Benefits of Chapter titles in fictional writing?
So, I'm in the process of writing a Sci-fi novel, and I use a website to upload chapters before I complete it. On the website, I use chapter titles simply because "RE Lavender has just updated Faces, Names, and Memories, Chapter 41 - Way Out." looks more interesting and distinguished on my feed then "RE Lavender has just updated Faces, Names, and Memories, Chapter 41." So far, I've kept the table of contents and the chapter titles, but I'm debating whether or not to leave them in the print copy. In another of the stories I've working on, using the same website, I've used the chapter titles online, but not in the working document.
I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight on whether, in a work of fiction, chapter titles contribute a lot to book, or if having a table of contents is just annoying and unorthodox.
I read the answers here. But, this didn't provide the detail I needed pertaining specifically to why someone would put chapter titles and what the benefits and disadvantages of putting them would be.
This website provided some reasons one could use chapter titles, but I'm looking to see if there are any other purposes to keeping them. If not I'll most likely omit them entirely.
Any assistance someone could provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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A table of contents is helpful guide to any reader that wants to backtrack to a certain point in the story, perhaps to remind themselves how a certain event occurred, or see again how a particular character got to be wherever they are, how they look, etc. Not to mention it's also great for when you want to find and reread your favorite part of a book.
In my experience, tables of contents have never been a nuisance and chapter titles have always excited me, ignited my curiosity, charmed me, and even made me laugh. Chapter titles are unique to each author, and I think they add character to the book.
However, neither feature in question is a necessity.
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I think chapter titles are one of the elements that contributes to the sense of a strong narrative voice -- that is, the sense that there is a narrator telling the story. This style is somewhat unfashionable today. Many authors like to create the sense of a stream of consciousness narration or to suppress the voice of the narrator in favor of the voice of the character.
Injecting titles into the narrative stream has the effect of announcing that a story is being told. Having simply a number or even just a blank space creates more a neutral beat.
But while the narrative voice is somewhat out of fashion, some of the most popular books today, including those from which Lauren Ipsum takes examples, do have a very definite narrative voice.
I'm not saying this is a particularly strong effect, or even a deliberate one, but it seems consistent based on pulling a number of titles off my shelves. I particularly note that titles are more common in children's books than in adult books, and children's books tend to have a more distinct narrative voice.
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Chapter titles which aren't used as orientation sort of delineate the story: Potions Class, The Quidditch Match, A Long-Expected Party, The Tower of Cirith Ungol. They are a distillation, not even a précis but a suggestion, of what's coming.
The question is whether you feel the reader needs this sort of narrative flag in the TOC and/or at the beginning of each chapter. Does the description add to the experience or does it feel childish? Ask a bunch of your beta readers. Read many books in your genre. See what other writers are doing, and see if you agree or disagree.
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