Best 3-Point Chapter Checklist

Jan 25

One of the hardest things when building a story is trying not to get overwhelmed by all the moving pieces.

Sound familiar?

Character, structure, theme, tension, conflict, show don’t tell, emotional arc—it’s all too much!

Needless to say, I find it helpful to whittle things down to the most important, the most fundamental, one chapter at a time.

In doing so, I created a 3-Point Chapter Checklist I frequently refer to when drafting my stories. These are three things necessary to make a given scene emotionally engaging and objectively interesting.

1 | Progress

The first and, arguably, most important thing that needs to be present in every single scene of a story is progress.

If there’s no forward momentum, the reader will feel bored. They will wonder, What was the point of what I just read?

Obviously, we want to avoid this. And the answer is progress.

Progress, however, applies to two separate layers of storytelling: the emotional layer and the physical layer.

The Emotional Layer:

This comes down to a simple question. If you can answer yes to it, you’re on the right track:

Did the scene’s protagonist make progress in their emotional journey?

If your character will be overcoming their grief from the death of a loved one, for example, was there an interaction that made them question their current way of being? Was there a character that showed them a better alternative? Was there a lesson learned? Was there a challenge that would have been more easily overcome were they to finally confront their grief?

This progress does not need to be explicitly stated, and it doesn’t need to be big, but it does need to be present.

Bonus Tip:

One of my favorite authors, Adrienne Young, once said in one of her workshops that pain is what connects readers to characters. She said readers fuse to characters through their wounds. I have found myself returning to this idea often, and noticed it in all of the stories I love.

With that said, what pain is your character experiencing in the scene that is moving them toward their ultimate growth? Again, this doesn’t need to be big—they don’t have to be in anguish for a scene to be interesting. It might be more like irritation, longing, discomfort, betrayal, etc. You’ll see this more in the third point.

The Physical Layer:

The second, more obvious point of progress comes down to the plot. For this layer, you need to be aware of where your story is headed. What is the overall goal the protagonist is headed toward or question that needs to be solved?

If a given scene doesn’t make progress toward that light at the end of the tunnel, it’s probably unnecessary.

Bonus Tip:

Make sure you never rush through a scene. Trust yourself as a storyteller by giving any chapter or scene the time it deserves for both of these layers to be satisfied. Sometimes you might only need a couple of pages in order to move your story forward and allow your character to be pulled along their arc, and sometimes you might need many pages.

Learning how to hone the instinct of the proper length a scene needs in order to satisfy these two things (no more, no less) will serve you well.

2 | Atmosphere

Recently, I published a post all about eleven storytelling elements we’re drawn to on an instinctual, and even evolutionary level. This comes into play big time with this second point.

Atmosphere is important because it includes the setting and sensory experience you’re giving your reader as you describe where a character is and how they are interacting with the world around them. But it’s also important because it encompasses things like tone and cravings.

Tone

Readers often pick up books because of the way they think it will make them feel: happy, cozy, thrilled, heart-warmed, romantic, scared, etc. Keeping this in mind, I like to make sure every chapter I work on does a good job of capturing the tone and vibe I hope my book will create.

Bonus Tip:

Make sure you have a list of words you’d like your story to capture so that you can easily refer to the tone you’re hoping to evoke.

sweet, angsty, humorous, fast-paced, kooky, suspenseful, terrifying, whimsical, lighthearted, cozy, weird, atmospheric, dark, gritty, nostalgic, historical, mind-bending, goofy, exciting, action-packed, romantic, dramatic, fantastical, magical, thrilling, paranormal, ominous, satirical, violent, witty, crass, spooky, irreverent, screwball, heartwarming, heartbreaking, vengeful, sentimental, disturbing, raunchy, tragic, creepy, edgy, zany, wholesome, analytical, slow, character-driven, fun, quippy, quirky, inspiring, swoony, emotional, charming, feel-good, outrageous, steamy, mysterious, offbeat, bittersweet, psychological, slapstick, scary, stirring, intellectual, chilling, funny, warm, relatable, bubbly, vibrant, campy, cheeky

Cravings

I recently re-read Happy Place by Emily Henry and found myself thinking, “Every single one of her chapters feels like candy!” I want to gobble her scenes up because she does such a good job tapping into the emotional journey of the character, the outward progress of the plot, and the buzz words the readers who pick up her book are hoping to find. Things like romantic tension, gorgeous beachy settings, summer nostalgia, deep friendship, angsty pining, etc.

