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Finding your beat

 

Many authors want to know how long a chapter or 
paragraph should be. Some ask when they should
start a new paragraph.

Writers need to find a beat, much like music. Your
writing should flow like music.

Of course a new chapter should start if the POV
(point of view) is going to change, although this is
not 100% of the time true, it is a good standard
rule to follow for most writers. But there is no general
rule on chapter length. A book may have chapters
that are long and short. I've had chapters go on for
over thirty pages with a four page chapter following it.
A chapter should be as long as it takes for you to get
that part of the story told. Some times a chapter will
hold many scenes grouped together and at other
times a chapter may only be one single scene. My
novels change POV from chapter to chapter, which
makes it easy for me to know when to start the next
chapter. Like a beat in music I can feel when it is time
to end the chapter and move on to the next one.

Long paragraphs are frowned upon, readers don't want
to struggle through a page length paragraph. If you
find this type of paragraph in your writing then you
need to look closely at the suspect paragraph and see
if there is a way you can break it up by adding dialogue
or character thoughts. Keep the reader interested, that's
the name of the game. When using dialogue always
start a new paragraph when the dialogue changes from
person to person. Don't have two people speaking within
the same paragraph, this will confuse the reader and is
not proper style.

The key to writing is finding your own beat, a beat your
readers will also feel causing them to want to turn the
page and keep reading, making it difficult for them to
put your book down.

Last Updated (Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:53)

 
The Bastard's Plaything
Author Brian R. Smith's site featuring his fiction novels. Read reviews, news, and purchase his books.