Novels, arrr, how to name a chapter!?

[BestWriter07]

:Soapbox:

Do you beleve in naming chapters or just saying numbers?

[BlueTexas]

I think that largely depends on what kind of story you're writing, and how the chapters relate to each other.

Hard to give more of an opinion without know more :)

[Jamesaritchie]

:Soapbox:

Do you beleve in naming chapters or just saying numbers?

I don;t think there's anything wrong with naming chapters, except when the title gives away too much, but I've never done so. Just never saw the need for it, and I can't remember the last time I read a novel that had chapter titles.

[BestWriter07]

:flag:

[Danger Jane]

I just read a YA book with chapter titles...didn't make it feel silly at all IMO. And that really would have killed the atmosphere. The book was The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin.

I don't name my chapters, though, because I have a hard enough time naming the entire thing. It would put me on title overload.

[BlueTexas]

? The white flag? Did we bite?

[Mel]

I have a hard time coming up with titles. Mine are numbers.

If you want each chapter to have a title might be better to wait until the entire novel is finished, then find a title that fits each one. Waiting until all the rewrites are done would be good too.

[ClaudiaGray]

Either can work, depending on your overall voice. I sometimes notice especially good chapter titles (E.M. Forster was a master at them), but generally it's not a big factor in my reading experience -- therefore I don't tend to worry about them as a writer.

Everything I am working on now simply has numbered chapters, but I wouldn't rule out using titles in future.

[DeadlyAccurate]

I have enough trouble just trying to name my entire book! I can't imagine trying to come up with titles for the individual chapters.

[ChaosTitan]

For further reading, there is also a lengthy discussion of that topic here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66559&highlight=chapter+titles

:)

[katiemac]

I don;t think there's anything wrong with naming chapters, except when the title gives away too much, but I've never done so. Just never saw the need for it, and I can't remember the last time I read a novel that had chapter titles.

If I do happen to read a book with chapter titles, I purposely don't pay attention to them, for the reason James listed above. I know a handful of people who disliked the chapter titles in the last Harry Potter, to name one, because they give away a large spoiler if you read through them in the table of contents.

But since I ignore them, they don't make a difference to me either way.

[DragonHeart]

I don't recall the last time I read or wrote something that had chapter titles. It doesn't really make any difference to me as I probably wouldn't bother reading the table of contents anyways. I'd be too busy reading the first page. ;) When I'm writing chapter titles are something I avoid - it's just another shiny distraction to keep me from focusing on writing the story. If I stopped to do a title every chapter, I'd never get past the first page cause I'd be too busy trying to come up with something clever and/or witty.

~DragonHeart~

[Chasing the Horizon]

I name my chapters mainly because I just love coming up with titles. My chapter titles are always poetic and cryptic, so I don't think they could possibly spoil the plot for anyone. I use titles like 'Heroes & Villains', 'Antiquity's Disgrace', and 'Cliff To Infinity'. While the titles make sense in context, I don't see how reading a table of contents with names like that could possibly give anything away. I enjoy reading books with chapter titles as well, so long as they are appropriate and don't give anything away.

[Varthikes]

I just number mine: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc...

Although, I tend to divide my chapters into parts. I title those.


Example:

Part I: Preparations
Chapter 1


Chapter 2


Chapter 3


...


Part II: End of Peace
Chapter 8


Chapter 9


...

[reenkam]

I don't name my chapters, and when books have named chapters I'll read them but I don't really think about it. Well, actually, I'll read them all before I read the book, which I guess gives away some of the plot sometimes, but when I'm actually going to read the chapter I don't care as much.

In any case, I think that if you come up with a good title for each chapter you might as well go and name them. Sometimes chapter names are funny/interesting. I like them, then.

[Atlantis]

I don't even use chapters. I write in parts. It doesn't matter if chapters are numbered or titled, no one really cares, just as long as the book itself is good. I like chapter titles, personally. Every time I get a new Harry Potter book I always skip ahead and read the titles of chapters I haven't read yet for a bit of a thrill...of course, that's how I found out that Sirius died...so maybe I shouldn't do it for the last book....

[Spyder Pyresphere]

Don't even bother defining chapters at first. Their original intent, to my knowledge, was to give the reader a stopping point without abruptly stopping the flow of the story. Like commercial breaks you can skip at any point.

Look through your story, find a good point in it that someone could take a break on, and call that a Chapter. Numbering or naming is completely up to you. Should you name it, read through the section you're making into a single chapter and try to use a name that hints at the events without giving away the good parts. You want intrigue, not boredom.

