WRITEALOT: chapters

Showing posts with label chapters. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Writing – chapter headings

I’ve mentioned elsewhere in my blog that I’m addicted to chapter titles. I suspect there’s no cure for it.

I have no problem with books that don’t have them – either a number ( - 1 - ) or the written word (Chapter One) are fine; they do the job.

Chapter breaks serve to provide a breathing space for the reader, perhaps, or signal a change in scene or direction, or move on from a cliff-hanging end-of-chapter scene. Simple breaks (flagged with asterisks or a couple of blank lines or some other symbol) do the same. Invariably and ideally, the suspense or tension at the end of a break won’t be as dramatic as that at the end of a chapter. In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter, so long as your story draws the reader to read to the next section.

Chapter headings can be convoluted, explaining what is going to happen in that chapter; this harks back to the late 1800s. I’m not keen on those, as a reader I like to discover what happens as the story unfolds.

Some chapter headings are like bookmarks, so if you want to refer back to an event, a key-word or phrase might guide the reader there.

I tend to opt for the latter. However, I also like to play word-games when I can, without straining to be too contrived. The heading still has to be relevant to the content, of course. Take for example the two latest books published, Catalyst and Catacomb; for the former, half of the chapter headings refer to ‘cat’ in some way:

CATALYST

1 – Cat among the pigeons

2 – Cat and mouse
3 – Bradbury & Hood
4 – Cat’s tail
5 – Cat’s fish
6 – Catch up
7 – Worrying a bone
8 – ‘Cat got your tongue?’
9 – Cat on the roof
10 – ‘Let slip the dogs…’
11 – Cat and the lion
12 – Catananche
13 – ‘… tear each other apart…’
14 – Malefice
15 – Extinguished
16 – Becoming a habit
17 – In the news
18 – Bear this worthily

As for Catacomb, again half relate to a cat:

CATACOMB

Prologue – Dogs of Law
1 – Cat on a hot wet roof
2 – Marmalade cat
3 – Caterpillar
4 – Cat’s mint tea
5 – Russian blue cat
6 – Paraphrasing Mark Twain
7 – ‘Dirt of the world’
8 – Catsuit
9 – ‘Avenging cat’
10 – Fuller’s earth
11 – Whiff of kif
12 – Catacomb
13 – ‘Call me Cat…’
14 – Hand of Fatima
15 – Travesty of Jackson Pollock
16 – Hugs and nightmares
17 – Last sunset
18 – ‘No last words?’
19 – End it once and for all
20 – Nine lives

I’m sure if I tried very hard, I could have increased that percentage, but then it would have really appeared to be contrived!

Next month, if you so wish, you can compare the chapter headings in Cataclysm…!

BARNES & NOBLE books
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Nik+Morton/_/N-8q8?_requestid=185965

SMASHWORDS books
https://www.smashwords.com/books/search/Nik%20Morton/

KOBO books
https://store.kobobooks.com/search?Query=Nik+Morton

AMAZON COM books
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=nik+morton

AMAZON UK books
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=nik%20morton

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Writing – word-play – chapter headings

Not every book has chapter headings; some authors and publishers settle for only numbering chapters; a very few don’t even have chapters, just scene breaks. There are no hard and fast rules about it. Some readers and writers like them, others don’t, and probably the majority don’t care one way or the other.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by chapter headings – whether one-liners or several sentences revealing what the chapter was about: authors like R.M. Ballantyne (The departure--The sea--My companions--Some account of the wonderful sights we saw on the great deep--A dreadful storm and a frightful wreck – Chapter 2, Coral Island.) Then there were the clever or witty ones, playing with words: Ian Fleming (‘He disagreed with something that ate him’ – Chapter 14, Live and Let Die.) There are the succinct headings, such as those from Adam Hall in his Quiller novels – single words plucked from that chapter’s text: Dazzle, Scorpion, Motorcade, Caviar – Quiller Balalaika.

The arguments against using headings are varied. It breaks the flow, somehow; it’s disruptive. And of course for the writer it can prove difficult to settle on an appropriate title, particularly if there are over fifty chapters! Yet naming a chapter in some manner can act as a bookmark – leading the reader to a particular event or scene in the story.

I feel providing these headings adds another layer of interest; besides, I enjoy the word-play involved. Take for example Catalyst, just published.

Chapter 1 – Cat among the pigeons. This is a well-known saying, the cliché meaning to cause havoc, and it’s taken literally here since Cat, the heroine, is scaling a tall building and disturbs some pigeons! Her motivation is indeed to disturb the smooth working of the company, Cerberus.

Chapter 2 – Cat and mouse. This chapter is about Cat and Rick verbally jousting. It also contains the odd intentional cliché, such as ‘raining cats and dogs’ since this is ‘The Avenging Cat’ series and all the book titles include 'Cat'!

