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/lit/ - Literature

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2655442 No.2655442 [Reply] [Original]

What is the point of chapters? Why not just use blank rows to separate pieces of text and have the whole book like that? Does the reader actually benefit of occasionally seeing an extra large font saying something like "Chapter 6"?

>> No.2655451

they're convenient for the author, for readers and for references.

>> No.2655456

you're totally right, how have people been fucking this up for so long? TELL US MORE, OP, WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT YOU

>> No.2655457

what's the point of pages? why don't books come on one long scroll

>> No.2655466

>>2655457
Easier to handle? Look, I´ve seen books without chapters and they weren´t exactly more problematic than any other kind of book. It actually took me a while to even notice that there were´nt any chapters.

>> No.2655471

>>2655457
Jack Kerouac originally loaded one giant roll of paper into his typewriter, took a shit ton of speed, and pumped out On The Road as one giant scroll of text. The original had no chapters and only took him a week of frantic amphetamine keyboard bashing.

>> No.2655477

>>2655442
So that neurotic people know where to stop a reading session.

>> No.2655480

>>2655471
which prompted one literary critic to say " that's not writing, that's just typewriting."

>> No.2655486

Organizes the story better and allows for things like switching perspective or focusing on another character.

>> No.2655502

>>2655480
If by literary critic you mean assmad Truman Capote who didn't like that Kerouac changed American culture forever single handedly by writing one of the most popular American novels of all time then yes.

>> No.2655520

Merchandising technique. It you make chapters, people are gonna tell themselves "wow, I read 20 chapters today, this book is so interesting". It doesn't work that well with : "I read 80 pages today".
Works especially well when short chapters, like 2-3 pages.

Also, page breaks can be useful to get a little suspense going on.

>> No.2655529

>>2655442
It adds to order. Ordnung muss sein. Especially in the case of non-fiction. It's like dividing a country up in states or provinces. Mo' betta'.

>> No.2655624

>>2655520
This is true in popular fiction, but not fiction in general.
See
>>2655529
It's for order and separation. For example, Anthony Burgess divided the chapters and parts for Clockwork Orange to match the structure of a symphony or some such musical piece which matches one of the themes of his novel.

A space can indicate change in location or timing while a chapter change typically indicates a change in action.

Also, I'm sure it has something to do with the way novels used to be published in pieces in literary journals.

>> No.2655732

Some chapter titles even form a poem the writer composed. Million reasons, thread is retarded

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se_Una_Notte_D%27Inverno