History Main / OneParagraphChapter

** There's a chapter consisting entirely of the words "[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible My mother is a fish.]]"

Sometimes used to separate parts of the plot, sometimes used to give a feeling of in-and-out consciousness (See: ''{{Literature/Misery}}''), and sometimes used by inexperienced writers who fail to deliver a better-fleshed out story and only have one plot point occur. Experienced writers will usually avoid this, working in the important, if not unrelated, subject into a new chapter that progresses the story at a good pace. Legendary writers (like Creator/StephenKing) can use the one paragraph chapter to a good use to better give a certain disconnected feeling in the story. (Or can use it because who cares if you don't like it, it'll be on the best-sellers list just from his name alone.)

* The ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' series takes this to an extreme and turns in into a RunningGag: every book has a chapter called, "ToMakeALongStoryShort". Every book has what might normally be a long sequence condensed into three words, maximum. For example, the first book has a chapter that ends with the villain's hideout exploding. The next chapter consists solely of, "They got away."

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' has a one-comic chapter, which is implied in advance to involve a heist to steal Reynardine back from Annie's father. Instead, she tells her father she wants to have Renard back, [[AntiClimax and her father hands him back with barely a word]].

* In the ninth chapter of ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'', the narrator Dave is trying to figure out what he did in the forgotten half hour between getting home from work and realizing he's standing in his living room holding his handgun with one bullet gone. He eventually realizes he locked something in his toolshed in the backyard, and after careful deliberation, decides ''not'' to investigate. The entire tenth chapter is as follows: "Looking back, if I had gone in and seen [[WhatCliffHanger what was in the toolshed]], I would have put a bullet in my own skull one minute later."

* ''Literature/MyWeirdSchool'': Parodied in one book, where a chapter lasts just one or two pages. It says that if you're reading this because your teachers made you read "[[ExactWords a chapter]]", then now you're done, and you can rub it in their face.

* Psalm 117 in ''Literature/TheBible'' is extremely short and only a few sentences long. This is especially highlighted since it's quite close to the incredibly long Psalm 119.

* In ''Literature/YesterdayWeSawMermaids'', the first ten chapters chronicle a long sea voyage. Chapter 11 consists of a single word:

* Chapter 48 of ''Fanfic/AnimorphsTheReckoning'':
-->''The Chee rose.''

* The book ''Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict'' by Andy Griffiths has a chapter titled "Nothing". The contents are as follows: "Nothing..."

* The first chapter in Joe Hill's "Horns". In general, Joe Hill seems to be a fan of this trope.

* Ethel Merman and Creator/ErnestBorgnine got married on June 27, 1964, and separated six weeks later on August 7. In her memoir ''Merman'', Merman included a chapter titled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine". It is a blank page.

* Footballer Len Shackleton pulled a similar stunt to Merman in his 1956 autobiography, ''The Clown Prince of Soccer''. Throughout his career, Shackleton had clashed with the sport's authorities, as well as the directors of several of the clubs he had played for. His autobiography duly included a chapter entitled "The Average Director's Knowledge of Football", which consisted of -- you guessed it -- [[TakeThat a single blank page]].
* Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Literature/Misery}}'' contains a number of these, but near the end there is a chapter consisting of one word: [[ArcWords Rinse.]]
* Jack Douglas' comic novel(?) ''My Brother Was An Only Child'' is littered with these.

* Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' trilogy, this crops up on two occasions. On one, our protagonist/journal-keeper has been awake far too long and can't stay up long enough to write down everything in her journal. In another, she's just drunk.

* Linwood Barclay loves using this trope, particularly when he needs to make an aside from the POV of the antagonist(s). For instance, in "The Twenty-Three", after the villain is revealed at the end of chapter 65, chapter 66 consists solely of the words "OH, shit".

