Insert Title Here.

I’m going to make today’s post pretty short and sweet, as I have to go off and get ready for work soon, but there was a topic that’s been dancing around my mind for a while. Not much of a topic, though, so that makes it perfect for a day like today. And that topic is Chapter Titles.

Chapter Titles. Some authors use them, some authors don’t. Some authors probably love them, too, while an equal amount despise them, and an equal amount still are fairly indifferent to them. I realize I tend to lean more toward indifferent, myself; I certainly have nothing again Chapter Titles and have realized that I more than often simply forget they are there than anything else. But I have been wondering if I want to use chapter titles, especially since I’ve outlined the reboot of Serpent in a Cage.

It seems that, with Chapter Titles, the author gives the reader a little hint of what to expect. Without them, the reader is left to discover everything on their own. I keep flip-flopping back on whether or not I want Chapter Titles, if it really matters, so on and so forth, so I was wondering what everyone else thought of Chapter Titles. Do you have a strong opinion one way or the other? Do you use them? Do you notice them? Do you feel that they change how you approach a chapter when you have a Chapter Title?

And here’s an interesting one, too, that I’ve been considering. What about a Prologue and an Epilogue with titles, but no titles on the actual chapters? That’s what I’ve been leaning toward for SiaC, since I feel the Prologue and Epilogue would benefit from a title, but that it’s kind of superfluous for the chapters themselves. Has anyone encountered anything like that before?

Yes, this is how I spend most of me free moments, thinking about chapter titles. Sigh.