Writing How can i 'start' and 'end' a chapter...?

Hence

New member
Joined
May 20, 2022
Messages
20
Points
3
It's frustrating!
So I have this step-by-step draft for every chapter
Let say
for chapter 1, this is how and what's going to happen.... yes, but bruh, I don't know how to start and make it to action!!
for god's sake....!!
Now I miraculously wrote my first chapter...
But...
SHORT! It only reached 500-800 words
And as result, I decided to add the supposed chapter 2. I want my word per chapter to be 1500+
Now the problem is, sometimes it falls short, and so I decided to add half of chapter 3
And now.... the words reached my specified number.
Now I don't know how to end the chapter, because when I live it as it is, it's kinda awkward to be considered a "Cliff-hanger"


Now I'm stuck in an endless loop. My detailed draft is slowly getting destroyed.

I don't know how to end the chapter.

Don't know how to make a cliffhanger

It was my first time writing a book, so please understand what I'm saying

My very problem is word count. - do you guys have a few tricks on how to 'lengthen' them without affecting the next chapter draft?

And another one is how to leave a cliffhanger and at the same time end the chapter properly 🥺

And oh, also, how to start a chapter 🙃
cuz it takes a lot of time to start a word


Lolol, hope you guys understand what I'm talking bout
 

SailusGebel

Well-known member
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Mar 7, 2020
Messages
8,878
Points
233
My very problem is word count. - do you guys have a few tricks on how to 'lengthen' them without affecting the next chapter draft?
Add the necessary descriptions, detail, and metaphors, and improve your dialogues.
 

aimless

Wanderer of Forums
Joined
Mar 13, 2022
Messages
231
Points
58
Basically, use a special tactic to prolong your chapters, specifically two:
1-Be an idiot like me and use ___ to end something and start another, e.g
‘’Hmm today I will do dumb stuff.’’
One dude said.

‘’Hmm, I agree! Any ideas?’’
the other replied.

‘’Hmm uh how about we go to a super duper secret meeting place and then wait for another dude our THIRD friend’’
‘’Ok’’
__
‘’Hmm now we’re at the super duper secret meeting place what now’’
‘’Let’s wait for the dude’’
Just as they say that a man comes running panting out of breath
‘’Dude I made it why’d u call me huh’’
‘’Uh we were bored and wanted to do soemtjjng so we called u btw’’
‘’Ok den wat do u wanto do???’
‘I want to uhh idk but well see i guess’’

done

and number two-
Describe things more vividly. You’ve probably heard this a billion times but the way to do it is to go through it and add description to anything that may seem unclear

the way for a cliffhanger is to make it end the chapter right when something has been discovered, e.g

‘’Dudes, guess what!’’
‘’hmmmm, wat’’
‘’The super duper rare stuff is here!’’
Chapter ends
 

Renaxan

Enthusiastic about a lot of things.
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
129
Points
83
Just stop whenever you feel that's good place to stop while writing a chapter. Ignore the wordcounts, just follow your feeling lol.

Try outlining first before writing, it might help since I never really got this problem as I always do outline first before filled it with words.

Also, My tricks to lengthened a chapter is to add more description to the scene without making it an infodump.
 
D

Deleted member 42060

Guest
Write first, add later.

Don’t worry too much about the word length. You can fix that later when your imagination gets wider. Sometimes my chapters have 500 words and sometimes 1,300—I end when I feel like it’s appropriate. I don’t really care about the consistency of my word length.

The first sentence of my first chapter is “My feelings were numbed.” The ending sentence is “I despised her.” You can already see the connection between the two sentences. The ending should relate to the beginning, always. The middle is just the meat of the chapter, and its mere purpose is to either entertain or inform the readers to keep them on their toes from start to finish.

If you want to lengthen the story, you can take advantage of the middle part: lengthen the dialogues, write the world with great detail, or describe how the characters are feeling or thinking right now.

Just rely on your instinct whether to end it or not. When you have no more to say, you can stop there and move on to the next chapter.​
 

Katsuya

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2021
Messages
183
Points
83
I get that sometimes. I mean, I guess you can extend it somehow- the event that is and like... and... ah, this is hard. hmm,

I mean, more descriptions work- making it detailed and stuff. Sorry, it seems I can't answer that very well.
It's frustrating!
So I have this step-by-step draft for every chapter
Let say
for chapter 1, this is how and what's going to happen.... yes, but bruh, I don't know how to start and make it to action!!
for god's sake....!!
Now I miraculously wrote my first chapter...
But...
SHORT! It only reached 500-800 words
And as result, I decided to add the supposed chapter 2. I want my word per chapter to be 1500+
Now the problem is, sometimes it falls short, and so I decided to add half of chapter 3
And now.... the words reached my specified number.
Now I don't know how to end the chapter, because when I live it as it is, it's kinda awkward to be considered a "Cliff-hanger"


Now I'm stuck in an endless loop. My detailed draft is slowly getting destroyed.

I don't know how to end the chapter.

Don't know how to make a cliffhanger

It was my first time writing a book, so please understand what I'm saying

My very problem is word count. - do you guys have a few tricks on how to 'lengthen' them without affecting the next chapter draft?

