I these days, people have less time to read. Most of us can’t sit down, 4 hours in a row, to read. Our reading will be sparse. We like to read, but we’ll read 4 or 5 pages here, another 3 or 4 pages there, etc.
Many people will read before sleeping. They will read 10, 15 or 20 pages. Reading needs to be planned like any other tasks we have to do daily.
Personally I like books with small chapters or books with pauses in chapters. I need it because I hate to lose track of my readings. If a book is wrote with small chapters, between 5 and 10 pages, or have pauses (2 carriage returns), I’ll be able to read them in minutes. Then, I’ll be able to read these short chapters between other daily tasks.
If I check the chapter I’m starting to read and see that he have 75 pages, I’ll certainly not start it for a 15 of 20 minutes of reading. Then I’ll wait until I’ll have the time to read it. It’s rare that I’ll have the time to read 75 pages in a row during a normal week of work. Then, the result will be that I’ll read less during this week.
Otherwise, if I’m starting to read and see that the chapter have 10 pages, I’ll be able to read it somewhere between two daily tasks. The result will be a greater reading time because I’ll be able to more effectively plan the reading of these small chapters with my other daily task.
I don’t think that I’m alone in this situation. Our world is changing and I think that authors will need to take this new fact in count when they will write their books. They will need to write smaller chapters to give their readers more flexibility to read their books. I think that authors like John Grisham understand this new need.
Max
May 3, 2005 — 7:23 pm
Great! I have never thought about it before.
Yes, we can use a bookmark, anyway reading for pleasure is not alway easy if you have to work and/or study, and short chapters could psicologically help us to plan our reading time.
BTW, one thing I always loved are the chapter titles; not all books have a title for each chapter, but I think they are a delicious anticipation of what you’re going to read, like watching at the menu card at the restaurant. It’s like blog’s post, isn’t it?
The question is: why so many writers use long chapters? It could be a style choice, of course. Sometimes, the author could desire to give a specific rhythm to the story; it’s like movies: the director could choice to show the facts in a few minutes, or – au contraire – to give the spectator the time to reflect while they happen.
I do think there’s a rhythm in any story, and this rhythm should be given by the author. A pause in reading, sometimes, could be like a second of silence in a musical composition: it’s void, but important.
At the other hand, I think very often (not always) there’s no logical reason to trunk a story in a point or the other. Sometimes it really seems casual. What do you think about?
Another reason for chapters’ length could be a technical one: expecially when you are not famous, the editors use to ask one or two chapters to evaluate your work. Then, if you want to show your talent, you can’t give him just ten pages, even beautiful.
Bye
Fred
May 3, 2005 — 7:24 pm
Hello Max! Great comment ๐
I love chapter titles too. I think in next years (10 or 20) the way to edit books will change according to blogs. We need the time to explore the concept and the way we’ll edit blogs; what’s the best way to do it. When blogs will get mature, I think that editors will incorporate some ideas in traditional books editing like chapter titles ๐
Many authors say: think simple. Create short sentences with short and meaningful words. I thing that this “minimalist” vision could be applicable in a more global view: the chapters.
Salutations,
Fred