Chapter naming

[Eileen]

I used chapter names in my novel. When I first wrote the book, they were more to keep me reminded about what was happening in that chapter. When I got it assembled for publication, the guy who was working on that for me said they needed work. He was correct. I had to go and change about half of them since they would not have made sense to a reader.

I'm not sure if I'll use them in my next book, though. When I look at traditionally published novels in my genre (historical fiction), few if any of them have chapter titles. If you want to produce a book with a professional finish to it, you really have to stick with how Penguin, Random House, Simon & Shuster, Harper Collins and the other big publishers are doing it.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Paul wrote: "E.A. wrote: "Something off topic."

Again, the topic is chapter naming, not contests. Comment deleted.

[J. Daniel, Lurking since 2015]

Tap, tap, tap - is this thing on? Deleted another off topic comment.

[Alex]

I don't think there should be any 'hard and fast' rules with writing (The creative greats in all fields are the ones who break convention). If chapter naming works for you, keep doing it.

If those chapter names are merely to help arrange your thoughts, save a final author's draft just for yourself, then remove the chapter titles from the version you submit to a publisher.

To me, chapter names are like elaborate descriptive passages - if they improve the work, they can stay. If it's just me showing off, they get canned.

The 'Game of Thrones' books use character names to introduce chapters, which does help prevent reader confusion. It's a trick I borrowed myself for my first novel, as I didn't want lengthy 'catch-up' paragraphs at the start of each chapter when I changed viewpoint.

Stephen King's 'Christine' has some great teaser-style chapter names (he also used teenage song lyrics to introduce each one, which fitted in with the book's main theme brilliantly).

[Christina]

I've somehow missed this thread and I'm honestly surprised at how controversial folks seem to think the act of titles chapters has to be. Really? It's a choice, just like 99% of writing (the 1% would be basic grammatical structure and proper spelling, but even those can be fudged under the right circumstances). Add names if you want or don't. If this isn't up to spec for an agent, publisher, etc, then maybe they simply aren't the right fit for your work. People are allowed to have opinions, yes, but just because they give themselves a title doesn't mean they are the be all end all authority on your chapter titles.

[Tony]

The chapter name, if it is there, does not catch my attention. I read what's in the section to know what is going on. We are all aware that naming the chapter, if it is done, must be in such a way of not being a spoiler. I have heard from a number of reviewers that it is prudent to just signify the chapter by number and page break.