RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p><span class="h-card"><a href="https://zirk.us/@allisonwyss" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>allisonwyss</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://writing.exchange/@orionkidder" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>orionkidder</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://writeout.ink/@joehumphrey" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>joehumphrey</span></a></span> </p><blockquote><p>[R]eaders really do need breaks! And they like breaks! And sometimes it means they come back to the story even more ready for it.</p></blockquote><p>Not disagreeing, but I believe it important to force readers to choose.</p><p>I don't often stop reading a story never to pick it up again, but one thing -- other than it being a really bad story -- that will make me stop reading is a writer <em>resolving</em> stuff <em>before</em> a chapter break. Given a choice of stopping, I might. </p><p>Stop. </p><p><em>Permanently.</em></p><p>This stuff I'm discussing here I don't do consciously, I'll admit. This is an <em>analysis</em> of my writing. I'm an unabashed <em>pantster</em>, under the spell of loquacious characters living their lives breathlessly, barreling along toward their destiny (writing toward a known ending). I throw breaks when it feels right, but not after plot or character resolution! </p><p>Except... After the climax or denouement (penultimate chapter), and again at the end of the epilogue (end of story). </p><p>For me, <em>some</em> of what flags that I can chapter break is a sense of mystery, foreboding the character might be doing the wrong thing, or a cliffhanger in the action that will proceed subsequently at another time or place. Something to be curious about. </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>writers</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingCraft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCraft</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AmWriting" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AmWriting</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AmEditing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AmEditing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersofMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WritersofMastodon</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Writing</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingCraft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCraft</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Chapters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chapters</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Paragraphs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Paragraphs</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingConversations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WritingConversations</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writingTeacherConversations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>writingTeacherConversations</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/fiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fiction</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>writing</span></a></p>