Titling Chapters

DonnaDuck · Nov 23, 2007

I just wanted some feedback on the notion of titling chapters in your novel. I never used to do it before but for my current one, the chapters want to be titled. Is it kiddie to do that or is it dependent on the story itself?

cletus · Nov 23, 2007

If they want to be titled, let them be.
If not, then don't do it.

Teige Benson · Nov 23, 2007

I've never titled my chapters although I have read books that do this. As a reader, having titles for chapters doesn't bother me at all. In fact, if the title "forbodes" what's coming in, it usually makes me read that one more chapter before I go to bed.

Danger Jane · Nov 23, 2007

My chapters in my one wip are titled by the name of the POV character, because there are two and both are first person narrators. So I'm being cheap, whatever. I have one chapter called Mother And Daughter (the two POV characters...) because they're both in the same head for that chapter.

TrainofThought · Nov 23, 2007

I use quotes and the name of the character's POV for my chapters. :Shrug:

I don’t know if peeps like it or not, but that’s how I have mine setup.

The book I’m reading now has parts and in the third part it starts naming the character’s POV for the chapters. All of sudden I was reading and had to back track to see if I was oblivious to this during the first 175 pages. Of course, the author did it for a reason after both character’s lives came together even though it isn’t consistent throughout the book.

Ziljon · Nov 23, 2007

I like chapter titles when I write, don't pay much attention to them when I read. Below are my replies from a similar post:

Ziljon said:
I write the chapter names after I'm about ten chapters in, that's when I start going back to check facts or actions and it's easier to find things when the chapters have titles.

Ziljon said:
Did you-all know that (using MS Word) you can format your chapter titles as "Heading 1" and then, if you go to "View" and choose "Document Map" you will see all your chapters in a side bar, and if you click on one, your main document will jump to that page? It's really very useful.

You can also then very easily create a table of contents by going to "Insert" and choosing "Index and Tables."

I'm on a mac, so my menus may be slightly different.

tearsofsirion · Nov 23, 2007

When songwriting, I never really titled anything till I had revised a bit and really knew what the prevailing theme was. I have been giving my chapters titles while writing first draft of book, and I think it has helped me keep on track quite a bit. My list:
In the Caverns of Diamond Eye
Discovery
Concealment
Pursuit
Revelation
Confusion
Acceptance
Debate
A Meeting with the Queen
New Currents
Missionaries
Rescue
Flashes
Brothers
Madness
Running with Scissors
Followers
Who Will Save Your Soul?
Meetings
Chattel for the Crown

Not sure how many, if any, I shall keep, but they have been helpful in the journey.

otterman · Nov 23, 2007

My chapter titles either hint to the reader about what is going to happen (not too much, however) or identify the place where the action is to take place (a kind of map to follow). I'm writing a fantasy and titles seem to frame the chapters well. If I was to write in another genre, I would still probably include titles, at least in the drafting process since they make discussions with betas easier.

Esopha · Nov 23, 2007

I originally titled my chapters. I had a whole group of them that were themed: "Red like Blood," "Black like Night," etc, and then I ran into a snag.

I wanted to title one chapter "Yellow like Milk," because milk in its natural state is generally yellow.

And then I thought, "What if people think I'm writing about rotten milk? Is that okay? Are they going to beat me? AAAAAH"

This dilemma lasted about two minutes.

I haven't titled chapters since.

Marian Perera · Nov 23, 2007

KTC said:
I'm curious now, since I obsessed so much about this before sending my book out. Does anybody care to share their chapter titles, if they used them? I'd like to see if one gets the sense of the story's progression through the titles chosen.

I know what you mean about the story's progession, but I tried to show this through the titles of the book's parts, rather than chapters.

So for Before the Storm, the three parts of the novel were The Wind from the West, Shadowfall and The Moment of Lightning. For During the Fire, the titles of the three parts were even simpler - Embers, Flames, Inferno. I can't think of what to do with After the Rain, though, because rainfall doesn't come in neat distinct parts. :|

job · Nov 23, 2007

I like Chapter Titles myself. Mulling it over, I think there's maybe an 'Old Fashioned' feel to them. So they might not work for every sort of book. Not sure how they'd fit with fast-moving action adventure ...

I have just the smallest possible thought that titles may slow down the onward movement. They do make the new chapter more of an interruption.
If I had a lot of chapters that split scenes or intervene within an ongoing action, I'd probably avoid titles.

On the related question of chapter headings ... I do enjoy them. In a very traditional Romance, I did excerpts from character's diaries and letters. I liked the 'mood' of it (and it struck me as a good way to fold in backstory.)

