in, which can help if you struggle with figuring out how to divide up your novel, by not forcing you to think in terms of chapters and, instead, just allowing you to tell the story in whatever way feels most natural.
Once you have your draft written, and you know where your plot points are and how your character develops, you can go back during the editing phase and look for hooks on which to end your chapters. You’ll have a better idea of the pacing at that point and if you need some chapters to be longer and some shorter to convey that pace.
Remember, too, that hooks aren’t all about stumbling over a dead body or being in grave danger. For example, if you’re writing a contemporary romance novel, your hooks may involve more internal story questions than some kind of tension or action.
An example of a great hook that’s not a matter of life and death, is in Beginner’s Luck, by Kate Clayborn:
I don’t even get out a hello before Alex says, “Kit. I’ve got bad news.”
Barely three hours later, I’m on a plane.
Sometimes things will flow just right, and other times, you’ll have to put in some effort to make sure you’re giving the reader every reason to keep reading and no excuses to stop.
A hook can be anything that makes the reader want to find out what happens next. Ensuring that your chapters end on hooks can make your books the ones that readers lose sleep over!
Work with me!
Whether preparing to self-publish or to start the submission process, I’m here to help! You can Request a Quote today. If I think we might be a good fit, I’ll provide a 3- to 5-page sample edit of your manuscript to show you what I can do for you!