A few months ago, a couple of writers and I had a mini-debate over this topic. SO, here’s the question: do you give the chapters in your books titles, or are they just numbered? Numbering is easy: Chapter One, Chapter Two, etc. Titles require a little more creativity. I don’t really have a preference: I use whichever method suits the book I’m working on. For Valentine and Fortune’s Wing, I came up with a title for each chapter. For The Witch of Fulton Lane, the chapters are simply numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. 

When I give a chapter a title, I try to use a title that captures what that particular chapter is about. Some of my titles are meant to be humorous, such as “A Whiter Shade of Pink” (a play off of the song, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”) from Valentine, where a prank turns Valentine’s skin light pink. In the Our Lady of Righteous Rage books, the titles are named after the character who narrates them.

Ever read a book where the contents page and the actual pages were incorrect? I have…

Giving each chapter a title, may lead to the creation of the dreaded Contents Page, one of my least favorite things. This usually works out for my paperback editions, but seldom works for my ebooks, which usually get jumbled up when KDP tries to format them. My personal rule (from now on, anyway): skip the contents page if you can. 

This same rule can be applied to “Books” and “Parts”. Most of the Valentine books are written in parts, and each part has a title.

If you find yourself writing books within the same series, that first book is going to set the standard. If you name the chapters in the first book, then you should name the chapters in the books that follow. Just some helpful advice.