And another one is how to leave a cliffhanger and at the same time end the chapter properly 🥺

And oh, also, how to start a chapter 🙃
cuz it takes a lot of time to start a word


Lolol, hope you guys understand what I'm talking bout
I mean, it dosen't always have to a cliff hanger. It could always just end well. Like, for romance(or at least what i do sometimes),

*some event occurred and now the girl is flustered*

A looked at B and smiled.

How cute.

And done.

In my opinion endings are generally harder then starts. For starts, you could just add like something that happens later in the chapter. Like the main character bleeding after getting attacked by some new enemy.
 

HappyVainGlory

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
157
Points
83
It's frustrating!
So I have this step-by-step draft for every chapter
Let say
for chapter 1, this is how and what's going to happen.... yes, but bruh, I don't know how to start and make it to action!!
for god's sake....!!
Now I miraculously wrote my first chapter...
But...
SHORT! It only reached 500-800 words
And as result, I decided to add the supposed chapter 2. I want my word per chapter to be 1500+
Now the problem is, sometimes it falls short, and so I decided to add half of chapter 3
And now.... the words reached my specified number.
Now I don't know how to end the chapter, because when I live it as it is, it's kinda awkward to be considered a "Cliff-hanger"


Now I'm stuck in an endless loop. My detailed draft is slowly getting destroyed.

I don't know how to end the chapter.

Don't know how to make a cliffhanger

It was my first time writing a book, so please understand what I'm saying

My very problem is word count. - do you guys have a few tricks on how to 'lengthen' them without affecting the next chapter draft?

And another one is how to leave a cliffhanger and at the same time end the chapter properly 🥺

And oh, also, how to start a chapter 🙃
cuz it takes a lot of time to start a word


Lolol, hope you guys understand what I'm talking bout

Since you're stuck, here's a few suggestions on how to start and end chapters/scenes to get you going.

Start:
  • Start with your character doing something.
  • Open in the middle of action and then continue from there
  • Do a bit of narration to summarize events that happened previously/get the ball rolling
  • Start with describing the setting
End:
  • Have a character summarize what just happened
  • Stop with a big reveal
  • Stop at a point where it's uncertain what will happen next
  • Just stop
  • Stop wherever you feel like there's a lull and a good break point
 

TheEldritchGod

A Cloud Of Pure Spite And Eyes
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
2,810
Points
153
"STATEMENT"

Narrator Paragraph describing the statement.

Action.

More action

Digress into narrator to explain certain important plot points.

Action

More action








Many spaces then shocking cliff hanger. to make reader want to read next chapter.

(Sprinkle with humor)
 

Namike

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2022
Messages
35
Points
23
It's frustrating!
So I have this step-by-step draft for every chapter
Let say
for chapter 1, this is how and what's going to happen.... yes, but bruh, I don't know how to start and make it to action!!
for god's sake....!!
Now I miraculously wrote my first chapter...
But...
SHORT! It only reached 500-800 words
And as result, I decided to add the supposed chapter 2. I want my word per chapter to be 1500+
Now the problem is, sometimes it falls short, and so I decided to add half of chapter 3
And now.... the words reached my specified number.
Now I don't know how to end the chapter, because when I live it as it is, it's kinda awkward to be considered a "Cliff-hanger"


Now I'm stuck in an endless loop. My detailed draft is slowly getting destroyed.

I don't know how to end the chapter.

Don't know how to make a cliffhanger

It was my first time writing a book, so please understand what I'm saying

My very problem is word count. - do you guys have a few tricks on how to 'lengthen' them without affecting the next chapter draft?

And another one is how to leave a cliffhanger and at the same time end the chapter properly 🥺

And oh, also, how to start a chapter 🙃
cuz it takes a lot of time to start a word


Lolol, hope you guys understand what I'm talking bout
So I am gonna write a chapter as well so I think you should try talking more and describing more. Although it seems obvious and it seems like you have done it, you might have missed out on some things like an accurate detail on the character's appearance or their house. I think maybe have the drafts include describing sections so you don't repeat yourself or write too many descriptions. If there is a fight then describe it more, if there is a walking section describe the location they are going to and maybe a tad bit of world lore into it. I haven't tried my own advice but I will do it like this.
 

Coffeeporse67

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2022
Messages
3
Points
16
hello! You are probably already using this in your outline, but you can also try breaking the chapter down into the simple series of:

1. Introduction (Simple, either introduce your character(s) or setting, or maybe use a quote or some poem...something you feel can introduce the chapter, which, Idk, can just be: "It was a sunny morning", or "Camilia sat at the table, smiling as she watched her friend approach.")
2. Trigger event (think of it as an action that pushes the character/setting into a point of no return, a 'problem' so to say)
3. Rising action (Well, self-explanatory, this is kind of the rising tension in the story)
4. Climax (The tippy-top feeling when the problem reaches its crescendo and people wonder how it's going to be solved)
5. Resolution (how the problem gets solved, and where the readers get a break.)

I have no clue if this helps, I hope it does, but I use it when I don't know how to write a story or make a chapter interesting.
(and I still fail and am experimenting hehe)

And as for word count, just chuck that darn thing out the window. Just write according to your outline. If you get too fixated on numbers, you will lose your story, as you have stated. (I have been there, done that, just felt like my chapter was getting lost)
 
D

Deleted member 57675

Guest
Start with a hook.
End it with a cliffhanger.

Somewhere in the middle, make sure there is a crocodile. Your readers would love that.
 
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