That chapter was short....

Do you think about chapter breaks in novel writing?

I didn’t until I saw this piece on Emma Darwin’s Itchy Bitesized blog and started thinking about what I do.

I write until I think there’s an end of chapter coming up - a point where the story line is about to change. Most scenes come to an end naturally when there is no more to say without repeating what you’ve already said. On the other hand, I have occasionally written a long scene that goes across more than one chapter.  I need not say that sometimes I love doing a cliffhanger ending to a chapter!

Usually I have (without looking to check, which is unwise!) a chapter containing two scenes, occasionally more. I prefer not to do this, but occasionally it just works that way. Of course, those scenes will be short.

There might be a change of location necessary, or I want to change the POV and if all the other things concur, then a new chapter is a simple way of achieving both those things.

In a long reading life, I would say chapters in general and particularly in genre fiction are now a lot shorter than they used to be. I can remember reading in bed at night (often under the covers) anxiously waiting for a chapter to end so I could switch off and go to sleep. For me, in my books, chapters average out at between three and four thousand words. When I first began a decade or so ago, they averaged about five thousand, but reading modern books has influenced me without my noticing the change.

My Reading

 

These are the books I’ve read in the past few weeks:

Just like Heaven by Juia Quinn. Amusing in its way but I kept forgetting I was reading something set in Regency England. The conversations, and the language could have been in a contemporary novel.

The fine art of invisible detection by Robert Goddard. I always enjoy RG’s books. The main character of this one is a Japanese lady by the name of Umiko Wada who sets out to discover why her boss was killed. Kept me going back to it until I had the answer. A good read.

Revenge by Tom Bower. Ties together all the bits and pieces I’ve picked up on the internet over the last few years. Lots about Markle’s early years, during which her father paid for everything she wanted. Much less on what happened after the wedding.

The Cove by LJ Ross. Set in a make believe Kynance Cove in Cornwall where I spent many a happy teenage /early 20s holiday. A pleasant read, as ever, but I now have trouble remembering the plot.

Wild Child by Mary Jo Putney. Another historical romance. Doubtful about this at first when learning of a heroine who could not speak and was suspected of being retarded. But it seems she could, and did, and the story was different and interesting.

In the Blood by Steve Robinson A crime committed in 1803 resonates down to the present-day Cornwall and a genealogy hunter risks his life to solve the mystery and save a life. A good read.

All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. AIVAS IS discovered and the Red Star vanquished. An absorbing read. Her world of Pern is so real and I adore the talking dragons.

The Renegades of Pern by ditto. Lots of familiar, well-liked characters in this though the main thread is about Thrella’s leadership of a band of murdering rogues.

Sacrifice by Sharon Bolton. I read this on first publication and thought it great. Today I was less impressed, but of course its that annoying thing “I can’t remember the story line” but as each plot point unfolds, I recognise it and the surprise value was lost for me this time around.

The Decision by Penny Vincenzi. A monster of a book with 800+ pages. I used to read a lot of this genre when I was in my twenties and enjoyed it but by the time the end approached, I knew what was going to happen, for I had read it forty odd years ago!

The Jane Austen Pocket Bible by Holly Ivins. Interesting but a tad repetitive.

The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Entertaining. Lots of characters I recognise.

Reading Habit of the British

One in five Britons (21%) say they are avid readers

Two in five (43%) Britons say they read for pleasure at least once a week, with a third (35%) doing so multiple times and 19% of UK adults reading every day.

19% read everyday

15% between 2-6 days a week

8% one day a week

11% between 1-3 days a month

7% One day every 2-3 months

4% 1 day every 6 months

18% read less often than 1 day every 6 months

18% reported never reading at all.

34% of Brits over 55 claim they read at least once a day, compared to just 7% of 18 to 24-year olds.

Over a quarter (27%) of women read daily, compared to a sixth (13%) of men. 22% of men compared to 12% of women, say they never read.

Six in ten (60%) prefer to read paperback books;

47% choose hardback.

24% read e-books, but only 8% choose audio ( and that is hardly reading (in my view!)

Connor Ibbetson, Data Journalist. (https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/6bdezmb40i/YouGov%20-%20Books%20and%20Reading%20Results.pdf)

Riveting reads

Currently reading JoJo Moyes. Enjoyed Me Before You a couple of years ago, and  bought a couple of her titles at the supermarket last week expecting a good read. Sheltering Rain and Ship of Brides. Galloped through SR and enjoyed it but for feeling that the Kate character was a bit wet - but then, aren't we all from time to time? Loved the leaky old house, the old woman and her horse, and Sabine, the rebellious teenager.

But SofB is a different story. (Sorry, pun unintended) I cannot find an interest in any of the characters. It may be a true story, or a fictionalised version of a true story, but that doesn't make it a riveting read for me. Others may well think it's great, especially if grandparents turned out to be one of the Aussie war brides.

Strange how one tale grips and another doesn't. Same author, same writing style, format and price. Content is the thing that matters here, and it is an interesting pointer for all authors. As a reader I'm disappointed in my purchase; as a writer, I'm experiencing first hand why one title takes off and another flops. I have to say, knowing that someone as popular as Moyes can have a book I don't like much, is quite uplifting. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it is. What it says to me is that it  can happen to anyone, and that is comforting to me.

April Fool?