I'm not titling the current WIP, but I am adding a line to identify place when this has changed. It's just a heads-up for the reader that we've moved. A technical shortcut.

otterman · Nov 23, 2007

Queen of Swords: how about,

Droplet, Shower, Downpour

ishtar'sgate · Nov 23, 2007

KTC, your chapter headings are intriguing. When's your book out? Oh, and is 'Lightfoot', Gordon? Just wondered.
Linnea

HourglassMemory · Nov 23, 2007

One of the chapters in my main story is "The Breakfast that changed their world".
another one was, at a certain point in the writing process, "Eccentricities with maps and rocks". Then I changed stuff in the chapter and it didn't make sense.
I still don't know if I'll name my chapters in the end.

ello · Nov 23, 2007

Interesting! My novel has chapter titles also because I had a terrible compulsion to title them. Couldn't stop myself. Some are titled by the character's POV (I have 3) and some are titled by what happens in the title. I really don't know why I did it, but I like it.

Sean D. Schaffer · Nov 23, 2007

DonnaDuck said:
I just wanted some feedback on the notion of titling chapters in your novel. I never used to do it before but for my current one, the chapters want to be titled. Is it kiddie to do that or is it dependent on the story itself?

No, it isn't kiddie to name your chapters. One of my favorite books, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, had names for each chapter.

Like others have said, if your story wants chapter names, then by all means name them. But one thing I would mention, is don't name the chapters before they're written. This may seem elementary, but when I was a teenager I would name a lot of my chapters before writing them. This proved to be a major mistake because often, the chapters would not be about what I had originally thought they would.

But yeah, definitely, if your story needs chapter titles, give it what it needs.

I hope this helps, and I wish you the very best with your novel.

JamieFord · Nov 23, 2007

I title 'em. It helps me orient where I am when I'm paging through the manuscript later. I left 'em on when my agent went on submission. I left 'em on the final manuscript. Whether my editor keeps them remains to be seen.

As a reader, I tend to like them, so why not?

ChaosTitan · Nov 23, 2007

The first time I used chapter titles, I ended up removing them. They just didn't work for that novel. I didn't use them again for several years, up until this past January. I'd just read a novel in which the author used them, and they were on the brain when I started that particular WIP. Most are between one and three words, very often names of characters or locations, or specific activities. I like them, and I used them to the same effect in the sequel.

The first seven chapters of the novel are named after the MC (Trance) and the people/heroes she begins meeting and interacting with. They are:
Trance
Cipher
Specter
Caliber
Flex & Onyx
Angus Sewall
Tempest

I think titling chapters is a great tool if it advances the novel, and I'd never put a book down because it had them.

blacbird · Nov 24, 2007

Depends entirely on the characteristics of the work. There's no rule, one way or the other.

caw

Voyager · Nov 24, 2007

Sometimes chapter titles don't do anything for me, so I just ignore them. Like Chaos, they wouldn't effect whether or not I read on. But I like stylish chapter titles like Tears' and the kind of chapter titles that Kevin is talking about are only annoying in the best way, in that it makes it hard to stop reading when you get a hint of what's to come. That's usually the kind of book I end up doing a face plant into when I fall asleep because I couldn't help but read on.

Marian Perera · Nov 24, 2007

One problem with chapter titles is when they contain spoilers. At the start of a certain Sara Douglass novel, everyone thinks that the protagonist's mother, Rivkah, is dead. The list of chapters, which I skimmed before reading, included chapter 34 - "Rivkah Wakes".

arodriguez · Nov 24, 2007

I do something a lil outrageous. I title my chapters with numbers, in sequence.

Devil Ledbetter · Nov 24, 2007

KTC said:
-The Poet
-A Prayer for a Fading Mother
-An Ongoing Argument and Getting Used to Teal
-Eaton’s at Christmas
-On Paudash Lake
-Teal’s Accident
-Sebby Takes a Fall
-Songs for Sebby
-A Summer in Paris?
-A Secret Revealed
-A Late Night Meeting
-Lost & Found
-Lightfoot and Revelations

I want to read this.

Marian Perera · Nov 24, 2007

otterman said:
Queen of Swords: how about,

Droplet, Shower, Downpour

I like "Downpour", but since I used one-word titles for the last book, I was thinking of something a bit more flowery for After the Rain. Maybe something like this.

Part 1 : A Gathering of Mists/Clouds
Part 2 : <can't think of anything yet>
Part 3 : And When the Sky was Opened

It's not a big deal, more of a cosmetic point (if not a moot one, since the book is still in the planning stages).

DonnaDuck · Nov 24, 2007

Sean D. Schaffer said:
Like others have said, if your story wants chapter names, then by all means name them. But one thing I would mention, is don't name the chapters before they're written. This may seem elementary, but when I was a teenager I would name a lot of my chapters before writing them. This proved to be a major mistake because often, the chapters would not be about what I had originally thought they would.

I do have a tendency to title before I write if the title jumps at me and I have most of the writing plotted out beforehand and usually the title works but sometimes I can't think of a title until halfway into the chapter or until its finished. I hate creating titles for things but 9 out of 10 times I like them in the end.

Titling Chapters

My Worlds Are Building

I'm a king bee

Live. Dream. Write.

A flowering bud of bitchiness

Tortilla di Patate

Word Voyeur

bam pow zap.

starting over

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

Word Voyeur

living in the past

giving resonant directions

Around

Ribbed for your pleasure.

starting over

Renegade

Come on you stranger, you legend,

starting over

My Worlds Are Building