Opinion on naming/numbering chapters

For me, as a reader, in matters nought, zero, 0, nada. Even Roman numerals get used sometimes. A publisher might have a preference, but that would get done by an editor, if they wanted to change anything.

I worry a lot more about the words that follow the chapter heading.

caw

I've seen it done every which way. In the end, my deciding factor was that "Chapter 1 - " + a title wouldn't fit across a 5x8 page in the heading font I wanted to use.

Aesthetically, the most appealing to me is 1 or Chapter One. If for some reason you had over 100 chapters, then the first would be the only appealing one.

Dragonwriter said:

Just curious: is there any strong opinion/convention on the way chapters are numbered and named? I'm vacillating between these four styles:

• Just the number, as a number ("1.")
• Just the number, as a word ("One")
• The number with "Chapter" ("Chapter 1")
• The number's word with "Chapter" ("Chapter One")

The book is urban fantasy and it has forty-six chapters and a prologue. I see Jim Butcher does it as "Chapter <Number>," I guess I could do worse than to emulate him, especially since that's the one I was kind of leaning toward anyway (my second favorite is just the number's word ("One"). But I just wanted to see if anybody had any insights about current practices, or strong opinions one way or the other.


Thanks!

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I write out the words: Chapter One, etc. No strong preferences as a reader.

Keep in mind that if/when you sell the book, your publisher may have its own style rules on this.

Dragonwriter said:

The book is going to be self-published, so the decision is all up to me.

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Then trust your feelings, Luke. Or go to a bookstore or library and browse books a bit to get a feel for what works best for you.

caw

I'm with blacbird; it doesn't matter to me. Heck, some writers don't even use chapters at all - Terry Pratchett, IIRC, doesn't. It's all aesthetics. A simple "One" or "1" is sleek and simple and gets the point across, while a chapter name can set a mood or create anticipation.

If this is holding up your writing, though, just throw the options in a hat and pick one. Or grab a book at random and do whatever that author did.

Brightdreamer said:

ITerry Pratchett, IIRC, doesn't.

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Well, only sometimes.

caw

I try not to use "Chapter 1" or "1" or "2" or anything like that. I try to use something that's representative of the chapter itself, like a location or an underlying theme or a picture, just because I feel like it puts the reader in a better mindset for whatever situation you're about to tackle. Wave a half a million dollars in front of my face and I'll probably put numbers there.

Unless the chapter heading jumps up and down to get itself noticed, then I really don't mind. Personally, I find the word "chapter" a bit redundant. But I doubt if that would be enough to stop me from reading a book.

There are a couple of things that don't work so well for me. One I saw recently was a book with chapter numbers and titles. We had things like: "Chapter One - the Beast of Bodminton". And while I tried to make allowances because it sort of fitted the subject matter of the book ... nah, it didn't work for me. Call it "one", "Chapter one" or the "Beast of Bodminton". But not all three. Please.

The other thing that I don't care for is a contents page at the front of a novel. It's a good thing in non-fiction, but not in fiction. I'll start at page one and work my way through to the end, thank you very much.

I like "One", "1" or "I". I would find the word 'Chapter' slightly distracting - that is, I'd notice it. I mean, of course it's a chapter, what else would it be, so why even mention it? But that would be a tinygripe on a barely perceptible level.

This is a great thread for me, as I'm currently re-formatting a revised mms. I never wanted to do chapter titles - I can barely think up the chapters, let alone witty and pertinent titles for them all! But I had an institutional blindness toward 'Chapter 1'. Took the Chapter off, put the number into words, and I'm much happier.

Then again, I don't number chapters until I'm done with the polished, agent-ready draft. I just leave in some kind of line cue that it's a chapter break. Otherwise, I'm renumbering chapters like crazy during revisions.

My publishers always have me do Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.

I [refer this, anyway. It take up less space, and leaves no ambiguity about whether it's a chapter, a part, a section, etc.

As a reader, it doesn't matter to me.

As a writer, I personally use:

Chapter 1
Title of Chapter

I usually start out just numbering a chapter.

I use "Chapter One" in all-caps, at least when I'm formatting the manuscript for subbing.

I tried chapter titles, but it got tiresome to try to think of something original and inventive, something that would intrigue the reader, but without giving anything away. I will include the date and location, if it's important, but most of the time, it's not necessary.

It doesn't really matter. How does it look on the page? If you're self publishing, do a mockup of the layout either way. Heck, I'm sure there are books that don't even have numbered chapters, they just mark new chapters as starting in the middle of the page, or maybe after some simple graphics (that are the same for each chapter)

The only stories of mine where it matters don't use any of the options--because instead of normal chapters, it's broken up into days (Day 1, Day 2, etc.) because it follows the course of an outbreak.

Orianna2000 said:

I use "Chapter One" in all-caps, at least when I'm formatting the manuscript for subbing.


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That's what I did at first. I changed only because every editor I wrote for griped about it.

My manuscript uses CHAPTER WHATEVER, knowing that if it ever reaches a publisher, it will more than likely be changed to their house style.

I've also toyed with titling my chapters, but then it occurred to me that, in the event that my book ever becomes part of a series, (or even just one of many) that I may be limiting my future book title choices by having already used it as a chapter title elsewhere.

Yeah, I over-think things.

paddismac said:

My manuscript uses CHAPTER WHATEVER, knowing that if it ever reaches a publisher, it will more than likely be changed to their house style.

I've also toyed with titling my chapters, but then it occurred to me that, in the event that my book ever becomes part of a series, (or even just one of many) that I may be limiting my future book title choices by having already used it as a chapter title elsewhere.

Yeah, I over-think things.

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I hope you don't mean that literally. It doesn't really matter how you number the chapters, but you'd darned well better number them because passing around chapters is often part of the editing process. And even if it weren't, as an editor, I'll change your numbers to house style, I'll be darned if I'd try to keep count and number them for you. I'd think I had a writyer so lazy he stinks, and go look for a different writer.

Jamesaritchie said:

I hope you don't mean that literally. It doesn't really matter how you number the chapters, but you'd darned well better number them because passing around chapters is often part of the editing process. And even if it weren't, as an editor, I'll change your numbers to house style, I'll be darned if I'd try to keep count and number them for you. I'd think I had a writyer so lazy he stinks, and go look for a different writer.

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Gah, no, I wasn't being literal! I DO use actual number words! Sorry if that came across as doing otherwise!

I tend to divide my books into named "parts," with chapters within each part (using roman numerals to identify the chapters). So, for example....



It's just all a matter of preference unless your editor tells you otherwise IMO.