Chapter Titles?

[kayd_mon]

What are your thoughts on them? Currently, I'm just using Roman numerals, but I am considering giving the chapters titles. What does everyone usually use?

 

[Ayaka Di'rutia]

I normally use a number and title, and try to apply the title to the main points of the chapter, whether blatantly or symbolically.

 

[Chime85]

I use both roman numerals (cannot stand using standardized numbers, no idea why) and titles. When it comes to the titles, I often think of how I can sum up the chapter in four words or less. Eg: The Finding Of Treasure

x

 

[Chilari]

It depends on how many chapters there are. If there are more than about 15 chapters, I prefer normal numerals, but for fewer than that Roman numerals look better. The problem is that higher numbers are more complicated and consist of more (for want of a better word) digits. When I see chapter LXIV I'd rather it was just written 64, or XVIII as 18, because otherwise it take a few seconds to work out. VII is fine for chapter 7 though.

I find it difficult to come up with chapter titles. You've got to be careful not to give anything away, they need to fit the chapter and they can't sound too cheesy. It's hard enough coming up with a title for the story overall, let alone chapters.

 

[kayd_mon]

See, some books (like The Hobbit) have such great chapter titles, and sometimes a chapter title can get me even more interested in the chapter, as it can create a mood. I expect my current book to have about 50 chapters, so hopefully it'll look ok with the numerals.

 

[Ireth]

It varies from story to story. Winter's Queen and its sequel both just have numbers; Low Road just has numbers for the moment, but I'm thinking I want to give the chapters names as well.

 

[Butterfly]

I've been having a similar dilemma... http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/7440-style-choices-so-many.html

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In my current trilogy I'm using this:

CHAPTER {N}
{POV CHARACTER NAME}
​

e.g.

CHAPTER 1
AMIRA​

I didn't want to bother coming up with names for every chapter, specifically because in this case, each chapter is told from exactly one character's POV, and I know that when I read books that do that, I hate not knowing who the POV character is until I've read a couple of sentences into the chapter. It always makes me go back and reread the first couple of sentences now that I know the POV. The character name in the title gives me an instant context switch. (A Game of Thrones inspired that.) But then I also put a chapter number, because when I was discussing AGoT with friends, we'd end up trying to figure out which chapter a given character did a given thing in, which was a pain when there's nine chapters all named "Tyrion."

Chapter titles are something I might do for some book at some point, and while they can add a tiny bit of foreshadowing (e.g. a chapter named "The Endless Shadow"... sounds creepy, and it could mean anything, and after they read the chapter they might go "Ohhh, THAT'S what the chapter title meant!"), but on the other hand there have been countless great novels that don't use chapter titles at all, so it's pretty evident that they're not mandatory. I believe they fall squarely into the "author's preference" category.

 

[Motley]

I've heard a few people say on other boards that chapter titles seem juvenile and that most adult books don't have them. I don't know statistics, but I don't really agree. As long as the chapter titles aren't juvenile and serve some purpose, they're fine.

In my opinion, using point of view character names as chapter titles is odd. The reader should be able to tell whose POV they're in from the first few lines easily.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I've heard a few people say on other boards that chapter titles seem juvenile and that most adult books don't have them. I don't know statistics, but I don't really agree. As long as the chapter titles aren't juvenile and serve some purpose, they're fine.

In my opinion, using point of view character names as chapter titles is odd. The reader should be able to tell whose POV they're in from the first few lines easily.

Tell GRRM that, he's who I got the idea from. Yes, you should be able to tell easily, but I always found it a little distracting to have to go back and re-parse what I'd read in the light of now being certain who the POV character was.

It also makes writing the beginning of the chapter a little easier; since you've specified explicitly who the POV is, you can start with other characters talking/doing things that the POV char is observing, without having to awkwardly try to fit in who the POV character is in the prose.

 

[TWErvin2]

I've always used chapter and the number: Chapter 1.
It works just fine for me.

I will say that there is a delicate balance when titling a chapter, if it is related to or hinting at what is going to happen in that chapter. Too much and it can spoil the read, too little or too confusing and what's the point of it being there?

 

[Jamber]

I suspect chapter titles are for when you want a work to have a degree of authorial presence. They can be really enjoyable if they're intriguing or witty or playful. They also suit children's stories where there's usually a greater level of omniscience in the telling.

But if a book is more like a 'window on the world' (a direct telling of events as they unfold), minimalist chapter headings often suit best.

Just my feeling, anyway.

cheers,
Jennie

 

[risu]

It really depends on the length of story for me. If it's a long one, then having chapter titles really helps to place events if I'm going back and looking for something in particular. If it's short, then it doesn't matter as much to me, but it's still nice if available.

 

[Addison]

When it comes to naming chapters its random. Some chapter their titles based on what happens to the character, physically or mentally. Other title them by what crucial event is in the chapter, others are random. Lots of people don't title them at all. But in the book "The Invisible Order: Rise of the Darklings" the author didn't title the chapters, perse, instead she'd write along the lines of: Chapter 11 (under which in a centered logline she'd write) in which Ellie and Jack break into the Order. So you can "name" you titles whatever and however you want.

 

[Rullenzar]

I would just stick with numbers. Titles run the risk of spoilers or sounding juvenile. A method I've seen and would probably try myself is using a number with a quote for each chapter. The quote could be something your character would say or it could be a mood or setting your trying to set the stage for. Example: A big war near a river take place. Quote: Something to do with the river running red. You can be cryptic with your quotes.

 

[wordwalker]

Titles run the risk of spoilers or sounding juvenile. A method I've seen and would probably try myself is using a number with a quote for each chapter. The quote could be something your character would say or it could be a mood or setting your trying to set the stage for. Example: A big war near a river take place. Quote: Something to do with the river running red. You can be cryptic with your quotes.

Quotes do the job nicely. And unnamed chapters are fine, sometimes that understatement is best.

But it isn't hard to keep a title from sounding juvenile. If nothing else, one-word titles apply Rule of Cool, subsection Z (less is more).

And titles can be as vague as you need to, if only with imprecisions like the classic "When you fight, a great empire will fall." Or can get even trickier; there's one in Name of the Wind called "Hope"...

Spoiler: The Name of the Wind

which is when the hero's family and clan get massacred. Qvothe "hoped" they spend their last hours alive being happy.

 

[JediKnightMuse]

Usually I either try to come up with a chapter title offhand or I'll just go with "chapter one, chapter two," etc.

If I ever try writing a story with multiple point of views like Benjamin does I would do it like that- not only so that the reader can keep track of which character it is that's "talking," but so that -I- can keep track. Rick Riordan does three points of views for the Heroes of Olympus books (granted I only read one of them but I have the second one, just haven't read it because by the time I went to read the second one I'd forgotten how the first one ended and what happened in it) and puts the name of the character that it's in the view of.

 

[kayd_mon]

I have not been identifying the pov with a title, as I plan to only use a few, likely five or less. I see the necessity if there are many povs, but with a small number I think the reader should catch on.

 

[Sheriff Woody]

I prefer something more than just a number. Numbers make it feel too mechanical, like a test I have to take.

GRRM's character names work perfectly, and naming chapters works well when the names of the chapters have some thought behind them.

I want to be reminded of the story at all times possible. 'Chapter 14' does not remind me of anything.

 

[Graylorne]

I always use both chapter numbers and titles. Many titles are topographic, or when a new character joins I use their name. It's a bit like a place-marker, easier to remember than only a number.
But in the end it's purely a matter of taste, I think.