[ChaosTitan]

Don't even bother defining chapters at first. Their original intent, to my knowledge, was to give the reader a stopping point without abruptly stopping the flow of the story. Like commercial breaks you can skip at any point.


You want to give the reader a break, but you don't want the reader to stop reading. TV commerical breaks are purposely designed to end with discoveries or changes to the rising action. Some sense of tension and eagerness for the commercials to be over so the story can resume (24 mastered this in its first few seasons).

Likewise, chapter breaks should feel like natural breaking points, but try to make the reader want to turn to the next page. I'm not advising you end each chapter with a cliffhanger (as I've been told Robert Brown does). The novels I end up reading in two or three sittings are the ones that demand I turn the page, because the chapter doesn't tie up the scene in a neat little package. It offers a kernel of what's to come, and I'm not satisfied with letting it keep until tomrrow.

[Esopha]

I think it depends on the tone of the book, and whether you're willing to commit to a name. In my opinion, you shouldn't name a chapter until the very last revision, in case you decide to pull something out that causes a huge chapter shuffling. I find that when I have to do this, I cling to whatever scene the chapter is named for and try to stick it in somewhere else. Using numbered chapters in the first few drafts, at least, prevents me from thinking of any scene as more important than any other.

That said, I use chapters, but I also tend to break them up into scenes using a double-return.

^Like that. Mostly because I can play around with POV and other elements.

[BlueTexas]

Likewise, chapter breaks should feel like natural breaking points, but try to make the reader want to turn to the next page. I'm not advising you end each chapter with a cliffhanger (as I've been told Robert Brown does). The novels I end up reading in two or three sittings are the ones that demand I turn the page, because the chapter doesn't tie up the scene in a neat little package. It offers a kernel of what's to come, and I'm not satisfied with letting it keep until tomrrow.

Yeah. What she said!

[julie thorpe]

Fans of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series will be familiar with her take on chapter titles.

Always crack me up. She's some writer.

[Chasing the Horizon]

Don't even bother defining chapters at first.
I couldn't write a novel without breaking it into chapters as I write. I usually have the chapters defined in the outline before I even start. Without chapters it would seem too intimidating. Chapters let me break a hundred-thousand word story into more manageable pieces, and I get that nice little fuzzy feeling of accomplishment each time I complete a chapter. Of course chapters get shuffled around in revision (and sometimes get their names changed as well), but they're a necessary part of the first draft for me.

[TheKnightWhoSaidNi]

I sucked at coming up with chapter names, so I got rid of them after the first draft of book one and haven't even bothered in books two and three. I do take groups of five or six chapters and break them up into "parts" though (I probably got that from Stephen King), like Varthikes.

Part one: The new world
chapter 1
chapter 2
etc.

Part two: Visions and Victurias
chapter 8
chapter 9
etc.

[Penguin Queen]

It really depends. My mystery novel has parts, not chapters; it has four parts & they all have names, & that felt right.
If I wrote a chlidrens novel, I think I's give that a slightly more ordinary structure & probably would name the chapters, not sure why, but it feels more user friendly.
On the other hand, none of the short stories in my collection has a name; Ive just given the name of the saint who "inspired" the story and get on with it. I like making my stuff a bit harder work for adult readers. :D Or at least the literary stuff.

Sara Paretsky, whose work I adore in every other respect, uses titles and it just feels wrong. It just feels so unnecessary, and I dont know why she does it; it doesnt work.

I like the Harry Potter chapter titles, because they manage to be tantalising without giving anything away.

And I really really love those old-fashioned chapter titles that are really a small summary of what follows:
Chapter 13, in which our heroine finally finds out the meaning of the prophecy on the parchment, falls down a well and therein makes a most surprising discoverie.

[edwardcullen13]

i come up with chapter names and i just base it on whats in the chapter and try not to give away too much. But i also make it a bit puzzling so that the reader has an idea of what is in the chapter but isnt quite sure.

[Penguin Queen]

Chapter 13, in which our heroine finally finds out the meaning of the prophecy on the parchment, falls down a well and therein makes a most surprising discoverie.
OMG, I love it!


Maybe I should write this. :D

[Ziljon]

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.

[Ann D]

I have chapter titles that are not numbered. Could this be a problem when submitting? It was a problem for me yesterday when reviewing on my computer, so I stopped and noted the names of the chapters and numbered them for myself in a work note. I like the titled chapters myself. Each title is a clue/comment on what the chapter deals with.

[Ziljon]

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.

[dub]

Sorry, I'm old school. I use chapter titles only on the developmental time - working copies, makes it easy to find things. Then on final copies I use only numbers.