Satisfying a reader’s cravings is how we accomplish the tone/vibe. Think about a show like Friends; every single scene has something the audience craves—friendship, romance, humor—and therefore, every scene feels like candy!

As another example, I recently received Isabel Ibañez’s Writerly newsletter. In it, she mentioned her current project, and spoke to its “vibes.” Here is what she said:

Velvet fabric. Decadent banquets. Cool marble. Soft lighting. A craggy grotto. Stolen looks. Blood staining a tiled floor. Cutthroat betrayals. A triple crown. Woolly sheep. Dresses that drag on the floor. An icy river. Fairytale. Enchanted gems. A one hundred year old curse. Snowfall. Elderflower trees. Iron gates. A chisel.

You can see how well she’s tapped into satisfying a reader’s cravings! As soon as someone sees one or two of their personal cravings in this list (for me, it’s fairytale, a one hundred year old curse, and elderflower trees), they are that much more likely to pick up the book.

For more on this, be sure to check out the post on the 11 irresistible storytelling elements.

Bonus Tip:

I like to think of cravings and tone as two distinct elements only in that you might have a hilariously lighthearted fantasy that includes a one-hundred-year-old curse, or a dark and angsty one that does it in a completely different way. Same craving, different tones.

3 | Tension

Tension is captivating. When done well, we simply can’t tear our eyes off of a tension-filled page.

This isn’t to say there needs to be a bomb ticking down to the end of the world. Remember how I mentioned Emily Henry? She writes swoony romance, yes? And yet every single one of her chapters manages to employ fantastic tension.

The way I like to think about tension is simple. Again, it comes down to a single question:

What is stopping my protagonist from relaxing fully?

In other words, my protagonist can’t fully relax because…

In Happy Place, Harriet can’t fully relax in her current timeline because she’s in an uncomfortable situation in which she is pretending to still be engaged to her ex-fiancee. In her past timeline, there are things like trying not to fall for Wyn because she doesn’t want to hurt her friends, trying to keep him happy when external circumstances are making it difficult, feeling awkward or regretful around her family, etc.

Each of these circumstances create tension because a good story places us in the shoes (and heart) of the character from whose perspective we are reading. If Harriet is tense, worried, walking on eggshells, etc., so are we.

Bonus Tip:

Another great way to think about tension is by making sure there is always a mystery afoot in your story.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the story needs to fall into the mystery genre, it just meant your story should always have a cabinet full of unanswered questions.

These questions can be as simple as: Why did he make that face when she announced her plan? What happened in her past? How did these two get together or how will they get together? Who left those keys there? Where did she go when everyone else went to the movies? What was he going to say before he got cut off?

Again, a mystery is simply an unanswered question. So make sure you always have loose ends to tie up, because once they’re all neatly knotted, the story is over.

To sum up, here is the 3-point chapter checklist presented in the form of questions:

Progress

Is my scene’s protagonist making progress toward the end of their emotional journey/arc?
Is the scene moving the plot forward by bringing the reader closer to the story’s big question/the protagonist’s primary goal?

Atmosphere

Is there a detailed setting with plenty of sensory experience for the reader?
Is my story’s overall tone coming through?
Are there any irresistible storytelling elements at play? (Think buzz words (gothic manor, New England town, first contact, mermaid, friend to lover, survival, rise to fame, etc.—you want every scene to feel like a delicious dessert!)

Tension

Is my protagonist on edge? (They should hardly ever be fully relaxed!)
Are there any open/unanswered questions? (If not, pose a new one!)

Again, writing a book can feel overwhelming, but all you need to do is take it one scene at a time. And remember, if you’re having fun writing your story, I promise there’ll be a reader out there who has fun reading it.