Comments on: Chapters: Numbers or Names? #MondayBlogs #amwriting

By: Georgia Rose

Georgia Rose — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 08:41:33 +0000

An excellent point of view, Wendy. I get your point about having to come up with the titles in the first place – I started having a think about possible titles with with my current WIP and didn’t get very far. I don’t think I read them either. But I can see their use so I’m not saying never and I shall certainly be giving it more thought.

I do agree with you on those… Next time, clips we get… grrr. But then I like the title of the Friends episodes… The One with the… so, as with most things I appear to be securely fixed to the top of the fence 😀 😀

By: Georgia Rose

Georgia Rose — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 08:33:19 +0000

In reply to Terry Tyler. Yes, this is interesting. When I was reading up on the use of them they are often used to set the scene of what's coming, to whet the appetite. I think a lot of thought has to go into them to get them right so they work how you want them to but I like the thought of the slightly cryptic ones. And they are very useful for setting time and place, and possibly the weather, I think.

By: Wendy Percival

Wendy Percival — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 08:03:33 +0000

I’m never going to be a fan of chapter titles. For a start they make me think of children’s books. And as a writer, the thought of having to come up with a title for every chapter…. It’s bad enough thinking of the book’s title!
It also reminds me of the current obsession of programme makers and the “coming up syndrome”. If we’re not careful we’ll be heading down the route of “and in this next chapter, Esme will pay a visit to the murder location and discover something shocking…” or worse, a recap of the last chapter as well! As you can probably tell, the increasingly ubiquitous “Next time…” (when you’ve hardly had time to digest what you’ve just watched) is a bit of a bugbear of mine. I always think of the poor writer who has put heart and soul into crafting a cliffhanger at the end of the storyline, only to have the dramatic tension totally undermined by showing a clip from the next episode. I’m sure one of the reasons Line of Duty is so successful (notwithstanding a brilliant plot) is that it had viewers on the edge of their seats and leaves them there. No let off! You have to wait.
Anyway, going back to books… if there are chapter titles I never read them. If it’s a good story I’m propelled on to find out what happens next and just keep reading!

By: Terry Tyler

Terry Tyler — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 07:52:43 +0000

I love chapter titles and often use them. Not in every book, but some – they’re in my WIP. Each chapter has its number, then the name of the character whose POV it’s from, then a chapter name. I think it gives another little aspect to the whole thing, and I spend a while thinking of the right one. Sometimes it may just be ‘Four Months Later’, but other times I like to use something a little cryptic that applies to more than one thing in the chapter. Or they might be related to each other; for instance, I have one called ‘Calm’ and the next is ‘Storm’.

I started to use them when I noticed how much I liked episode titles in series I watched – wondering what it was going to be about!