Titling chapters

goatpiper · Oct 26, 2005

What of it? As I'm bumbling along in the dark writing my first novel, I realize that at least some of the chapters inspire some kind of title. Now I'm pondering whether I want to go ahead and title my chapters or just hang with the simple classic of Chapter 1, 2, 3, etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on the benefits or detriments of chapter titles?

Thanks ahead of time,

Aaron

blacbird · Oct 26, 2005

I can't think of anything inherently wrong with it. In fact, I've done that with mine, in three novels now.

Of course, that could have something to do with why they remain unpublished.

That, coupled with crappy writing, of course.

bird

goatpiper · Oct 26, 2005

Ah, yes...the 'crappy writing' factor - I know it all too well.
Another thing about the chapter title thing - I wonder about the effectiveness of it as foreshadowing - I've read novels where the title of a chapter seems cryptic until I read the chapter and go 'Ah-ha!'. Are chapter titles really useful without fulfilling the foreshadowing function?

TheIT · Oct 26, 2005

In the Myth Adventures fantasy series, Robert Lynn Asprin prefaced each chapter with a supposed quote from some "historical" figure, like Dracula, which was apt to the spirit of the chapter. The quotes were hysterical. I heard later that he said he sometimes spent more time trying to think up a witty quote than writing the chapter.

If it helps you capture the feel of the chapter, I'd say go ahead and write chapter titles, but don't let not being able to come up with a chapter title stop you from writing. When your draft is finished you can decide whether you want to keep them and whether they need to change.

maestrowork · Oct 26, 2005

My to-be-released novel has chapter titles (doesn't mean the book isn't crap

) To me, they're nice little nuggets at the beginning of the chapters to make reading more enjoyable. I understand that most readers would probably skip them or not care about them. But if they do, I think they would enjoy the little "peek" of what's to come every time they flip to a new chapter...

In my WIP, however, I think I'm going to skip chapter titles. First of all, right now I don't even have chapters. I have no idea how I'm going to break the chapters yet, and if each chapter has a theme or not. I may, eventually, give them titles if I feel they serve a purpose. Right now, though, I'm leaning toward simply numbering them...

Celia Cyanide · Oct 26, 2005

I don't know if this is helpful, but when I was a kid, 12-13, I LOVED it when books had chapter titles. Now I could take it or leave it, but I thought 1) it told me a little bit about the book before I read it, and made me want to read it to learn what the titles meant and 2) If my book mark fell out, I could find where I was more easily. I don't remember chapter numbers. I remember what was happening the last time I read it.

MarkButler · Oct 26, 2005

Aside from the whole crappy writing thing..

In my WIP I am trying for a humorous approach so the chapters each hopefully have a "what in the world is that all about" kind of name. Such as:

death grip on the handlebars
cold puddle of goo
riding on diamonds

the actual words are mentioned somewhere in the chapter and I'm hoping reading the TOC will make a browser want to read it. I'm a bit worried it will be taken as juvenile though..

Mark

goatpiper · Oct 26, 2005

Do you think that chapter titles have a stronger place in some genres over others? My novel is a dark thriller (for lack of a better descriptor) that explores two different romantic relationships my main character has.

Jaycinth · Oct 26, 2005

I started titling chapters as a mnemonic device so I would remember what part of my outline I was working on.
Since some of the titles border on 'silly' I may have to retitle or do away with them later.
So far, though, my 'friendly readers' like them and say it gives them a reference point for critique.
I think you don't need to stress on that right now. Drink some coffee, have some chocolate and keep writing.

NeuroFizz · Oct 26, 2005

Isn't the word titleing? Then again, maybe it isn't destined to be used as a verb.

