Why do books have chapters?

[ElectricBlue]

It's slow news day in Australia (being Sunday as I write), and the news feed often has interesting snippets:

Why do books have chapters?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Terry Pratchett didn't have chapters in his books, because life doesn't come in chapters.

 

[Britva415]

Mine has

 

[mildlyaroused]

I've written novels without chapters, and novels with no page breaks (so that each chapter is just 3-4 pages on average). I guess it depends on the vibe of the story. Chapters give your reader a chance to breathe, which is useful if you don't want to bog them down in too much text... but they also give your readers a suitable spot to stop reading, if you're not careful!

 

[intim8]

Chapters perform any of the following functions, often but not always more than one: They are segments of the story with a given POV in a multi POV story. They are segments separated in time from each other, especially in stories where the timeline is not continuous. They are segments that occur in different settings. They are segments that are focused on either the main plot or a subplot or on one specific character (or subset of characters) among many. They are segments that have a buildup and climax of their own.

 

[Rustyoznail]

They also (used to?) give kids an excuse to stay up late. "But mum, I'm nearly at the end of the chapter and I really want to see what happens."

 

[OffNSFW]

Because dummies like me lose our place all the time and it's easier to remember "chapter 13" than, y'know, words or whatever.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's an interesting thing to ponder, because we take them for granted. I'm trying to think of a novel I've read that doesn't have chapters.

Chapters make a story more comprehensible and more enjoyable.

 

[ronde]

I've written some novels I haven't yet published, and I used chapters in much the same way that a play uses acts. A chapter is a break in the story caused by a scene change or a time change. Chapters are also used to introduce new characters important to the story or to tell the reader the backstory of one or more characters. Even in short stories some sort of break can be helpful to a reader. It's disconcerting to switch from one scene to another without some indication that something has changed. The reader will probably go back into the preceding text to see what they missed. I've started including a "break" character in my stories after several suggestions from commenters.

 

[nice90sguy]

life doesn't come in chapters

Mine has

I'm with Britva on this too. Also has "Acts". I'm at the start of Act III right now.

 

[TheLobster]

Mine has

How do you figure out what their titles are? Do they appear as road signs?

 

[StillStunned]

Life has days as its natural resetting moments.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's an interesting thing to ponder, because we take them for granted. I'm trying to think of a novel I've read that doesn't have chapters.

Chapters make a story more comprehensible and more enjoyable.

Lawrence Durrell has some tediously long paragraphs which go for pages without a break, but he does use chapters. He'd be fucked getting a story up here, though, because he's got walls of text, never follows the dialogue "new paragraph for each speaker" convention, and I'm sure he changes tense - but I'm too lazy to check.

I finally got through the Alexandria Quartet after the fourth try, but every thing else of his is a fail - I can't wade through the mud. But there's a perverse challenge to keep trying every five years or so. I think it's because the books are so wide on the bookshelf - "Well, we made it easy for you, you bastard, publishing the whole set in one cover, so at least you should read it."

 

[Bamagan]

I think it's interesting to consider in the context of how people like to parse things in order to think about them. For example, many people will not even try to actually read Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Partly that might be thanks to Welsh letters not always sounding the way English readers expect, but most people claim it's the length of the word that's daunting. But it's far shorter than a lot of sentences that people memorize as part of quotes or snippets of dialogue from favorite books and movies. Something about having the ideas divided up into morsels makes them more approachable, even when they actually wind up being many more syllables/letters than the above.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Pratchett's lack of chapters (for his adult books) is a real git when reading them as bedtime stories and you have to read ahead to figure out a good moment to stop.

He does often put an asterisk where other authors would put a new chapter, which is something. Actually, many authors use similar as a small section break - possibly more common with SF&F, which often doesn't follow a simple structure that could be moulded into chapters?

...many people will not even try to actually read Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. ... Something about having the ideas divided up into morsels makes them more approachable, even when they actually wind up being many more syllables/letters than the above.

It's the same with German or Swedish (other agglutinative languages exist). You have to look for familiar word endings within the word, and take it from there.
E.g. Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung - Fahrzeug (and other types of Zeug, thing) is a familiar word: vehicle. Kraftfahrzeug is a motor vehicle (Kraft is force or power). Ver- is a common prefix, in this case for Versicherung, insurance. Pflicht, duty. -Haft is a common suffix, making clear the bit before it is an adjective. So you have 'motor vehicle insurance requirement'. If you understand the concepts, the spaces are just visual style.

Same in Welsh, which I know next to none of and I'd call the place Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll like everyone else, but I can spot 'gwyn' (white) and a couple other syllable divisions in there.

 

[TheLobster]

At the risk of sounding extremely pedantic…

So you have 'motor vehicle insurance requirement'

No, it’s not the requirement, it’s the insurance itself (motor vehicle liability insurance, in US terms). “Haftpflicht” is a single atom there, meaning liability. “Kraftfahrzeug” is a noun, not an adjective, so “-haft” isn’t used in the way you suggested.

 

[StillStunned]

Why do motorcycle gangs have chapters?

 

[lovecraft68]

I didn't click the article because when I see a question posed, I answer based my opinion, and an article won't change it.

Chapters are for POV shifts, especially in novels with man characters and in different locations, they're to help when the tone of the story changes. They provide mini cliffhangers within the story to get the reader to not want to stop.

But if want to write without them, don't.

But articles like this push the author's agenda, and shouldn't affect what other people do. Writerly clickbait.

 

[Handley_Page]

Probably because Caxton, et al, had a limited supply of blank paper.

 

[StillStunned]

Probably because Caxton, et al, had a limited supply of blank paper.

Probably. Caxton really messed up Le Morte d'Arthur. I have his version, and Mallory's original, and the original makes so much more sense. (Disclosure: it's been a few decades since I studied either.)

 

[shelleycat1]

I could guess, the first printed book was the Bible, and that has chapters? Then everyone copied it. Why the bible has chapters, no idea.

 

[Abbafan]

I didn't click the article because when I see a question posed, I answer based my opinion, and an article won't change it.

Chapters are for POV shifts, especially in novels with man characters and in different locations, they're to help when the tone of the story changes. They provide mini cliffhangers within the story to get the reader to not want to stop.

But if want to write without them, don't.

But articles like this push the author's agenda, and shouldn't affect what other people do. Writerly clickbait.

I agree. I think of them a little like a fade out or other transition effect in a movie. They mark a transition point in the story.

 

[Britva415]

How do you figure out what their titles are? Do they appear as road signs?

Those are the sorts of bikeshed details I won't determine until the final draft. That's, like, decades away, man!

 

[Britva415]

I didn't click the article because when I see a question posed, I answer based my opinion, and an article won't change it.

It's not a persuasion piece, more like a "concise history of chapters, in digestible mini-chapters."

 

[Britva415]

most people claim it's the length of the word that's daunting

Not to mention the punishing consonant-to-vowel ratio.