* ''Literature/TheSlowRegardOfSilentThings'' has seven chapters, detailing a week in the life of the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} BrokenBird protagonist. One is simply "On the third day, Auri wept."
* ''Literature/TheStupidestAngel'': At the end of Chapter 15, a steadily escalating series of DisasterDominoes far too complicated -and ridiculous- to explain in detail here culminates in ''zombies'' climbing out of their graves and lurching into town. ([[AWizardDidIt The Angel Raziel did it]], by accident.) Chapter 16 consists entirely of the following:
-->"So, ''that'' sucked."
* ''Literature/{{Phantastes}}'': CHAPTER XVI: Two paragraphs, not counting the {{Epigraph}}, with the first being one sentence:
--> Ever as I sang, the veil was uplifted; ever as I sang, the signs of life grew; till, when the eyes dawned upon me, it was with that sunrise of splendour which my feeble song attempted to re-imbody.\\\
The wonder is, that I was not altogether overcome, but was able to complete my song as the unseen veil continued to rise. This ability came solely from the state of mental elevation in which I found myself. Only because uplifted in song, was I able to endure the blaze of the dawn. But I cannot tell whether she looked more of statue or more of woman; she seemed removed into that region of phantasy where all is intensely vivid, but nothing clearly defined. At last, as I sang of her descending hair, the glow of soul faded away, like a dying sunset. A lamp within had been extinguished, and the house of life shone blank in a winter morn. She was a statue once more—but visible, and that was much gained. Yet the revulsion from hope and fruition was such, that, unable to restrain myself, I sprang to her, and, in defiance of the law of the place, flung my arms around her, as if I would tear her from the grasp of a visible Death, and lifted her from the pedestal down to my heart. But no sooner had her feet ceased to be in contact with the black pedestal, than she shuddered and trembled all over; then, writhing from my arms, before I could tighten their hold, she sprang into the corridor, with the reproachful cry, “You should not have touched me!” darted behind one of the exterior pillars of the circle, and disappeared. I followed almost as fast; but ere I could reach the pillar, the sound of a closing door, the saddest of all sounds sometimes, fell on my ear; and, arriving at the spot where she had vanished, I saw, lighted by a pale yellow lamp which hung above it, a heavy, rough door, altogether unlike any others I had seen in the palace; for they were all of ebony, or ivory, or covered with silver-plates, or of some odorous wood, and very ornate; whereas this seemed of old oak, with heavy nails and iron studs. Notwithstanding the precipitation of my pursuit, I could not help reading, in silver letters beneath the lamp: “No one enters here without the leave of the Queen.” But what was the Queen to me, when I followed my white lady? I dashed the door to the wall and sprang through. Lo! I stood on a waste windy hill. Great stones like tombstones stood all about me. No door, no palace was to be seen. A white figure gleamed past me, wringing her hands, and crying, “Ah! you should have sung to me; you should have sung to me!” and disappeared behind one of the stones. I followed. A cold gust of wind met me from behind the stone; and when I looked, I saw nothing but a great hole in the earth, into which I could find no way of entering. Had she fallen in? I could not tell. I must wait for the daylight. I sat down and wept, for there was no help.
* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/{{Fletch}} Fletch, Too]]'' consists entirely of the sentence "What astounded Fletch was that the letter written to him was signed ''Fletch''".

[[folder:Other]]
* ''WebComic/{{Concerned}}'' had a one-comic chapter that was aptly named "No Prospekts", where Gordon Frohman went to apply for conversion into a Combine soldier at Nova Prospekt. He was turned away immediately for not having an appointment, and one comic later he's immediately back home at City 17.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' has a one-comic chapter, that is implied in advance to involve a heist to steal Reynardine back from Annie's father. Instead, she just asks to have him back, and her father hands him back with barely a word.

* Creator/MachadoDeAssis' ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mem%C3%B3rias_P%C3%B3stumas_de_Br%C3%A1s_Cubas The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas]]'', also as ''Epitaph for a Small Winner'', has a few. [[http://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/a/AssisJMM_MemoriasPostumas/node58.html Some]] [[http://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/a/AssisJMM_MemoriasPostumas/node142.html force]] the definition of "paragraph".

** ''The Running Man'', written under his Richard Bachman PenName, has one of these as one of the last chapters. "[[RammingAlwaysWorks BOOM.]]"