RARA-AVIS: Re: How important are chapters?

From: terry bowman (foolesgold@gmail.com)
Date: 02 Jul 2008

  • Next message: Rob Kantner: "RARA-AVIS: Re: How important are chapters?"

    This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart. I don't have a problem with the way anyone else formats their books, but I am moving away from numbering and/or naming chapters. While the words will always be the most important element in any story, the way the words fall on the page can add or detract from the overall appeal of the book. Being an old slam poet and spoken word guy probably gives me this view.

    I'm playing with dropcaps as a way to go from scene to scene, while using line breaks to pause or skip within a scene. But I believe that there is no true 'right' or 'wrong' in this matter. It's all aesthetics and personal preference.

    tb

    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Rob Kantner" <rob@...> wrote:
    >
    > Like many, I've always segmented books into chapters. Sometimes
    > chapter breaks are consistent with episode breaks, sometimes not. My
    > habit has been to put a chapter break at a place where there's an
    > element of suspense that will propel the reader to start the next
    > chapter rather than picking that place to quit reading.
    >
    > But I've had the thought, in working on the new one -- how important
    > is it to break a book into chapters? If you have episodes with an
    > obvious break in between them, what is the point of also designating
    > chapters with numbers, etc.? Back in the day, chapters often had
    > titles, which when done right provided another element of suspense.
    > That's not done much any more (and I've never done it).
    >
    > Longwinded way of asking the wizards of RA, especially as readers: how
    > important is it, in your mind, for a book to be divided into chapters?
    >
    > Thanks,
    > Rob Kantner
    > www.robkantner.com/
    >



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