Do You Title Your Chapters?
Titling chapters, instead of numbering them, has mostly gone away in fiction, but it's still a thing in non-fiction. The only novel I put chapter titles in was The No-Campfire Girls, and I had great fun doing it. But that was self-published; I'm not sure I'd try it with an agent/publisher hunt.
(We don't literally hunt agents and publishers, by the way. Yes, I know what my last name is, but that's just a title I inherited. It's like an actor being knighted--they're not really expected to go out and defend the Queen's honor. Are they?)
More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies, has a duel layer of titles. Each chapter is full of reconstituted humor columns, which is when you take an old newspaper and add water to the humor section. Too bad newspapers don't really have a humor section, unless you count the politics page. The humor columns came with their own title, and even when I made major changes in the old columns, I mostly stuck with the original title.
Then I divided the book into chapters, because I love organization. (Pay no attention to the condition of my office.) Hopefully the chapter titles will give a sense of the book, which starts with a prologue entitled:
Prologue, or: Prelude to a Forward Preamble, or: The Part People Skip
It's just to keep you on your toes. Some of the chapter titles include:
History ... Or Death
In Sickness and in Health, But Mostly In Sickness.
Dear Marky, or: Advice From the Clueless
That Cartoon Has Got the Boom
The Joy of Travel, or: Yes, There Was Sarcasm in "Joy"
People ... People Hating People
Government, Red Tape, Bureaucracy ... but I Repeat Myself, Just Like the Government
It's a Beautiful Day for Sportsball!
The Three Stooges Got Nothin' On Me
Weather ... Or Not
And then comes the finale, properly called:
Where Epilogues Go To Die
Tell the Pulitzer committee I'm standing by.
Brace yourselves, you luddites ... you could actually read the opening for free, here:
https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-...
If you just can't wait and/or want a signed copy, contact Emily or me, or hit up the website, and we'll limber up our writing hands.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/&quo... R Hunter"
(We don't literally hunt agents and publishers, by the way. Yes, I know what my last name is, but that's just a title I inherited. It's like an actor being knighted--they're not really expected to go out and defend the Queen's honor. Are they?)
More Slightly Off the Mark: Why I Hate Cats, and Other Lies, has a duel layer of titles. Each chapter is full of reconstituted humor columns, which is when you take an old newspaper and add water to the humor section. Too bad newspapers don't really have a humor section, unless you count the politics page. The humor columns came with their own title, and even when I made major changes in the old columns, I mostly stuck with the original title.
Then I divided the book into chapters, because I love organization. (Pay no attention to the condition of my office.) Hopefully the chapter titles will give a sense of the book, which starts with a prologue entitled:
Prologue, or: Prelude to a Forward Preamble, or: The Part People Skip
It's just to keep you on your toes. Some of the chapter titles include:
History ... Or Death
In Sickness and in Health, But Mostly In Sickness.
Dear Marky, or: Advice From the Clueless
That Cartoon Has Got the Boom
The Joy of Travel, or: Yes, There Was Sarcasm in "Joy"
People ... People Hating People
Government, Red Tape, Bureaucracy ... but I Repeat Myself, Just Like the Government
It's a Beautiful Day for Sportsball!
The Three Stooges Got Nothin' On Me
Weather ... Or Not
And then comes the finale, properly called:
Where Epilogues Go To Die
Tell the Pulitzer committee I'm standing by.
Brace yourselves, you luddites ... you could actually read the opening for free, here:
https://www.amazon.com/More-Slightly-...
If you just can't wait and/or want a signed copy, contact Emily or me, or hit up the website, and we'll limber up our writing hands.
http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/&quo... R Hunter"
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Gina
(last edited Aug 12, 2021 06:32PM)
(new)
Aug 12, 2021 10:11AM
I actually added images to the chapter headings of my newest book. Each little thing is something that happens in the chapter i.e. a pocket watch, a pearl necklace, wedding rings, etc. The idea for that came from the girl who was originally going to illustrate the book -- she said they did it in the Harry Potter books, which I've never read; I just took her word for it! But my final illustrator did a great job with it and each illustration is placed above the chapter #.
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That's a great idea! And yes, the illustrations in the Harry Potter books work very well.Gina wrote: "I actually added images to the chapter headings of my newest book. Each little thing is something that happens in the chapter i.e. a pocket watch, a pearl necklace, wedding rings, etc. The idea for..."
I actually took a peek at them on Amazon after I wrote this. LOL ^_^ They're in b&w, mine are in colour. ^_^ I wish I could add pics here to show you what they look like.
Wish I had the talent to do something like that--I'd love to do my own illustrations. I've found that from an artistic standpoint, writing is about it for me.Gina wrote: "I actually took a peek at them on Amazon after I wrote this. LOL ^_^ They're in b&w, mine are in colour. ^_^ I wish I could add pics here to show you what they look like."
I have no artistic talent either, Mark. Fortunately I found a wonderful illustrator. For the chapter headings I just gave her sample pics and told her what I wanted for each chapter. I did stick people for the 12 interior illustrations and samples for how I pictured each character. Donna took it from there. =D
Mark, check out the Amazon page for my book and click on the Look Inside feature. If you scroll down near the bottom, you'll see Chapter 1 with the heading image. Here's the link --https://www.amazon.com/Cinderella-Lov...
