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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 unf...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2020-01-03T20:41:50Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23863 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T05:26:04Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23863 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
System
·
2019-12-08T05:26:04Z (about 5 years ago)
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.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2016-07-18T19:47:42Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 3