A brief history of (my) writing

Chapters vs. scenes

What's the difference between scenes and chapters?

That's what I'll talk about today.

And yes, we'll briefly touch upon chapter length, which for some reason, is one of the most popular talking points between Wattpad writers.

The TL;DR version:

Chapters are arbitrary divisions and do not affect the story in any way. 

You could, in theory, write an entire book WITHOUT chapters (and there are actual books that do this), although I wouldn't recommend it. Chapters are there to help the reader by structuring the story into edible chunks.

Scenes are the essential building blocks of your story.

Sometimes a single scene makes up a whole chapter. Other times, several scenes make up a single chapter. You could also have a single scene go over multiple chapters, but in practice, this is not as common. I suppose you could also envision a short story that's basically a single scene, but that's not relevant here.

The somewhat longer version:

CHAPTERS

Chances are every single novel you've ever read has chapters. Unless you've read "Ulysses" by James Joyce, for example. If you have, you have my sympathies. But you will also understand why chapters are such a great way to organize your story.

Chapters give the reader some breathing space, show them places where it's good to take a little break, gather their thoughts, and maybe grab another coffee before plunging back in. This may sound minor, but if you're anything like me, you don't like putting down a book mid-chapter, and would much rather read on until the author declares: take a break.

This brings us to THE most popular subject among WP writers: What is the perfect chapter length?

While there is no definitive answer to that (sorry), you can't go wrong with the following: SHORTER IS BETTER, BUT NOT TOO SHORT.

I'm talking WP/webnovels in general vs. traditional books here. It seems that readers have a somewhat shorter attention span while reading on a device as opposed to a physical book. I know I do. I've also heard it said that younger readers (who make up the majority of WP readers) want shorter chapters. That could be true, but I actually find I prefer shorter chapters as I've grown older...

So maybe 1500-2000 words, give or take, is about right for a WP novel. A range of 3000-4000 words is probably more in line with your typical physical novel, although this varies quite significantly.

Now that we've talked about length, let's talk about how to structure your chapters:

The overarching goal is to organize your chapters in a way that will build anticipation and thereby bring them back/keep them reading.

To that end, it's a good idea to build some form of tension toward the end of each chapter. Some say that each chapter should have a cliffhanger, but I feel that term is too strong. If you try for actual cliffhangers for EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER, it's quickly going to feel extremely contrived for your readers, and they might drop the story as a result.

So, tension is good, but use true cliffhangers sparingly!

But how do I create tension, I hear you say. Through conflicts - internal or external - but that's a topic for another post.

SCENES

Scenes are the building blocks of your story. This is where you blend action, descriptions, dialogue, reflection, and exposition together to create a compelling narrative.

Each scene can be thought of as a mini-story, with a beginning, middle, and end. It focuses on one event or situation. A scene usually has a limited number of characters (and sometimes just one, your MC) that are in the spotlight. 

But you can't just throw together a bunch of random scenes and expect the reader to be invested in your story. If we take the building block analogy one step further, you have to make sure your pieces fit together so that the house you're building becomes an actual house, rather than a pile of rubble.

I realize that was very vague, which is a problem with all analogies and allegories, so let's get concrete. 

Every scene should do at least one of these things:

- Move the main plot forward.

- Move a sub-plot forward.

- Help a character (often the MC, but could be other major characters) learn/grow/transform (also character development, although the entirety of that development is often called a character's arc).

- Tell the reader something about the world (also called exposition).

- Set up a future plot point (also called foreshadowing).

A scene where your main character meets some random minor characters that have no real bearing on the story, in a location that's cool but ultimately doesn't matter, and we learn nothing new about the MC or the world, is a wasted scene. It's just you, the writer, indulging yourself. Scrap the scene altogether, or find a way to change it so it fulfills the criteria for good scenes.

A scene ends when the story moves to a new location, skips forward (or sometimes backward) in time, or there is a new point of view. 

It's also possible to have a scene shift if there is a significant change in the situation, such as a major plot twist taking place. Let's say the heroes are confronted by the villain, and after a battle, the big bad reveals some information that completely upends what the heroes thought they knew. The battle is one scene, but the dialogue and the aftermath are another, even if the place/time/actors are the same.

A quick note about slice-of-life stories: It's fine to have some "filler scenes," but if you want to tell an actual story with a satisfying buildup and conclusion, you can't do this for all your scenes. it just doesn't work.

Writing/editing tip: Focus on your scenes, not your chapters. 

Don't completely disregard chapters, however, as you need them to break the story into edible chunks. Plus, a good chapter structure can help build tension.

Focusing on scenes allows you to make sure every part of the narrative has a purpose and helps create a story where plot points happen seamlessly and don't feel contrived or coincidental.

I hope you found this post engaging and thought-provoking.

Now go write something.

Felix