chapters - Use of Separating Fiction into "Parts?"

I was wondering about the use of separating fiction into "parts", similar to chapters but larger and spanning more text and using these to divide up books within a series. If I am unclear, refer to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Book 2, Hollow City. In this series, the second book is divided into two sections: part 1 and part 2, as well as chapters.

I was wondering where this is done in various works of fiction. I assume within a single stand-alone book it should be fine, but would it still be fine within a series where not all the books are divided into parts that way, such as the Miss Peregrine's book series? How about for a novella? Is it more advisable to keep all the content in one main body than to divide it in a smaller text?

Answer

Breaking a book into parts is very common, in series books and in standalone books.

I haven't read the books you mention, so I can't comment on those.

Just yesterday I finished reading Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King. He breaks the book into parts. Each time I got to the title page for a new part, I realized I was about to enter a new phase of the story. It sort of shifted my mood a little. Not a big effect, but a definite one. Especially for the final part, where the title made it clear that we were headed for the climax of the story. I definitely felt an added bit of anticipation.

For this story, breaking the book into parts worked well for me as a reader.

So that's one effect of breaking a book into parts. There are probably others.

The question is: Do you want to create that kind effect in the reader? If so, break your book into parts. If you'd rather give the reader a more subtle or continuous experience of the flow of the book, rather than announcing transitions so blatantly, don't break it into parts.

That's a question for each book, even each book in a series. Even if one book benefits from explicit breaks between parts, that doesn't mean you need breaks in every book. (I don't know whether the two following books in King's series are separated into parts.)