McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Getting Started and Chapter Titles
meg_evonne:
I don't believe in Chapter titles, I guess. I do use marker titles so I'll remember what scenes are where. In the YA, I used the scene locations, since it was along the line of the DaVinci Code and each chapter was a different location.
I do admire authors who have them; it just has never been me. I think most add them later, don't they?
Anyway, I'm in agreement. Just start plugging away. For me, that's every morning for an hour or two before work. Some people have weekend marathons, which works to, but it's pedal to the metal now. Go for it!
I borrowed someone's idea here on the forum that works well. I read what I wrote the day before and roughly edit it, which gets me back into the story and warms up the brain cells, then I move into the new scene. I work until the scene is done.
One writer suggested that you should always end at a cliff hanger, thus tricking yourself into returning as soon as possible the next day. I couldn't do that... I like feeling that I've checked a scene off in my head, wrapping up the work with a number put into my chapter word count excel doc.
I'm in sales and I've used a similar device when I was under 'produce or get fired' training pressure. I'd wear a bracelet on my right wrist--one that I couldn't write up the application while it was on. Once the sale was made, I'd switch the bracelet to my left wrist. The game became how fast I could shift that bracelet over during an interview. Sick, right? Once I was through my two years of training (60 hours a week as a single mom with two kids at home!) I took that damn bracelet and threw it into a lake filled with goose poop.
Wordmaker:
I don't use chapter titles myself, but they can be a nice touch. I'd suggest maybe just using numbered chapters for your first draft, then when you're revising, work out suitable titles based on how the chapter turns out.
When you want to get stuck into your book, I say just plow in. Get the first chapter or so written so you've got an idea of where things are going, and then start setting aside more and more scheduled writing time and create a routine for yourself.
shades of grey:
^I've tried that. It did work until I got seriously sidetracked. Now I have two fairly good book premises with nearly 20000 words on each. And writers block on both. It'll turn around but the head on approach worked the best.
Having a story arc to doodle on helped me too. It kept my ideas focused and gave me natural pauses for my chapters..
meg_evonne:
I never know if I've stalled because of writer's block, or if the stall is indicative of a plot line that won't hold a reader in the long run. Should you cut and run? Should you persevere? Only experience has the answer, I suspect.
Maybe betas would be helpful? Let you know if they are invested in going further? But, then, haven't you already answered that yourself, when the author can't find the interest to go forward? Maybe we should go back in the work, in order to find the place where the extraordinary turned boring and fix it?
LizW65:
As far as chapter titles go, I happen to like them, provided they fit with the tone of the story; also, they tend to be used with more frequency in YA. A good use of chapter titles is in Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief and its sequels; while they seem straightforward at first, they invariably turn out to be puns or wordplay that tie into the action of the chapter in unexpected ways.
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