Hey, everyone! We’re less than a week out to the release of Another Time, Part 1, and I’m left here wondering who let December happen. The speed of time only seems to be accelerating especially as the world seems to be ending all over again and the big date of my year rushes towards me. All the final details set and hammered out, the bits and pieces falling into place, and my stress going through the roof.
On the one hand, like, I get it. I’m self-publishing a little fantasy series. I used to write fanfiction, too, and the feeling’s similar. The creative life is exciting, rewarding personally, and the people I know personally who follow my creative exploits are a source of constant joy and connection. Yesterday, I got a Facebook memory about the first time I sent the an edited draft of A Place I Have Never Been to one of my still-loyal beta readers. That was four years ago. As great as it feels, of course it’s small, but these are the small things that keep you going sometimes. Staying the course, writing on, getting better all the time. The same people who followed the rise (ha) of my first book, having read Another Time (it will release in three parts, too!) and beyond do say I’m improving. Most of them are brutally honest enough elsewhere that I’m inclined to believe them, and that’s exciting. But above all it’s a pleasant way to keep up a hobby, to get things out there, and motivate me to keep at it.
Since beginning the Freedom and Control series, I’ve completed NaNoWriMo four more times, updated drafts and expanded them into hundreds out thousands of words, gotten into poetry and even tried my hand at short stories. I bought a camera and began taking photos. Others say I’ve inspired them to begin their own writing projects, or else to just read more and look at the world a bit different. Obviously, this blog keeps rocking despite everything. I’ve begun buying art and going to movies and concerts alone (thank Covid, too), just to experience creativity. I think once you being creating things, you start looking everywhere for opportunities not only to inspire but to learn. Most people around you are creating, too, and at its best creativity should beget more creativity. We should support each other in all these endeavors because that’s how we all get better, stay in the game, stay creative!
As far as that impulse to be more creative goes, one of the things I see frequently opined over on the writing and fan spheres and something which I myself sorely miss is chapter names. They’re something that, for as long as I’ve been writing (oh the glory days in the Phineas and Ferb fandom), I’ve tried to include for most of the reasons above. They’re a kind of fun, overt creativity, and give the opportunity for a bit of teasing, sometimes exposition, and worldbuilding in terms of aura and feel of a story.
Four examples of my own personal writing experience come to mind, and frame the idea of chapter titles in that sense of expanding the world, aura, and creativity of a work.
In the ongoing Freedom and Control series, I come up with chapter titles usually last, near the end of the rewriting and editing process. When writing, I only use the place, date, and time as openings, except if it’s a main character introduction chapter. During the rereading and edits, in consultation with alpha and beta readers, I get a sense for the overall theme or feel of a particular chapter. Sometimes a certain quote or line will stand out, or else an overarching feeling (something I aim for in the relatively brief chapter style of those books). Then it’s a matter of applying a quick turn of phrase, single word, or adaptation of a phrase to that sense, and that winds up being the chapter name. They’re sometimes informed by previous chapters in that character’s story, or even preceding chapters (see “Revolution” and “Reaction” as counterpoint chapter names in A Place I Have Never Been). In that way the chapter names are born of the stories themselves, a system which both allows me to write freed from having to try and match the plot to a preconceived name and that allows tweaking as edits and rewrites alter the story (always happens).
Last year’s NaNo, in a state of limbo, had chapters named after drinks because the story itself revolved around bartending! There was some thought put into the drinks themselves, characterizations based around chapter events (at one point I asked my coworkers “Alright, best drink to start a fight with?” and got a unanimous “Jack and Coke.”) The method was actually useful for bringing in real-world experiences! What is it they always say? Write what you know. There’s a good example of that.
This year’s, by comparison, was a road trip novel whose table of contents was called “Track List,” and featured chapters named after songs from the character’s road trip playlist, because obviously that’s clever and hilarious. The songs themselves were part of the NaNo playlist I listened to while writing, and for the most part the songs do align with the chapters they’re named for. That itself is a fun little example of creativity begetting creativity. Never stop looking for inspiration.
I’ve recently started down another new work in progress after a year or so of careful (guess what) worldbuilding! As part of that story’s development, the writing voice developed into something more formal and loaded than previous works, and I wanted the chapter names to reflect that. Hopefully, and we’re only around seven-thousand words in (written during NaNo of all times, but we can’t control inspiration’s arrival), the eye will be for poetic chapter names with multiple meanings tied into the events of the story or the thoughts of characters. But who knows? That’s the fun of a new project!
There’s no one real way to do chapter names, or even any real indication that they’re necessary. I understand the aesthetic appeal of the minimalism inherent in just numbering chapters, and it’s perfectly fitting for certain works. But my recent read of Plain Bad Heroines inspired me to consider my own reasons and methods for naming chapters. Hopefully some insight there will help others considering it, or encourage them to throw it out entirely. Whatever works best for the story!
As we get ready for Another Time’s release, we also get a sneak peek at the chapters ahead. Thanks to all for the support and kindness! And as always GET HYPED!
THE STATE IN THE NORTH
Crowned King
The Player
Homecoming
The Prince
The Idealist
Fate and Fortune
Impressive
Load
Temptation
Bombardment
The Weight of Office
Requite
Legitimacy
Recall
Playtime
Whipcrack
Ultimatum
The Magnate
Tides
Miscalculation
Departure
Personal Politics
Teatime
Across
Moonrise
Casualties
Occupied
Counterattack
Flint
Starlight