A titling could be a juvenile breast, at least in my juvenile mind.

goatpiper · Oct 26, 2005

The word is, in fact, titling. I had to look it up, because I thought it sounded quite breastish myself. English is damn weird sometimes, but I love it!
I'm not stressing over the topic, if I think of a title the moment I'm moving into a chapter, I write it down, if I don't, I just number and move into that chapter. I'm just curious about other people's perspectives.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 26, 2005

NeuroFizz said:
Isn't the word titleing? Then again, maybe is isn't destined to be used as a verb.

A titling could be a juvenile breast, at least in my juvenile mind.

When you add an "ing" you drop the final "e." You're pronouncing "titling" as a two syllable word with a short "i,", but it should have three syllables and a long "i." Not "tit-ling," but "ti-tl-ing."

Unique · Oct 26, 2005

It seems to me books had chapter titles more often when I was younger - I'm not sure if that's because it was more common (way back then) or if I was reading different genres than I am now.

I do appreciate the quotes that some authors preface their chapters with - it's like a 'bonus' to me. The quotes in the last book I read weren't necessarily 'famous' quotes - some were just a sentence from another author's book that fit especially well with the context of the story.

NeuroFizz · Oct 26, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
When you add an "ing" you drop the final "e." You're pronouncing "titling" as a two syllable word with a short "i,", but it should have three syllables and a long "i." Not "tit-ling," but "ti-tl-ing."

I just couldn't find it in my big, fat dictionary. The only entry for titling was for the juvenile form of a small hedge finch or some such bird. Does this mean the golf gear company, Titleist, has it wrong, or is the e only dropped with the -ing ending? Just curious--didn't mean to hijack the thread...

arrowqueen · Oct 26, 2005

Then, just to confuse everyone, we have the exceptions, like 'dyeing'.

TheIT · Oct 26, 2005

Titling is explained under "title" in the dictionary. Entries for a verb also contain the spellings for the different forms of the verb.

And to make things even more confusing: "dyeing" = applying color to something, while "dying" = to die.

Ain't English fun?

Jamesaritchie · Oct 26, 2005

NeuroFizz said:
I just couldn't find it in my big, fat dictionary. The only entry for titling was for the juvenile form of a small hedge finch or some such bird. Does this mean the golf gear company, Titleist, has it wrong, or is the e only dropped with the -ing ending? Just curious--didn't mean to hijack the thread...

There are exceptions to every rule, but in this case the company spelled the word wrong, which was probably intentional. When companies want to trademark a common word, they usually have to misspell it in some manner.

And my guess is also that they knew people would have a field day if they spelled it "Titlist." Sounds like a shopping list for Playboy Bunnies, rather than golf balls.

Danger Jane · Oct 26, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
And my guess is also that they knew people would have a field day if they spelled it "Titlist." Sounds like a shopping list for Playboy Bunnies, rather than golf balls.

Rhymes with "hitlist"...lol. Definitely would get some...different...attention.

I'm not titling my chapters in my current WIP...but I don't mind if chapters are titled. I also like it when books have quotes before chapters--just sometimes they're in French. In which case I sit in front of the book for twenty minutes trying to figure out what it says and then remembering that I don't take French.

SeanDSchaffer · Oct 26, 2005

goatpiper said:
What of it? As I'm bumbling along in the dark writing my first novel, I realize that at least some of the chapters inspire some kind of title. Now I'm pondering whether I want to go ahead and title my chapters or just hang with the simple classic of Chapter 1, 2, 3, etc.
Does anyone have any opinions on the benefits or detriments of chapter titles?

Thanks ahead of time,

Aaron

I think chapter titles are cool, provided they aren't written down before the chapter itself is finished. I've tried many a time to title chapters before having written them, and every time it turned out to be a fiasco.

But if you wait until the chapter is done, and then title it, I think it could add a benefit or two for the reader, not the least of which is that the reader would be able to tell from the chapter title what the chapter is about. This would be especially handy if the reader somehow forgot (as I have sometimes been known to do :Smack: ) to put a bookmark into the pages they were reading before closing the book.

