Do you name your chapters or do you just have a number? I'm very curious about this. I put a number, but a writing friend names each one, and I'm wondering which you prefer.
Chapter Titles?
- Thread starter JustinlDew
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For me, as reader, it doesn't matter two dog farts in a strong north wind. If chapters are titled, and the titles are clever, that may add to the reading enjoyment. If they are mundane, I ignore them. If there are only numbers, I don't care.
What's in the chapter is what matters most, and I suspect agents and editors view things similarly.
caw
What's in the chapter is what matters most, and I suspect agents and editors view things similarly.
caw
as a reader it doesn't bother me either way.
as a writer i sometimes use chapter names, and i sometimes don't.
as a writer i sometimes use chapter names, and i sometimes don't.
My SF publisher named all of my chapters and did so because he just loved doing it. I never had a mind to do it. I let him go with it and was pleasantly surprised at how clever they were. He then added artwork to each chapter, complimenting the titles. So it kind of worked out to be a big plus for the book because it has that old golden age style and atmosphere to the storyline. Then, when I got comparison to Heinlein and Farmer, I knew that I'd entered the clunky age-old school of SF crafted 30 to 40 years ago.
Since it's enough of a struggle sometimes to find the right words for the story itself, I figure the fewer words I need to string together overall, the better...so, I just number my chapters.
I write YA and MG and am definitely planning on doing it in my MG stuff and am undecided about the YA stuff (the reason being, I don't mind spoilering the chapter in an MG book but in a YA book I feel like readers would much rather be surprised than be given hints as to what this chapter is about.) But yeah just giving vague one or two word chapter names that are spoiler free is an option too.
I do this and I try to make them misleading. I want the reader to have a very vague glimpse at what the chapter entails (or lull them in to thinking they are getting one). If you want to try it then I say go for it; they can always be taken out later and I'm sure they wont be a sore point for potential agents/publishers.
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Not normally of fan of chapter titles, but those are a hoot, Tri. He put some time into them.
I've enough on my plate writing the chapters without the extra kerfuffle of finding a name for each of them.
As a reader, seeing or not seeing chapter titles in a book is of no particular interest or consequence to me. Either they're there or they're not.
As a reader, seeing or not seeing chapter titles in a book is of no particular interest or consequence to me. Either they're there or they're not.
I'll go on record as saying I LOVE writing chapter titles. I say this for two reasons. One, some publishers tell their writers to give each chapter a different title, and two, it gives the reader an expectation of what might happen in that chapter. (The second reason is something I'm very big on doing).
There's no right or wrong in numbering chapters. In my first novel, I did. In my second, I simply gave the chapters titles and did away with the numbers. In both cases, they sold. (Yes, I consider myself very lucky).
There's no right or wrong in numbering chapters. In my first novel, I did. In my second, I simply gave the chapters titles and did away with the numbers. In both cases, they sold. (Yes, I consider myself very lucky).
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I have yet to write a manuscript that wants chapter titles, so I number them. When the day comes that one of my manuscripts wants titles, I'll come up with them.
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Normally, I don't care.
But there's something silly-looking about having a table of contents when the contents are "Chapter 1," "Chapter 2," etc.
If the book is also out as an e-book, chapter titles can be useful if you've lost your place, or want some idea of the arc of the book. I've seen some e-books that have on the contents page a bit of the first sentence of each chapter instead of a title.
But there's something silly-looking about having a table of contents when the contents are "Chapter 1," "Chapter 2," etc.
If the book is also out as an e-book, chapter titles can be useful if you've lost your place, or want some idea of the arc of the book. I've seen some e-books that have on the contents page a bit of the first sentence of each chapter instead of a title.
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I have to use chapter titles with my publisher (eg Chapter 1: submission)
They can be a pain when you're there trying to find a teaser title that leads into a chapter, but you get used to it.
They can be a pain when you're there trying to find a teaser title that leads into a chapter, but you get used to it.
I number mine. As a reader I never notice if they're numbered or named, I skip straight to the story. The times I have looked at the titles, they gave the chapter away... I see them as spoilers ^^
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I used to be all for chapter titles, having read some books with them. I liked knowing what the next chapter was going to be about. Like the chapter was a mini story with it's own title. Now I just simply number my chapters (with the exception of writing dual POV and titling a chapter after the MC). It makes no difference to me though. Numbers or titles; either is fine with me.
