(no subject)

[the_rck]

Are chapter titles and/or chapter summaries things that people pay attention to? I don’t, but I am decidedly not everyone, so I thought I’d ask. If I did do chapter titles, they’d pretty definitely be descriptive rather than actual, proper titles. Basically 'In which thus and so happens.'

Of course, I kind of associate the 'In which thus and so happens' titles with, of all things, Winnie-the-Pooh.

I’m kind of cat waxing just now because I need to stay up another forty five minutes to an hour and am kind of falling asleep. I’m not focused enough to write or to do anything else productive that requires mental focus (I did gather up the trash so that I can take it out tomorrow. I suppose I could kill three minutes by putting dishes into the dishwasher, but I normally do that while my tea steeps in the morning).

I don’t know… Maybe I’ll just play Fluid Monkey on my phone for a while. Coming up with chapter titles for all of my chaptered WIP seems excessive. Maybe just for Rheotaxis.

Comments

[retsuko]

I don't want a whole summary, but I do like titles if the author feels like it; witty titles frame the chapter, or give foreshadowing, or other things that I like in a narrative. Not having them is not a deal breaker, though... They just enhance the reading experience.

[dingsi]

Pretty much what retsuko said! Summaries would probably be too much for me, but I like chapter titles as they can add to the author's voice or the overall style of the text. They're not necessary for me to enjoy a story, though.

[lunabee34]

And thirded.

[laurajv]

I think chapters are a personal thing, really, or even a by-story thing! certainly I have written things where I felt like chapter titles were important, and things where they were not and I didn't do them. and i've read both fic and books that are both ways, too. My favorite chapter titles of all time are in E.M. Forster's "A Room With A View":

Chapter XVI: Lying to George

Chapter XVII: Lying to Cecil

Chapter XVIII: Lying to Mr. Beebe, Mrs. Honeychurch, Freddy, and The Servants

Chapter XIX: Lying to Mr. Emerson


HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH classic

and then, one of my favorite books of all time has no chapter titles at all ("Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons).

[edenfalling]

I find chapter titles a sort of nice optional bonus. They can add flavor/commentary to the text they introduce, and they're also mildly helpful when trying to find specific scenes again later -- it's a little easier (for me anyway) to remember that Awesome Scene X happened in 'In which the plot thickens' than in plain 'chapter twelve' or what have you.

And of course, having said that, I will now admit that I don't title most of my own chapters. *wry*

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

I'm thankfully getting sleepy already, yay. But as far as I can recall, chapter titles aren't that big a deal for me, but if it was a longer story, I'd definitely appreciate descriptive summary like titles.

And I associate those with the show Friends. Lol that Winnie the Poo used the first. That sounds about right, ha.

Good luck staying up. I'm going to try and go to sleep. Have a good one :-)

[the_rck]

Well, I can go to bed any time now. The point of staying up was that, in between 10:45 and 11:30, Scott's work might call to say that they don't need him to go in at 3:00, that he can wait until his normal shift start time instead.

Them not calling doesn't mean they need him. Some supervisors forget or can't be bothered.

I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Friends.

[luminations.livejournal.com]

Having written only one multi-chaptered thing, I'm no expert, but I've decided I do like them on my own stuff (I ended up coming up with chapter titles late in the game because having FFN and AO3 label stuff "Chapter 31: Chapter 32" and such when the numbers got screwed up after a multi-parter was driving me crazy) and will come up with titles from now on. It's okay if they're not super clever, or even cliche, imho.

When reading a fic, I don't really care if a chapter is titled or not. And I'd actually prefer there NOT to be summaries because I don't like spoilers! One story I read recently had a chapter titled something like "Dazed but Okay" which pretty much told me that the mortal peril the characters were in wouldn't amount to anything, and yeah by the end they were fine, lol. But, some people like spoilers!

[syderia]

I do pay attention to chapter titles, when there're there, but I don't mind if there aren't any.
I like the "in which..." kind of titles more than the other kind, though, because it's often formulated as a teaser to the chapter.
(Alternatively, you have the "Event 1 | Event 2 | Event 3 |" kind of description which can also be fun to play with. (A blue porcelain tea-pot. The mystery of the rose on the bench. An angel sleeps.)