hello! I would just like your opinion on the chapters in my book. Its is a fantasy for kids...the chapters are all named after the lands they go through completing their quests i.e Foolsome Woods...Sentory lake etc but inbetween these chapters i have cut back to events which are happening at the school which was at the start of the story, So at the minute my chapters read like this; chap 1 Daniel Webber (school) chap 2 Foolsome Woods chap 3 Sentory Lake chap 4 Mindreading (back at school) chap 5 Rowan Toll Chap 6 Ellwood hall (back at school) ETC............. These chapters do not seem to sit right as you see the contents but they are imperitive to the story...am i being daft or is there another way to do this? Should i combine chapters of the lands or keep them seperate or is it fine as it is? This has been nagging me all the way through and now i am on my final chapter i cant get it out of my head! many thanks
[FONT="]If you feel the flow of the story (from chapter completing quest, then a chapter with school events) works well and goes with the way you feel it does then you shouldn’t scarify it just because of the names of your chapters. Maybe you can just complete the story and work on the chapter names later (their less important to the story, and may just change later on after a draft in any case). If i read this wrong (reading back maybe i did). Your the only one that knows the contents (we cant tell what lies within unless we read it). Simple go with what feels right with you. You the creator [/FONT]
Why do you need the parentheses? Once the reader begins the chapter they should know that the setting has changed. Without the parentheses, the chapter titles look fine to me.
I would say write the story first. The chapter organization can wait until everything else is finished. Then you can decide what works best
I think he's talking about this: I think Dcoin was under the impression that the bold portion is part of your chapter titles. I assumed you just put that there for clarification purposes, but that it's not in the actual novel. If it is in the actual novel, I agree with Dcoin in saying it looks out of place... but I don't think that's the case here. On topic: I'm not quite sure what you're asking. It seems like you're concerned about maintaining some sort of pattern: school, fantasy world, school, fantasy world, school, fantasy world, etc. And you're bothered because that pattern isn't working out: school, fantasy world, fantasy world, school, fantasy world, etc. Don't worry about it. I had a similar issue with a novel I'm writing. I have chapters narrated by my two main characters and I had hoped to alternate them (character A, then character B, then A, then B, then A, then B, etc) but it didn't work out that way. Sometimes A wasn't the best guy for the job, so I would end up with two more more chapters in a row narrated by B or vice versa. It seems like that's what you're doing. If it's time for something to happen at school, forget about the pattern and write a chapter about school, even if that means you end up with five school chapters in a row, it's better than forcing your story to fit some silly pattern. I know if I had tried to stick to my pattern, my book wouldn't be nearly as good.
Another approach would be to divide the book into parts based on regions or locales where the action takes place. For instance, if the school scenes are brief interludes between lengthy adventures elsewhere (like a couple hundred pages in the Foolsome Woods, with onls a dozen or so pages in each school interlude, then make the first part about the Foolsome Woods. The part can be broken down into chapters, named or unnamed, based on major scene breaks. Each part becomes a major adventure, and they combine to make the complete story. But you don't have to make the chapter size fit the varying durations at the various locations. When you are done, you can either retain the parts in the final manuscript, or leave them out and trust that the reader understands when there is a transition to a new adventure in the saga.
Hi To be honest i did google it and still was not sure, so thanks for the clarification anonymouse. Yes the () were to clarify what the chapters were about, they are not in the actual contents page. Thanks for all the advice, i promise you i would not have asked the question of what the word meant if i had not googled it first and still did not understand. I hope i can ask questions here in future without feeling completely stupid. My apologies again.
There's nothing wrong with asking questions. I have only been here for a short time myself, but from what I have seen, you will always get an answer. This is a very helpful community!
the trouble with these questions is that no one but you can really answer them... at least not without reading the ms itself... listen to cog's first advice and just finish the book... then go through it as a 'reader' and see what chapter titles may spring to mind... making a big worrisome deal of it now is just a waste of time and energy that holds you back from completing it... love and hugs, maia
