Kat’s chat: Chapter naming & what worked for me.

 

I’m sitting here thinking about what to write in this blog. I should be writing the final book of my series but my characters are playing up. I will sort them out in a minute. I thought that everyone needs a bit of help or advice no matter what it is you’re trying to do. When I made the decision to stop saying I am going to write a book and actually do it I had next to no idea what to do. I just began the process and stumbled a few times, cried and almost talk myself out of it on many occasions.

When I published Strings I nearly vomited after hitting the upload button and wanted to run back and cancel. I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t.  I’ve had people asking me for advice when writing, I can’t have done too bad a job ha ha.   I’m in no way an expert, or think my way is the right way but I’m happy to talk about what worked for me. If I can help others on this mad journey we have chosen to go on I am happy to try. I was stuck with my first novel when it came to the chapters as I didn’t want to give anything away to my readers. I had seen a few posts/comments over various blogs/chats etc that some readers didn’t like it when the chapter name told them what was going to happen. I read this and thought ‘Damn’ this was exactly how my chapters names had been done.

I sat back and thought for a while and read up on some tips and came across some fantastic advice. What I decided was simple. I looked through the chapters and picked out something at complete random, a word or a quote from a character.

Example: Chapter nine of Strings ‘Hit the shelves’  was a reference to the band being featured in a magazine. It wasn’t a big part of the plot. A small part of a bigger picture. It gave nothing away but that the mag had hit the shelves but wasn’t part of the main plot. It could also be a bit of dialogue from a character; Nothing to much, it can  just one word.

Chapter 10 for instance  ‘Idiot’  who was an idiot and who said it and was it a big plot detail or just a passing comment.

It worked for me and it will be a system I will continue to use. Of course, this is just how I do it. This is not me saying it is the right way, as I don’t think there is a right way. It is that of the writer to decide on how they want their book to work. I am just giving some tips to those who are looking for ideas.

I hope this helps and good luck to all writers out there.

Kat

xx