Chapter subtitles or not?

That depends entirely on what kind of novel you're writing, and what audience you're appealing to.

I've seen subtitles in fiction - sometimes quite long ones (somewhat more common in humor titles, in my reading experience, where you get subtitles like "The Boy Has An Argument With a Very Cross Teakettle And Everyone Gets Steamed" and such.) I've also seen no subtitles. Do what works for you. I doubt that the existence or nonexistence of chapter subtitles alone will make or break a sale.

That said, the ones listed don't really work for me. They look a little more like author notes (in Chapter 1, the stranger arrives, by Chapter 2 the rape occurs...) than something to whet the reader's appetite. But that's JMHO.

Nothing at all wrong with sub-titles, but I don't care for the ones quoted.

If they are just for your own guidance, whether we think you should use them or not is irrelevant.

Lady Trent does them, but that's written in the style of older travel writing.

I sub-titled ONE of my novels. It seemed imperative to me at the time...and that is what I went by, my own gut feeling. One out of 5 published novels. The publisher kept them, too. I felt they were required for the tone of the book.

Make your own decision. Do you feel the book you're writing needs them? If so, then keep them. They might go, later...you never know.

The subtitles in the original post sound like outline notes for the author's use during writing, not something meant for the reader. As the author, you can of course use whatever outline notes/headings/subtitles/etc you find helpful as part of your process. That's entirely up to you. When you've finished writing, they've served their purpose and you can (should) get rid of them.

Can I hop in on this train?

First, to OP's question, as a reader I've had no issues with title/title-subtitle, in fact I quite like it in many places.

This is a topic I've struggled with. My WIP currently has a title and a subtitle per chapter, it's something like this:

Ch. 21: Ptolemy
Memphis, Egypt, 321 BC

The title says the POV of the chapter (it is written in the POV of Ptolemy) and the subtitle is important because I want the user to have an idea of where this is taking place, as my novel spans multiple countries.

I'm thinking of killing the title and just keep the subtitle - because the chapter start can make it pretty clear who the main character is...

Thoughts?

I subtitled all my autobiography chapters. And I've read novels where the chapters had subs. I personally think it's the author's preference.

ecerberus said:

The title says the POV of the chapter (it is written in the POV of Ptolemy) and the subtitle is important because I want the user to have an idea of where this is taking place, as my novel spans multiple countries.

I'm thinking of killing the title and just keep the subtitle - because the chapter start can make it pretty clear who the main character is...

Click to expand...

Is it third person? Or do you have multiple first person POVs? In general, I would label the chapter with the POV character if it's in first person, but if it's in third person, I see no need.

LJD said:

Is it third person? Or do you have multiple first person POVs? In general, I would label the chapter with the POV character if it's in first person, but if it's in third person, I see no need.

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I've been to readings, and POV is no issue. First- or third-person doesn't matter at all, if the prose is good and the presenter is also good at reading it. Best person I've ever seen reading stuff in front of an audience is John Irving.

caw

I've read several novels lately that have chapter subtitles (although probably more that don't, but it doesn't matter). There are times when subtitles provide helpful info, such as when a novel moves back and forth in time, or changes venue frequently, or sometimes to set up whose POV we'll be reading. Or they can just be because you wanted them. In the latter case, just be sure that coming up with adequate subtitles for every chapter won't become more of a burden than it's worth. If it does, then just ditch the subtitles.

I have subtitles on the six chapters of Part One: Prologue - Children of Fate. Each chapter introduces a character by description.

And so on. I didn't mention it in the above post because I forgot. (99)

Hublocker said:

Is it acceptable to have a subtitle at the head of each chapter or is it distracting?

Most novels don't have them, but in drafting mine I installed one at the beginning, in a way just to remind me what to write.

Something like

1. Stranger in town

2. School girl is raped

3. Lynch mob forms

etc.

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As a writing aid, it's fine. I wouldn't recommend leaving those in place in the final manuscript, though. Few readers would want to be told what's going to happen before it happens. That's a real tension-killer. Now, if the sub-title doesn't actually give anything away, that could be a different story.

ecerberus said:

My WIP currently has a title and a subtitle per chapter, it's something like this:

Ch. 21: Ptolemy
Memphis, Egypt, 321 BC

The title says the POV of the chapter (it is written in the POV of Ptolemy) and the subtitle is important because I want the user to have an idea of where this is taking place, as my novel spans multiple countries.

Click to expand...

That doesn't look like a title & subtitle to me. Title & subtitle are names of a piece of text. These are just orientation pointers that just coincidentally happen to be placed at the beginning of a chapter but could, in principle, be inserted right into the text. You can format them to look like titles, and even be indexed as titles, but that doesn't make them titles.

That's an interesting take that I hadn't thought of - though in my book these pointers are always at the beginning of the chapter as the rest of the chapter takes place with that POV and that location.

To another question in the the thread, all the POVs except the main character are in 3rd person.

benbenberi said:

That doesn't look like a title & subtitle to me. Title & subtitle are names of a piece of text. These are just orientation pointers that just coincidentally happen to be placed at the beginning of a chapter but could, in principle, be inserted right into the text. You can format them to look like titles, and even be indexed as titles, but that doesn't make them titles.

Click to expand...

Subtitles are a useful means of conveying a specific kind of information. Sometimes you need them, sometimes you don't.

In my WIP I use them to orient the reader to time jumps and the first person character of which there are two.

I remember them from older books, like Narnia and such. Usually they were something like "In which Eustace discovers he's a dragon" or "In which a magical star is discovered." It has a quaint, nostalgic feel to it, and it could work, but probably not for all stories. It is a trope.

A parallel example comes from TV series, things like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which employ episode titles that were effective, because they were always clever and ironic. So this issue really isn't a yea or nay on chapter titles so much as it is a yea or nay on good chapter titles.

caw

Of course, I don't even WRITE in chapters, just scenes/beats... my publisher makes me add them afterwards

Since my books (so far) are about happenings over a span of time, I always include the date. For example: Chapter 23: November 29, 1972, Wednesday.

I use them and love them

I am considering them for my novel, not sure yet whether they will make to the final draft.

I always loved the idea of subtitles and quotes under the chapter number, but I failed to do so in my own novel. Really let myself down.