He said…
As Ashley, and most of my friends will tell you, I’m different. I have always viewed things in a different light, taken a different approach or looked for ways to use things that one might normally ignore.
Thus, one of the things that always surprise me when I read a book, especially a Kindle book, is how ignored chapter titles and the table of contents are.
Often, chapter titles are: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and so on; with no hint as to what’s in any chapter or how it ties to other chapters. This leaves the reader with a totally useless table of contents. Some authors even put their table of contents in the back of the book. Which, makes me question why they have one at all.
To me, this approach results in the author missing a wonderful opportunity to pull readers in; to get them interested in their book and entice them to buy and read it.
When I’m looking for a new book to read, the cover attracts me, the description gets me interested and then the next thing I do is open the book on Amazon and look at the table of contents. Why? Because (for me) it tells me where the book is going and how interested the author is in their book.
Did they care enough about it to develop tag lines all the way through? Did they come up with chapter headings that will hold my interest and make me want to know what chapter 27 is all about? Do they entice me to read chapters 1 through 26 so I can get to 27 and find out what in the world “Burn Baby Burn” is all about; or who “Happy” (Chapter 12), “Sleezy” (Chapter 13) and “Dumpy” (Chapter 14) are?
In my mind, your job as an author is to hold the reader’s attention from cover to cover. That starts on the front cover then, continues anew at the beginning of each chapter.
Chapter titles are a wonderful opportunity to pull your reader into the next chapter, make them keep reading. Each new chapter gives you another opportunity to make the reader not want to quite reading for the night; not want to turn the light out. It’s a chance to have them mentally saying: “Oh god, I can’t keep my eyes open but I’ve got to find out what happens in He’s Back! or A New Door Opens.”
If you think about it, using chapter titles to pull readers in is easier than initially attracting them with your books description. Unless they’re like me, they’ve already read one or more chapters and you’ve already got their interest. Now, you need to hold it, to build tension, peak their curiosity.
If they are like me, it’s even better; all you need to do is catch my eye.
Make your chapter titles eye catching, interest peaking; anything that will draw a reader’s attention. Get creative with chapter titles. Think about what would attract your attention? What’s in the next chapter that you can use to make the reader not want to wait to read it? Surely, there’s a hook in there somewhere. What can you tie to the chapter they just read to keep them reading; to make them want to get back to your book as soon as they can?
One last point then I’ll let you get back to writing. As an author, chapter headings are often my inspiration for the next chapter. (I told you I was different.) More than once I’ve come up with a wonderful pull line and then, written the chapter around it. Even if it may not be the one I keep, it still gives me inspiration and guidance. If I’m not totally happy with it, as I’m writing the chapter, my mind is searching for a better tag line: Searching for something to put in the chapter that excites my readers.
Several times, a chapter heading has also taken me in a whole new direction, caused me to create a new character or add a chapter to my book, simply because I loved the tag line.
So, he says: Don’t just ignore the chapter headings and the Table of Contents. Think of them as tools. Tools to help you write and entice your readers.
Happy Writing since that’s what he says…
She said…
Now although my dear friend, Bob makes a few good points here and there, I still have to say I disagree with him. And because I’m pretty mouthy, I’ll definitely stick around to tell you why.
Before I do I think it’s important to point out that our opinions come from two totally different places. Now my dear friend Bob is a published author. Therefore, it is safe to say that he looks at the art of books a bit differently than some old book reviewer like me. Oh, I’m Ashley if I didn’t mention it, A. Fae to be exact.
Anyhow, I’m thinking about what I initially think of when I open a book and the last thing my thoughts go to is the table of contents or the chapter headings. So, since they’re the last thing I think of, today we’ll talk about them first!
One of the first couple of things I want to know is how long the book is, but a list of chapters just doesn’t do the trick. Although many would disagree, saying that looking at the table of contents would be a good way to determine the length of the book. But to be honest, it actually scares me away as opposed to exciting me as to how much I’m going to get to read. I see a list of 30+ chapters and all I can think is that I’m going to drown in this book. I think it is more comforting to look at the bottom of my Kindle screen and keep track with my progress with the percentage and/or page progress. I prefer to keep track that way.
As for chapter headings, I do have to say I agree with my partner, Bob, that something is better than just “Chapter 1” ;but my confusion comes from what I’d think is acceptable. I know Bob has plenty of opinions, which some I think are great. I guess that the current book I’m reading has really scrambled my brain as to what I’d like to see at the beginning of a chapter.
Bob thinks that they should be attention grabbing and I agree to a certain degree. I want the chapter headings to have something to do with the chapter. Like some little nugget out of the chapter that might make me super curious while reading to figure it out or get to that section; yet I realize that I might not be successful every chapter. But the moral of the story is that the chapter headings should be more than “Chapter 1” and the like.
Having said that the chapter headings should be brain tickling, I have to say – as I get frustrated over the current book I’m reading – if you’re going to title a chapter something it MUST MAKE SENSE. Like the chapter being named “The Abominable Snowman,” yet the chapter never mentions it nor is there even snow in the chapter. I feel like I spend a good amount of time looking for what the chapter title offered seeing it as an important part of the chapter. When I find nothing related to the title I become quite let down.
In conclusion, I would say leave the table of contents to the academic books and be creative yet accurate with your chapter titles. Now, I will backtrack for one moment to say that if you can come up with good chapter titles, feel free to list them in a table of contents. If not, as I said, leave the darn thing of. That what she says…