‘Books have been written or arranged in chapters for over two millennia now, although the fact has never received the attention it deserves from historians of the written word. Perhaps the sheer longevity of the concept has rendered it invisible’.
That is an excerpt from an article by Nicholas Dames for The New Yorker.
As with the historians mentioned above, I have not given the chapter or paragraph of a book careful thought. I have always read through without contemplating what gracefulness comes with a book's chapters and paragraphs. The chapter (capitulum) eventually caught my attention when I was reading the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian.
I rarely read book series. I prefer the one-piece per story; just a single book is enough. So reading The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis appeared too challenging a task for me to take on. Some friends and acquaintances reported reading the entire seven-book series in less than a week. Refusing to be pressured, I resolved to read a book per quarter of a year from the series. The reading has been quite magical. It felt less like a chore, using the approach I had shared with Rheeda, my coursemate in school who wanted to sustain a reading habit amidst the busyness of school and life.
Whenever I conclude a chapter, I have this sense of accomplishment. Every chapter of the book takes you a tip higher on the conflict curve. Sometimes it ends with what looks like a resolution but leaves you anticipating what lies in the subsequent pages. “What would become of the protagonist and his aspirations?”, “How could she have survived this or that peril, as in memoirs like Tara Westover’s Educated?”
Paragraphs and chapters give you a moment to breathe. It is like an opportunity to savour what the tour guide has shown you thus far on the long walk through the “relics from the pre-existing world”*. He beckons on you, “What do you think about this or that experience Protag has experienced?” or “Do you think this experience will end Antag’s life?” or “Will she eventually find a home in the uncharted territories?” Paragraphs and chapters are openings for you to partake in the story being told.
Paragraphs range from a sentence and could run through sixteen pages as remarked by Stephen King about a passage in Don Robertson’s Paradise Falls. No matter how short or long a paragraph is, it is the effect it exerts on the reader and the results it produces in a body of writing that makes it noteworthy.
Based on historical accounts, paragraphs were invented to enhance effective communication between writer and reader. It helps to convey clear thoughts. Paragraphs and chapters also serve as signposts in a book. Imagine reading a text without paragraphs or chapters. Returning to where you left off can be tasking, especially if it was in parchments as in the days of old.
These days when reading, I appreciate not just the richness of a story or exposition, the characters or narrative, the setting or plots, but also the way the paragraphs and chapters are partitioned. They not only give order and form to the reading but also create some rhythmic flow as you go through the body of work. Books that are well paragraphed and chaptered make reading a lot easier and more fun than those not done so.
So whenever, by chance, you find me reading the subsequent books in the Narnia series or re-reading The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton, you find me reacting in an unusual body motion of excitement, wearing a graceful smile, or letting out an outburst of laughter; you won’t be far from right to assume that I had a sweet transition across paragraphs, or I have just finished a chapter and have attempted a guess on what happens next.
When next you read a piece of writing, pay careful attention to the paragraphing and the sectioning of chapters, and see what useful invention that is. Or have you been observant of this lately? What does it feel like? (You can share in the comment.)
*A phrase from Stephen King in On Writing
Do you know:
‘Professionally printed material in English typically does not indent the first paragraph, but indents those that follow’. Learn more: Wikipedia