Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Today’s topic is: How do you determine where to end a chapter?

And remember to visit my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

I’ve read a whole load of opinions on this one. Generally it seems a lot of people seem to think that there is a certain wordcount you should use as your guideline for ending your chapter, or your book for that matter. I have a simpler approach. It’s done when it’s done.

I think that chapters can and should be broken up in the case of longer ones with scene breaks, but I don’t necessarily subscribe to the concept that they should be a specified length. When the action or the scene shifts vastly, a new thread of narrative takes shape, then a new chapter makes total sense.

Ultimately, when I’m writing I find that the story tells me when it’s ready for a change, and I’m happy to roll with that.