That's exactly what I think. If it's foreshadowing then I tend to try to find what's foreshadowed. True, this is my issue, but I don't like titles.
I don't really care. Chapter numbers are pretty much invisible, so they're a good default choice. If chapters are named, IMO the name should contribute something to the reading experience that a number would not - something to pique the interest or amuse/intrigue the reader who bothers reads the name, and make the TOC worth the effort, not just a placeholder. Boring chapter names that don't add value are pointless and not worth the trouble of thinking up in the first place.
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Finding the right novel title is hard work for me, and I've been happy exactly once with a short story title, maybe thrice with poem titles, never with a novel title--so that's about a 1% happy rate. The thought of coming up with 35 more titles for one novel makes me twitch, and not in a good way.
If I woke up one morning and the Chapter-titling Elves had come in and done it for me overnight, I'd leave them cookies the next night in thanks and not erase the titles.
If I woke up one morning and the Chapter-titling Elves had come in and done it for me overnight, I'd leave them cookies the next night in thanks and not erase the titles.
The best chapter titles I've seen were in E.M Forster's A Room with a View:
Part one
I. The Bertolini
II. In Santa Croce with no Baedeker
III. Music, Violets and the Letter S
IV. Fourth Chapter
V. Possibilities of a Pleasant Outing
VI. The Reverend Arthur Beebe, the Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr Emerson, Mr George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive out in Carriages to See a View; Italians Drive them
VII. They Return
Part two
VIII. Medieval
IX. Lucy as a Work of Art
X. Cecil as a Humorist
XI. In Mrs Vyse's Well-Appointed Flat
XII. Twelfth Chapter
XIII. How Miss Bartlett's Boiler was so Tiresome
XIV. How Lucy Faced the External Situation Bravely
XV. The Disaster Within
XVI. Lying to George
XVII. Lying to Cecil
XVIII. Lying to Mr Beebe, Mrs Honeychurch, Freddy and the Servants
XIX. Lying to Mr Emerson
XX. The End of the Middle Ages
Chapter 4 and 12 are the inciting incidents.
Until I can come up with stuff like this, I'll just number mine.
Part one
I. The Bertolini
II. In Santa Croce with no Baedeker
III. Music, Violets and the Letter S
IV. Fourth Chapter
V. Possibilities of a Pleasant Outing
VI. The Reverend Arthur Beebe, the Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr Emerson, Mr George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive out in Carriages to See a View; Italians Drive them
VII. They Return
Part two
VIII. Medieval
IX. Lucy as a Work of Art
X. Cecil as a Humorist
XI. In Mrs Vyse's Well-Appointed Flat
XII. Twelfth Chapter
XIII. How Miss Bartlett's Boiler was so Tiresome
XIV. How Lucy Faced the External Situation Bravely
XV. The Disaster Within
XVI. Lying to George
XVII. Lying to Cecil
XVIII. Lying to Mr Beebe, Mrs Honeychurch, Freddy and the Servants
XIX. Lying to Mr Emerson
XX. The End of the Middle Ages
Chapter 4 and 12 are the inciting incidents.
Until I can come up with stuff like this, I'll just number mine.
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I name them. It's just for my own amusement; I know many readers don't notice chapter titles, including me sometimes.
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I've done both. It seems kind of common to name them in fantasy. I don't like at all when a chapter title either spoils the content in the chapter or deliberately makes me think something is going to happen and then it doesn't; it makes me think the author is trying to manipulate me and is then laughing about how they totally got me.
However, one thing I think chapter titles do well is help a re-reader find their favorite scenes again. I don't do a lot of re-reading myself but one of my friends is an obsessive re-reader and just loves picking up his favorites and revisiting the most memorable passages. Chapter titles help readers remember where exactly in the book that might have happened--since often the chapter title only makes sense retrospectively--and may also include that little bit of mystery for those reading for the first time, driving them to keep reading instead of putting it down for the night.
However, one thing I think chapter titles do well is help a re-reader find their favorite scenes again. I don't do a lot of re-reading myself but one of my friends is an obsessive re-reader and just loves picking up his favorites and revisiting the most memorable passages. Chapter titles help readers remember where exactly in the book that might have happened--since often the chapter title only makes sense retrospectively--and may also include that little bit of mystery for those reading for the first time, driving them to keep reading instead of putting it down for the night.
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