Plus, I think chapter titles, if done well, add a spice and an interest to the story. IMO the only exception to this rule might be Anne McCaffrey's dating system with which she titled the chapters of the majority of her Pern novels. To me, as a fan of many of her works, this made the chapter titles not just hard to understand, but also a major detriment to my reading of those works.

aymi · Oct 26, 2005

When I'm looking at a new book I've never heard of, or one a friend has recommended, I will scan the table of contents to see what the chapter titles are, and look at the blurb on the back. (Back-of-the-book-summaries are much more important than chapter titles anyway, to me.)

If the book is good enough, once I start reading, I rarely stop to read the title at the beginning of a chapter. I'm much too engrossed in the story to worry about the author's clever insinuations and foreshadowing. On the printed page, I find a chapter's first line more enticing than the chapter's name.

Chapter titles are most useful (for me) when reading a book out loud. The pause between chapters and the suspense of a good title catches an audience's attention right away.

The best chapter titles I've found are something like "Chapter Four: A Priest's Best Friend" - they remind the reader/listener where you are in the story, plus give a basic idea of what might happen in the chapter.

Hope that's helpful,
aymi
:Sun:

PurpleLady · Oct 26, 2005

goatpiper said:
Does anyone have any opinions on the benefits or detriments of chapter titles?

Thanks ahead of time,

Aaron

I don't have my copy handy, but I think in "Life of Pi" the chapters were numbered. For that style of writing - where the author is switching between two separate stories - I think that is a good thing. Some novels have a number of short chapters and I think titles really wouldn't mean much.

The novel I've written has a number of flashbacks and as a result, I've stuck with straight numbers. However, one thing I decided to do - almost at the very end - was to break the story line into sections (i.e. Discovery, Turbulence, Homecoming). In doing so, the blank page, except for the solitary word gives the reader an idea of what might lie ahead. It's a hook that should tempt them to read on and see what is going to happen to the characters.

IMHO, a lot of chapter titles gets a bit old about halfway through the book, but section titles, followed by numbered chapters has a place and adds direction and interest.

katiemac · Oct 26, 2005

Ah, yes...the 'crappy writing' factor - I know it all too well.
Another thing about the chapter title thing - I wonder about the effectiveness of it as foreshadowing - I've read novels where the title of a chapter seems cryptic until I read the chapter and go 'Ah-ha!'. Are chapter titles really useful without fulfilling the foreshadowing function?

I don't read chapter titles intentionally. I skip them because of the foreshadowing factor. I'd hate to hit chapter five and make a connection with the chapter title of 20, and know where the story's going from there. Some people like it. I want to be surprised.

This example was actually a big "problem" with the latest Harry Potter novel. (The most recent book I've read which included titles for the chapters.) Some people who read the table of contents before dipping in the novel were upset because when they read two of the chapter titles back-to-back, the effect ruined the ending.

Something you may want to pay closer attention to, if you choose to go for titles.

Fishmonkey · Oct 26, 2005

Just my experience here. I had title chapters in my novel, but dropped them on editorial request. Go for title chapters if you like them, but don't consider them a major part of the work.

DamaNegra · Oct 26, 2005

When I'm about to read a book, first of all I read the chapter titles. If they're good and catchy without revealing too much of the chapter, I start reading the book, because good titles always draw the reader in. Same goes for the title of the novel. I'd say go for chapter titles, I love them.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 26, 2005

Chapter titles

I certainly don't mind chapter titles, though not many novels I read have them. At the same time, it really ticks me off when a chapter title gives away some important part of that chapter.

Titling chapters

Distraction Junkie

Distraction Junkie

Infuriatingly Theoretical

Fear the Death Ray

Joker Groupie

Part Time Fool

Distraction Junkie

Your Cuddly Sociopathic

The grad students did it

Distraction Junkie

Agent of Doom

The grad students did it

RIP, our sarky besom

Infuriatingly Theoretical

SeanDSchaffer

Five by Five

Mexican on the loose!