Katie asked Jacqueline Pawl:

How do you know when to create a new chapter?

Jacqueline Pawl I like to picture each chapter like scenes in a movie--each one, no matter how short or long, has to have some purpose or somehow further the plot. I don't outline a lot of my books ahead of time and instead prefer to 'see where the characters take me', so to speak.

(And it definitely isn't perfect on the first try. Even bestselling authors write multiple drafts of the same books.)

I--and a lot of authors--like to end on really strong lines or have really important scenes span multiple chapters; it's a great way to make the reader not want to put the book down at the end of a chapter.

Also--just my preference--I like to have all my chapters around a similar length, so when a single chapter reaches around 10 pages in Microsoft Word, I know to wrap it up and begin a new chapter. Not everyone does the same, but I think it looks a lot better in the finished product.

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