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Chapter names?



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Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:26 am
Zeera says...



I like chapter names while reading, but I dont care much about them in writing. I usually never write chapter names until I wrote the chapter; that's whent the inspiration comes.
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Sun May 06, 2007 3:29 pm
Eloquence says...



I prefer chapter names and I use them in my writing. They make me think of what the chapter is going to be about and adds a bit of suspense. As long as the author doesn't make the chapter something like "The Death of (Insert Main Character Here)" or "The Happy Ending." I'm okay with it.

But, it's true most authors are going for just a simple numbering in their chapters because sometimes it's hard to think of names and I'm guessing they'd prefer to worry more on their story than to contemplate a chapter name.
  





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Mon May 07, 2007 1:18 am
Writersdomain says...



I love chapter names, but I never add them in until I've written the entire story. That way I can look back and view the chapter in the context of the story and title it more symbolically, incorporating the major themes of that chapter into the title. For instance, my latest chapter of Flames is entitled "Cold" because it deals with the idea of the cold killing, a major theme appearing throughout both books in the story.

Chapter names are cool, but I really don't like the extremely generic ones or ones that give away too much of the chapter, like "Defeat" or "Capture" or "Meet George".
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Mon May 07, 2007 1:28 am
JC says...



It depends on the story for me. I mean, on most of my other stuff I haven't had chapter titles or anything, but on POD I have, mostly because of the story, and the fact that I sometimes need to add "On both accounts" to it. If you've read it you understand. Anyways, when reading, I sometimes read the titles, but I mostly ignore everything, even numbers. Except for this one book called Forshadowing (it was really good, fiction...in case you were wondering) and the chapter numbers were backwards, starting with 101, and going all the way down to the final chapter. Chapter 1. It was awesome, I got the book just for that, but it ended up amazing anyways =D.
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Mon May 07, 2007 3:41 am
AWritersFantasy says...



Writersdomain wrote:I love chapter names, but I never add them in until I've written the entire story.


That...is actually a very cool idea. I think I might have to try it, because honestly I think about...10% of the stress of trying to write something that's more than a few pages/chapters long would be taken away for a while if I didn't give titles to each chapter. Part of my frustration, at least lately, comes from titles for chapters. Although most of the time I don't usually have a problem coming up with chapter titles, but maybe I'll still try it. XD
  





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Mon May 07, 2007 12:53 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



I love chapter titles, although, like Writersdomain, I've come to the conclusion that I should not use them until I've at least finished the chapter. It makes it so much easier to think of one, and then you're not subconciously writing the story to fit in with the chapter title.
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Mon May 07, 2007 2:57 pm
Sumi H. Inkblot says...



I really prefer chapter names, because 1) they can "Foreshadow" a bit (I absolutely love it when books do that) and 2) because if I want to re-read a certain scene, the chapter title can usually give me a clue to whether it's in there or not.
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Mon May 07, 2007 7:48 pm
PerforatedxHearts says...



Chapter names are optional. Sometimes they're helpful for the reader to remember what events happened in this chapter through the names, but most of the time you don't need it.

And your chapter names don't even have to have anything to do with the contents of that chapter. Tons of Fall Out Boy songs have titles irrelevant to the contents of their songs.
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Mon May 07, 2007 8:39 pm
RatchetWriter says...



I like Chapter names.
It gives you the feeling that the writer cares more about his story.

But I agree that the chapter names should never expose much of what's in the chapter, part of a story being so good, is the fact that it's completly new, and you don't know what comes next.

But chapter names are sometimes funny too, such as in Hank the Cowdog. :)

But if it's hard to think up chapter names without giving away most of the chapter, numbers really aren't that bad. Chapter names are just a nice touch.

In the end, it comes down to whatever you prefer, when you're writing a story.
  





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Mon May 07, 2007 9:34 pm
xanthan gum says...



In contrast, I'm relatively annoyed by chapter names, especially in fiction books. It gives the sense that the author specifically grouped the story in events, which gives the entire plot an exceedingly skeletal feel, like you can feel every rib of the story in selected chapter names/events up until the climax-chapters. The names are usually relatively tacky, and suprisingly useless relating to the effect it has on the reader. I have nothing personally aganist them - at least, as long as they do not waste the time of the writer. Write the story. That's what they're coming to read.

(It's also a waste of ink.)

On the other hand, in nonfiction novels, I prefer section or chapter titles so that way I can identify where and when a certain topic was addressed.

It all has to do with the context, theme, and style of the story.

Personally, I use Roman numerals and do not make any definition between chapters but for dramatic break.
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