I picked this up from the Bookseller but I'm not sure it isn't an April Fool Day piece. Serious or not, the piece picks up on my vague feelings every time I visit a bookshop or the library ~ that there ought to be an international section where books using foreign countries as locations should be shelved. It would save me heaving a sigh as I replace countless tempting titles on the shelves. Exotic locations were once a big draw for me. Mary Stewart took me around the Mediterranean. Wilbur Smith showed me Africa, Evan Hunter displayed America. They did it well. But after so many years of reading I find that what used to be an avid curiosity about the rest of the world has faded. I'm read out on Iran and the Middle East, sampled Lin Yutang and Yukio Mishima, devoured countless stories set in the Indian subcontinent, Australia and the Pacific islands. Ireland, Sweden, Greece... the list goes on. Now I'm tired of trying on new roles, new lives, new cultures. What I want now is a good story set prior to 1900 in the UK, and believe me when I say they are very hard to find. (Ones that I haven't already read, of course.) The very young may find such exotic locales exciting and new, but for those of us who've been there and done that, come on, publishers ~ start thinking of the rest of the population profile. Give us what we want. Meanwhile, here's what was in the Bookseller: "Bookshops are facing quotas on the number of foreign authors they can stock as the government plans to launch a "British Books for British Readers" campaign. The Bookseller has learned Prime Minister David Cameron is set to give a speech today [1st April] outlining his latest iteration of the "Big Society". A DCMS spokesman said: "The publishing industry needs protecting from the Browns, Larssons and Meyers of this world. We think British literature should be celebrated, not swamped. Crime novels set in gloomy Scandinavian forests have an unfair advantage over our cosy domestic settings, so we have to level the playing field to protect this vital domestic industry." Under the plans, bookshops will only be able to hold 10% of stock from overseas authors. Using rules originally framed for international football, authors with British grandparents could qualify as British. The government is also examining the special case of Irish writers. While Northern Irish writers could controversially be classed as British, Irish authors such as James Joyce and Cecelia Ahern would fall foul of the proposed rules. Authors such as Kipling and Orwell, both born in India to British parents, or J G Ballard, born in China, would remain eligible. The status of British authors who move overseas or adopt "foreign" writing styles, like Lee Child, remains a grey area. Foreign publishers reacted quickly to the news. "We don’t have to take any more Alexander McCall Smith or Jeffrey Archer you know," said Danish editor Uwe Binhad of Loof Lirpa Associates." I think the tone tells me it's a bit of spoofery.

Granularisation?

Have you heard of granularisation?
No, I hadn’t either. Until I peeked at the Bookseller. Evidently it’s the new trend - 'splitting content into shorter and smaller bits so that revenue can be increased and at the same time cater effectively to the digital consumers who read less deeply and who often want information in byte-sized chunks.'

If this goes on, we’ll all be reduced to writing a book of less than 140 words. Twittering, indeed. What of any importance can be said in 140 words?
Some publishers, including Cambridge University Press, now write contracts that ensure permission to employ granularisation as it suits them. And it isn’t happening only to non-fiction. Short stories are becoming increasingly tempting to publishers. Nora Roberts is being short-storied now, if you’ll excuse the flagrant disregard of the rules of English grammar. (But hey, if sportspeople can medal these days, why can’t authors be storied?)

They say it allows people to try an author’s voice and see if they like it before they buy a more expensive normal-length book. But really, if I wanted to try an author’s voice, I’d test it in a bookshop by reading the first page – ha! That’s why first pages are so important! Or I’d spend £6.99 and buy the wretched thing. After all, in these days of cinema tickets costing around £8.50, DVDs £17 and a glass of wine selling at somewhere around £4, it’s not the cost that stops people buying, believe me.

It’s not rocket science. People will buy a short story because they want something short. Some people like short stories, others hate them. Busy mums are said to like Mills & Boon because they’re pick upable in the periods of peace and put downable in the periods of action in a home with small children, amongst other reasons. But I reckon the busy mum wants something that will keep her attention longer than thirty minutes. How many times have you heard someone say ‘it was just getting interesting when it finished?’

I’d almost be willing to take a wager that short stories by Nora Roberts will suit only those confirmed readers of short stories. The rest of us will avoid them like the plague.

I was getting quite interested in World Book Night on 5th March, following the thirty minute discussions between Ann Robinson and various readers on BBC tv with interest. Now I find that there is a hoo-ha over the whole thing. Read: www.stateofindependents.co.uk/2011/02/world-book-night-fail/ including the comments and see what you think.

Writers and readers

Do writers read books? I read fewer these days. Or rather, I finish fewer books. Returning six items to the library last week, I read only two cover to cover.

The other four didn’t hold my interest, and the reasons they didn’t were varied. Too much unneeded information, too little story; too gruesome; too boring; too little/too much character description; an unrealistic storyline plus downright inaccuracies. If this sounds far too critical, let me add that the things that turn me off a story may be just the thing to capture and hold your interest. Who knows?

Gabaldon’s novels are always long, and Echo in the Bone was no exception. The 1000+ paperback kept me entertained all through the Christmas break. I skim-read the bits on the American War of Independence, because not knowing the *real* characters and being geographically challenged as to where things were happening made that part of the story a blur for me, but the story about the fictional characters was endlessly interesting. I grew curious about how old Clare is at this stage of the story*, and looked for the first novel Cross Stitch (now called Outlander in the US) in order to check it out.

Checked the library, no result; passed a charity shop and popped in on impulse and immediately found myself in a discussion of How Could Clare Sleep with Lord Grey after Jamie’s Death, and hadn’t that ruined the whole series for me? Well, no, it didn’t. Who knows what we’ll do in deepest grief? I find Gabaldon’s character psychology so true and occasionally so deep that it makes me think hard about what she’s saying. I never noticed this in her earlier novels, and now I wonder if that was because the younger me didn’t see it, or the younger Gabaldon did not write such pieces.

* At the youngest, early fifties. At the oldest, approaching seventy. Unless, of course, going through the stones keeps you miraculously young, like HRT.