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Writer Wednesday – Chapter Titles — 4 Comments

  1. Good question! I never used to use chapter titles, until I started having to in order to post on SDS. Most of my stories there have titles, but not all. Now, it's become habit and the titles grow out of the action in the story.

    I've seen place/date a lot in fantasy literature (one famous example is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series). I like it, because it grounds the story in details and makes me think. But I agree, sometimes if all want to do is read the story, thinking about the date and time is jarring because it makes my left-brain sequential mind intrude on the moment.

    But I do think thinking about titles for chapters is of interest for authors, esp. because the book titles aren't always under your control when you're working with a publishing house. Titling chapters, though, is more likely to stick the way you write it, so you can have more control over the story and how it's told.

  2. I like cahpter titles so that later, if I need to pop back and find something, it helps. The title should hint at the action in the chapter but not give everything away to the reader before hand. So, yeah, I ike them.