I use chapter titles. They can hint at what the chapter is going to be about without revealing too much. They can also pump up reader interest if you have a really witty or cool chapter name.
This was mentioned earlier in the thread (I think) but this approach is good for ebooks for readers that didn't set a bookmark. I wouldn't do it for a print version though.
The book I just finished has chapter numbers followed by the character whose point of view is being presented.
I have an unfinished novel. I have titled the chapters, but that is mostly for my own benefit to keep track of the structure, and may not survive the finished product.
Same. I generally don't do chapter titles (my first serious WIP novel doesn't even have proper chapters yet) but I'm using them for my current project. Since it started life as two short stories, which of course had titles, the first and second chapter got to keep them, and then it felt unfair that subsequent chapters shouldn't have some of their own. They're mostly for my own benefit, to summarize what a chapter is about, making it easier to navigate. Some of the titles are jokes in their own right, but a lot of them are just plain bad and would never make it into print. I think I want chapter titles in the end, but it won't be these ones. A few are good enough, but the rest... And since I'm transitioning to shorter chapters, I'll not only need better titles, but more of them. I guess I'll figure that out at the very end. Book first, chapter titles later.
in one of my WIPs, i use chapter titles. but its not like "Chapter 1:____", its just the name of it. for example, one chapter is simply called "Flowers" (which is about my young MC trying to get to know her mom who had been absent for the better part of her life) and another one is called "Pop" (about my MC's fixation with father figures and wondering where her own father is. in it, she wishes that her grandmother and grandfather who raised her were her real parents, and she gets jealous when she sees a picture of her mom as a child in a family portrait beside her grandfather). each chapter stands alone. the titles are short, but hints at what its going to be about. you don't have to read what happened in the chapter before in order to understand what's happening in the current chapter
Depending on the genre, I find chapter titles endearing. Especially those that follow the Victorian age naming convention, such as Chapter 3 from Three Men in a Boat: Does anyone know what that type of chapter title is called?
