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Writer's Haven => Quill and Feather Pub [Public] => Topic started by: Vidya on February 22, 2020, 04:25:49 PM

Title: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: Vidya on February 22, 2020, 04:25:49 PM

Because my hero says so many humorous things—well, my beta readers find them humorous—I often have 3 or 4 good possibilities for chapter titles. Titles come easy when you can just quote something a character says.

I know it’s not usual, but do you think I could list all the alternatives as possibilities for chapter titles? I think most of the alternatives sound intriguing, which is what a  chapter title should be,  intriguing enough to want the reader to read on to see why that title was used.

Or should I just stick to one?

Title: Re: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: notthatamanda on February 23, 2020, 09:54:03 AM

I never read chapter titles but I might notice it and find it odd. Consider if that is really what you want, to focus the reader's attention on the chapter headings.

So options:

Pick one:

Funny quote about a dog.
Funny quote about a cat.
Funny quote about a fish.

All together:

Funny quote about a dog. Funny quote about a cat. Funny quote about a fish.

Third option:
The dog, the cat and the fish.

Take the essence of each funny quote and put them together, then the reader will have the impact of the quote in the story.

Just a suggestions.

Title: Re: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: Shoe on February 23, 2020, 10:00:16 AM

I do a single, clickable chapter heading, then between the chapter heading and text a centered summary of the chapter in small caps using a different font.

Title: Re: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: Vidya on February 23, 2020, 11:07:31 AM

Do you think it would work if I did it this way:

I could use the best for the chapter title. But for those chapters where I have 3 or 4 good possibilities, I could write “Tags:” under the title, like they do at the end of blog posts where they use various phrases to summarize or indicate what was in the post. And then write the other titles, but separated by commas. And not in capitals which the actual title would be.

The difference would be, in mine, the tags would be at the beginning of each chapter rather than at the end of a blog post.

An example [these aren’t quotes from what the hero says]:

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT’S A MAN GOTTA DO TO KILL HIMSELF?

Tags: Today I met the girl I’m going to marry, Deadly doings and heavenly hellfire, Too brash to live, too bold to die

***

or would Teasers be a better word than Tags?

I’ve seen one blog where the word “label” was used.

Title: Re: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: Shoe on February 23, 2020, 11:43:02 AM

Quote from: Vidya on February 23, 2020, 11:07:31 AM

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT’S A MAN GOTTA DO TO KILL HIMSELF?

Tags: Today I met the girl I’m going to marry, Deadly doings and heavenly hellfire, Too brash to live, too bold to die

That works for me (and I don't think you need the word "tag" in there). Dave Eggers has done it this way in a couple of his books (forget which).

CHAPTER ONE

WHAT’S A MAN GOTTA DO TO KILL HIMSELF?

Today I met the girl I’m going to marry. Deadly doings and heavenly hellfire.
Too brash to live. Too bold to die.

Title: Re: Can I give two or more alternatives for chapter titles?
Post by: notthatamanda on February 23, 2020, 11:26:45 PM

I've never seen this in a book. Doesn't mean it can't work. Personally I wouldn't want to write these for every chapter and I would think all chapters should have them, it would look odd if it isn't consistent. I don't end every chapter on a cliffhanger but I hope that I am spinning the story so well that the reader just wants to keep going. My book that has the most "I couldn't put this down" reviews does have chapter subtitles, but they are just dates, because that was important to the story. If the reader wanted to go back and look at the dates afterwards they could think "Ah-ha."