Arty Chapters?
May 21, 2020 11:40 am Leave your thoughts
Photo by G. Gellinger.
I started naming chapters a long time ago. I also wrote songs and poetry; deep lines about how shit it was to be a teenager at the time. And it was shit, but little did I know this feeling would be totally eclipsed by actual adulthood. Years ago I thought naming chapters was kind of arty and gave more meaning to my work. Then one day I had no idea what to call the next chapter of a book I was writing and asked myself if it really matters. I wasn’t writing a non-fiction memoir or instruction manual. Not every section needed a theme or heading and I was trying to frame something that didn’t need padding or a preamble.
Books aren’t like a TV series where each episode needs a name and run time to keep people from accidentally viewing them out of order. They also do this to adhere to time constraints on networks. In real life you have however long you need to finish a chapter and you aren’t picking the book up and just flipping to a random section and starting to read from anywhere. The pages already go in order so there’s no reason to make sure the reader is on track – “make sure you read chapter 4, it’s right after 3, and you will know that because the titles will join up somehow.” (This is the part where you pray your reader can at least count.)
Look how much I care. (King of Spades)
I guess I find it a little pretentious if it’s a fiction novel. I understand your book is your baby and a work of art, but giving each section a title doesn’t do what you think it does (at least not to me.)
If it’s titled to seem arty, I’m reading it thinking about where the weird title came from and probably looking for something irrelevant in-between-the-lines instead of focusing on the story. If it does link to the story and have some sort of purpose…it feels like the author is telling me what to think, or what theme to take away from the following chapter. It can feel like they are spotlighting something rather than allowing me to notice the important theme/issue/item/dialogue for myself through their writing and skill.
We’ve all heard the line “murder your darlings” and it’s in regards to editing but I have the same view with prologues and chapter titles. Is it necessary? Is it just flowery and making you look smart? Is it just something you like the sound of or are proud to have come up with?
Would the story continue on well without it? If the answer is yes, you should probably cut it. I know it hurts, but you just have to do it.
There are some exceptions, I’ve been wrong occasionally (IKR?!) but your writing should make a reader feel a certain way about a situation or scene without having to tell them how. There are scenes in King of Spades and Red Cowboys where I’ve forgone that to get a point across, but generally it’s in action scenes where any unnecessary focus on the wrong things or on pretty language takes away from the speed and flow of the scene.
Chapter titles don’t have this, they don’t really add anything. So…they should probably go.
TLDR:
* Murder murder murder your darlings if they are a title that serves no purpose.
*We know you’re smart, you wrote a whole book! You don’t need an arty title for a chapter.
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Tags: artistic, arty, chapters, edit, episode, episodic, king of spades, memoir, Murder your darlings, nihilism, non-fiction, poetry, prententious, teenage, tv shows, write advice, writers, writers group