I'm just wondering, and I know, this is a pretty trivial thing, but do you think that it's a good idea to have chapter titles? I've allways enjoyed them. Guess about what it means, and then finding out towoard the end. Also, I think it adds a bit of a starting hook for the chapter.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
If I were an editor, I would pay zero attention to whether a book has chapter titles, except maybe in children's books -- and except that I'd notice if the titles were cool. But, like you, I like them (if they're cool).
Posted by ely (Member # 2558) on :
I think it also depends on how long your chapters tend to be. It might get tedious coming up with chapter names if you have chapters with only a few pages or less.
If your chapters are long enough to fit into the general theme of the title, then go for it.
Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :
I titled my chapters back when the sequence they might be in was in flux. That was useful.
Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :
I don't pay attention to chapter titles at all. Or the little quotations some people put at the beginning of chapters.
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
I really like Chapter Titles, but I despise having to think them up. Naming things is not my favorite thing to do. I can whip out a chapter in no time flat, then sit there and stare morosely at my computer for forty-five minutes trying to think up something for a title that doesn't sound lame and irrelevant. I just wish I could pay someone to name my chapters for me. Maybe I could pick that guy that gives paper color swatches cool names, like "Morphing Mauve".
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
I used them in my first novel, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm not using them in the second novel, it doesn't seem like a good idea for this one.
Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :
The little quotes as chapter headings sometimes work, sometimes not. Card decided to use them in "Ender's Game" which spawned a huge series and he has stuck with them. Sometimes it seemed like he was just going through the motions. Though I think things have improved with the Shadow series.
Posted by ParanoidRook on :
I hate it when the chapter title is something like "Tyofael Slays The Dragon". I like it if it hints at or gives the name of something, such as "Den of Wyrmdor".
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
Someday I'm going to write a novel that has those little foreshadowy chapter headings, like "Chapter Fourteen, in which a secret is inadvertently revealed, a kiss is mistakenly bestowed, and disaster beyond imagining befalls a certain character."
Posted by Thieftess (Member # 1683) on :
Or: "Chapter 10: during which the author went for a sandwich and the characters frolicked about ungoverened."
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
Which TV show was it that used to title all their episodes "The One About..."
That's what I wish I could get away with! "The one where the magic backfires." "The one where they get lost." "The one where..."
Posted by Ahavah (Member # 2599) on :
I personally prefer another method.
Chapter 13 Synopsis: Heroine finally recognizes her feelings for the antagonist, wonders if she can bring out the good in him. Antagonists recognizes feelings and decides to seduce heroine's 14 yr old daughter.
Title: Chapter 13--Where Giant Alien Lizards Take Over New Guinea and Introduce Magic and an Interstellar Foosball Tournament to Determine Who Can Colonize Planet Earth.
You know, keep the readers on their toes.
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
Elan, that was Friends.
Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :
Eric, I just picked up Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis" in which he does the forshadowy thing. I don't like it. What's the point?
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
Nowadays, I think it only really works for humorous novels.
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
Every so often I start naming chapters because I get a few good ideas, but I always remove them later. Titles are my biggest weakness and having to name every chapter is just that much worse. Better to not focus on my weakness.
When people do name chapters, I tend to ignore them. Do it, don't do it. It's not going to make a bit of difference in the end.
Posted by Shendülféa (Member # 2408) on :
I like chapter titles, personally. I don't give names to my chapters, though, until I've finished writing the chapter onto my computer. The chapter titles help me to remember what went on in that specific chapter. This is true for my own novels as well as any novels that I read.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
I put them in my WIP because I could think of good ones, and there weren't many, and because the nature of the book implied a very regular structure. Also, the titles helped focus the theme of the chapter.
But I don't know if I'd do it ordinarily.
Posted by goatboy (Member # 2062) on :
I don't mind titles as long as they don;t directly give away the plot. As to the little quotations, I will read them all if I find they are funny or interesting. Robert Lynn Asprin used those in his MYTH books. Quite funny once you got the hang of it.
Posted by dpatridge (Member # 2208) on :
i use titles and/or quotes where it is directly applicable to the content of the story and/or chapter.
not necessarily OBVIOUSLY applicable, however. i like using these things as my little treat to the more careful reader.
you don't LOSE anything by not reading them, but you do gain something if you do read them. at least in my stories.
unfortunately, i have seen a tendancy in many writers these days to title something or include a quote for their own personal amusement, which adds nothing to the story, these disappoint me as a reader and cause me to not want to try to read any more of their stuff. a prime example of a culprit of this: Stephen King. i only read his books when i am encouraged to by someone else because he has done far too many things to disappoint me.
Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :
The three crappiest chapter titles I've seen.
"Captured" "Tourture" "The rescue"
I wonder if they are going to be rescued?
Posted by Shendülféa (Member # 2408) on :
Exactly. I'm not fond of those types of chapter titles. If I know what's going to happen because of the chapter title, why keep reading? It just seems so anticlimatic to be reading about a character getting captured and worrying about what's going to happen to him, and then to see the title of the next chapter saying, "The Rescue." What a let down!
"Betrayed" would also be a bad chapter title...in most cases. However, this is the title I use for the first chapter of my book. I think as a title for the first chapter, it remains somewhat intriguing. You don't know who's going to be betrayed, who's doing the betraying or why there's betrayel this early in the story. So then you read to find out all this information.
Chapter titles can be good or bad depending on how they're used, I think.
