Personal Ad Chapter Name Help

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

Hello! Here is the strange topic for the day...

I am trying to get a little perspective on one of my final formatting problems.

All of my chapters have names. Often they are little jokes or foreshadowing.

It just came to my attention that my Beta Readers had no idea what a string of 3 joke chapters names were talking about.

I had tried to use sort of a personal ad concept for them, they were called:
2-4-2, 1-4-1, and 2-4-1 (so implying there would be an... uh... 'encounter' in that chapter that was about Two people for Two people.)
I thought it made sense, but no one got it. Looking back, I don't even really get it.

I still sort of liked the concept of using a personal ads format for the three similar chapter names. If I expanded them to look more like personal ads, do you think it would make more sense as to what you were looking at?

For example:
TwCBIM/Gi(LS) + TwCBIF/Gi(LD)
WLTM
SHetM/Dw(WI) + SHetF/He(NM)
WTR

(Side note: Dw means Dwarf, He means Half-elf, and Gi Means Giant, in case you can read personal ads and got confused).

That is a heck of a chapter name, do you think people would understand that there is a reference to personal ads in there, or would they just think it is some crazy math formula and be totally confused.

Should I just ditch the idea altogether and just come up with a new chapter name idea, or should I put a joke right at the start of first chapter with that name about personal ads being hard to understand and the characters not understanding the chapter names.

[Lisa]

Do people still post personal ads that look like that now? I was totally lost.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "Do people still post personal ads that look like that now? I was totally lost."

... I don't know. That is probably a good question to know before thinking about this further.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Lisa wrote: "Do people still post personal ads that look like that now? I was totally lost."

I can't recall the last time I saw a personal ad from a half-elf. I didn't even know they needed them.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

I suspect tech savvy half-elves use internet dating nowadays.

[Jenycka]

I'd suggest not making your readers think too much about the chapter names. It's a clever idea, but it requires some thought, and a great deal of inside knowledge. I love chapter names with some descriptions or little jokes in them, but maybe try to go for something simpler.

Like, "That really fits in There?"

[Micah]

What's a personal ad? **shifty eyes** (...pretty sure I got away with that...)

[Micah]

Seriously...Don't try to be too clever. People won't get it and might actually come to dislike it.

Naming chapters isn't high on my priorities list. I generally stick to "Chapter One" or "Chapter I" or "One" or even just "1."

When I'm reading a book I'll read the chapter title if it has one, but I typically don't remember it while reading the chapter. It's only in very rare books (The Hobbit, LotR, for example) that I care enough to notice.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

Yes, I think it may be a bit too obscure for a joke, and too confusing. Thanks for confirming!

Classified ads are no longer high in people's radar, so I think I will avoid them. Despite how fun I think they are when translated, no one is going to bother to try and translate them.

[Jenycka]

I personally love chapter titles. If it's a book I like, then I know where to go read again when I just want to reread the naughty bits.

What if you just spelled it out? Like, Dwarf Half-Elf Satyr King Middle School Principal.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

Jenycka wrote: "I personally love chapter titles. If it's a book I like, then I know where to go read again when I just want to reread the naughty bits.

What if you just spelled it out? Like, Dwarf Half-Elf Satyr..."

The chapters have the benefit of being in lettered dungeons. I am just going to have to think up good puns based on the letters C, D, and F.

[Jenycka]

Does rhyming slang work?

Duck hunt
Cake walk
Fire truck

Give me an example of another chapter name?

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

I do have varied names of chapters. :)

Some are a bit more pun or jokey. I have a chapter that is about a charter overhearing a conversation and it is called Elvesdropping for an obvious joke, and a chapter called The Fifth T, and the meaning is revealed at the climax of that chapter.

I legitimately have a chapter in book three called 'The Chapter that Broke Spellcheck', so nothing is really off the table.

As the 'D' dungeon features the '2-4-2', I was thinking it is going to end up being called The Double Ds.

[G.G.]

Oh my...whatever you do, please, don't go with the algebra formula look alike. I much prefer 2-4-2, 1-4-1, 2-4-1. ;)

[Jenycka]

Would Effed Off be too randy?

[Jenycka]

Or the Big C?

[Erin]

Definitely too confusing. I love fun chapter titles, though. It was a neat idea.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

I shall rename them tonight and let everyone know! :D

[Diana]

C.B. wrote: "I shall rename them tonight and let everyone know! :D"

I think that is a good idea. I would never have understood and would have just ignored them.

[C.B., Beach Body Moderator]

So I decided on

Doubled in the D
(Stronghold)

Crammed in the C
(Stronghold)

Effed in the F
(Stronghold)

Because I am classy like that. :)

[Jenycka]

C.B. wrote: "So I decided on

Doubled in the D
(Stronghold)

Crammed in the C
(Stronghold)

Effed in the F
(Stronghold)

Because I am classy like that. :)"

It's taken me like 10 minutes to come up with a post that expresses my love for these titles but won't get me kicked off of this board for being too vulgar. So we'll go with... Great! I cannot wait to read that book!