Jack M. Bickham, Scene & Structure, Chapter 13: The structure of chapters.

Chapters are arbitary, a convention descending from the days of serial publication. There is no set length, though keeping the length fairly consistent within a book is good practice.

However, if you don’t want the reader to put the book down, make sure they can’t do so at the end of a chapter.

The best place to end a chapter is at the end of a scene, i.e. with the disaster.

The second-best is in the middle of the conflict.

You can also use the middle of the thought process of the sequel, where there seems no way out; at the decision point; at the beginning of new action, before a conflict starts.

There’s usually more than one scene in a chapter.

The place to not end a chapter is at a transition, like going to sleep or skipping some time when nothing exciting happens. Chapters should “link forward” to prevent the reader putting the book down.

When you feel it’s about time to end a chapter, ignore this feeling until you reach a point where the reader won’t be able to bear to stop. Then break.

#sceneandstructure

(Again, bear in mind that Bickham is giving advice for writing a particular kind of book, basically a thriller or other action-oriented story.)