Andrewbee's picture
Andrewbee from Chicago is reading some YA book, most likely August 11, 2014 - 2:44pm

Hi,

Do any of you guys put names for your chapters? I shied away from it at first, but am now starting to think it's kind of cool. I see authors doing it without giving away the plot. Any thoughts for or against it?

L.W. Flouisa's picture
L.W. Flouisa from Tennessee is reading More Murakami August 11, 2014 - 6:05pm

I almost always do. Unless it's something like Part First, or something like that.

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers August 11, 2014 - 8:29pm

I LOVE naming my chapters, and often spend way too much time coming up with clever chapter titles. Word of advice, don't use song lyrics to name your chapters, you'll have to ask for permission from the copy right holder. I'm now having to rename all of my chapters for a novella I'm working on because I'm pretty damn sure John Densmore of The Doors is not going to let me use them. 

Thuggish's picture
Thuggish from Vegas is reading Day of the Jackal August 12, 2014 - 7:01am

Well I'll break the pattern and say no, for some reason I always saw it as a thing more for children's books, below YA, and maybe some genres like mysteries or westerns perhaps. But also, I have a hard enough time naming my entire piece half the time, so to do it once a chapter? I'd never finish!

Andrewbee's picture
Andrewbee from Chicago is reading some YA book, most likely August 12, 2014 - 8:49am

I often wish I could use song lyrics just in the prose. Some of them are so poignant and poetic, and communicate what my characters are feeling. Darn copyright!

I assume if you change one or two words, you're then free to use it? I expect that's another whole ball of wax though, so a separate thread should be started for it, if there isn't one already.

Thuggish's picture
Thuggish from Vegas is reading Day of the Jackal August 12, 2014 - 6:05pm

I *think* technically yes.

As well, if you write spoofs, the free and fair use act totally covers you.

Aud Fontaine's picture
Aud Fontaine from the mountains is reading Catch-22. Since like, always. August 12, 2014 - 7:53pm

Wait, so can you reference a song lyric without permission, like if you blatantly state that it's from a song like a quote or something or are you not allowed to use them at all under any circumstances?

Bob Pastorella's picture
Bob Pastorella from Groves, Texas is reading murder books trying to stay hip, I'm thinking of you, and you're out there so Say your prayers, Say your prayers, Say your prayers August 13, 2014 - 8:03am

No. Now, if you have something like this: Tim strutted down the street, head banging, humming, "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister, as he entered the offices of Solcum, Barlow and Calous. that's okay. But if you use the lyrics say, in like an epigraph:

We're not gonna take it--Dee Synder

then you better ask for permission. Trust me, that's the stupidest shit I've ever heard, and there are those that say you cannot even use lyrics as in the first example, but my sources tell me the first is okay, and the second is not. If I'm wrong, let me know...quick. 

Gordon Highland's picture
Gordon Highland from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore August 13, 2014 - 10:29am

Titling my chapters is one of my favorite parts of novel-writing. Sometimes it even helps drive the themes if I come up with it before the chapter's done. 

It's true you can't use actual lyrics without permission (the logic being that lyrics and poems are so short that even one line from them represents a significant portion of the work), but they can't copyright a title. So if you wanna title your chapter "Stairway to Heaven" or "Rhiannon" or whatever, there's not much they can do. That said, a title whose wording is so specific it could only be the one it's famous for, I would avoid, because they might be able to make a case for it.

When it comes to using lyrics in my text, I always just paraphrase. "He sprinted down the hallway humming that Alice Cooper tune about the last day of school."

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like August 13, 2014 - 5:26pm

Either way. If they're good names, great, like epitaphs they can add something.

Nothing wrong with numbers though, or just unnamed, unnumbered section breaks.

----

I think titles of songs and other works are fair game. You can write another song called "We're Not Gonna Take It", you can write another book called "The Exorcist"; and I'm pretty sure (in that book) you could write, "Maxwell listened to 'We're Not Gonna Take It' twelve times before bringing his silver hammer down on the goliath beetle, splintering the carapace and spluttering guts all over his brand new Nikes."

[As ever, please correct me if I'm wrong.]

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break August 14, 2014 - 7:38am

I do it.

For my first book it was about theming. The chapter title set up the content for that particular installment.

For the second book, I pretty much had no choice. I had four things going on: main narrative, book entries, and two different character sublots. All four of these things went in a rotation, so titling was the avenue to let the reader know which character they were on.

acitore's picture
acitore from Every where is reading How to publish ebooks August 15, 2014 - 7:58am

I've only written one actual book (everything else has been short stories) and yes, each section has a title.  I don't refer to them as chapters however, because most of them are too short to be considered chapters.  One advantage I think to having chapter titles is that the reader has a Table of Contents to reference when they want to see how long a chapter is going to be.  If you don't have titles, then you probably won't have a ToC.  That's from a reader's aspect, however.  As for the creativity of chapter titles, yes, have fun with it.  It can definately keep the reader interested.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated August 15, 2014 - 7:37pm

You don't have to call them chapters.  Just a thought.  

Chacron's picture
Chacron from England, South Coast is reading Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb August 16, 2014 - 12:57am

I never name chapters. I used to but I found myself taking so long to decide on the names that I felt like I was wasting time.

D.R.Parker's picture
D.R.Parker from Ogden, Utah is reading Finders Keepers August 22, 2014 - 11:11pm

I name my chapters when I write the first, second, and third drafts. It helps me keep the story organized. I like to shuffle the chapters around, just to see how it works. I leave the names of the chapters out of the final draft. I figure it might turn off literary agents and publishers, but I'm not really sure if it matters.