Chapter 4 – Cat’s tail. Here, Cat is being followed…

Chapter 5 – Cat’s fish. I resisted simply writing ‘Catfish’ which was even more contrived! She ate fish (Thai fish cakes, sea bream) in the hotel, that’s all.

Chapter 8 – ‘Cat got your tongue?’ While interrogating Rick, the villain Zabala uses the phrase.

Chapter 9 – Cat on the roof. A variation, perhaps; not the hot tin roof. Cat is up to her climbing antics again.

Chapter 12 – Catananche. This is very relevant to the plot, but I won’t say more, other than it begins with ‘Cat’!

Other chapters are suitably headed as well, of course, but don’t have the word ‘cat’ in them.

Next time, I’ll take a look at the Tana Standish series’ chapters, which emulate Adam Hall’s approach.

CATALYST
The first in ‘The Avenging Cat’ series

Catalyst, a person that precipitates events.

That’s Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model. Avenging Cat.

She seeks revenge against Loup Malefice, the man responsible for the takeover of her father’s company. An accomplished climber, Cat is not averse to breaking and entering to confound her enemies. During her investigations, she crosses the path of Rick Barnes, a company lawyer, who seems to have his own agenda.

Ranging from south of England to the north-east, Wales and Barcelona, Cat’s quest for vengeance is implacable. But with the NCA hot on her tail, can she escape the clutches of sinister Zabala and whip-wielding Profesora Quesada?

E-book from Amazon UK here

E-book from Amazon COM here

Saturday, 26 October 2013

Writing tips - Begin late, leave early

No, I’m not offering advice to party-goers. This phrase – or variants of it – is used by screenwriters.

There are two reasons for advocating enter a scene late and leave it early.

One: a screenplay has a limited length of time – roughly 150 minutes.

Two: by following the guideline, the dramatic sense is maintained or even heightened. In other words, there’s no room for flab.

One scene tends to lead to the next. In order to move the story forward. And, remember, an author is in effect writing scenes in a reader's head.

Therefore, the same applies to genre fiction. There should be no room for flab – and often the word-count or page-count is limited too. Genre books are meant to be fast reads, spurring on the reader to keep turning the pages. That doesn’t mean they can’t be contemplative when necessary, or varied in pace as the characters’ mood dictates.

One way to maintain the fast pace is to be judicious where scenes and chapters begin and end.

I’ve seen it time and again. A writer lingers at the end of a chapter, or even a scene, writing inconsequential detail that doesn’t move the story forward.

Beginning the book, new scene or new chapter is just as relevant. Enter just before a dramatic highpoint, rather than a lengthy lead up to it. (Exceptions will be suspense stories where what is being said is not what is going on between the lines.)

Here’s a rough example of a chapter ending that involves two main characters.

“Right, now listen. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll phone in sick for work and we can go together, eh? You sort out your work and then come over tomorrow and I’ll show you where the swine lives.”

            As luck had it, tomorrow was my day off, so I agreed.
            The next morning, with jumbled thoughts of Marcus, the swine, infesting my mind, I picked her up and we set off.
             I drove for about half an hour and followed her directions, turned into a street of run-down town houses.
            "Slow down, pet, we’re here,” Grace exclaimed suddenly. “Find a parking spot here. His place is just around the corner.”
            I switched off my thoughts and slowed down, and then eased into a convenient gap of parked vehicles. Grace opened the passenger door and stepped out onto the pavement. I gathered up my belongings, locked the doors, and then together we made our way down the street.

[end of chapter]

The red-highlighted text doesn’t tell us anything. The ending works just as well if all that red-highlight was deleted. The beginning of the next chapter has the two characters approaching the front door of the town house, or better still, confronting the character Marcus - doing away with the introductions at the door etc. (Begin late...).

The above example’s at a chapter end. The same applies to the end of a mid-chapter scene. Cut out superfluous wording; it isn’t really precious, is it? End on a note of anticipation, rather than a fade out. For example, ‘so I agreed’ in effect says to the reader, turn the page and find out what happens next; ‘made our way down the street’ is just tedious. (If the reader knew there was a killer waiting, then yes the walking down the street would raise the tension!)

The end of a book presents the same problem. How to leave it. The writer has been living with these (surviving) characters for ages - months or even years. There’s an understandable tendency not to let them go, just keep writing a bit more, tie up those not really essential loose ends. Does the story ending have more power when the ending meanders to a close with everyone chatting and getting all the I’s dotted? There are many authors who know how to close, and do it well. Adam Hall with his Quiller books didn’t linger. You arrived at the end breathless, and then you were left alone, gasping! The ending of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is memorable because it’s abrupt, and final for Leamas.

Quiller Solitaire - Adam Hall

The ending should be satisfying, but shouldn’t linger.

As Mickey Spillane said, “The beginning sells this book; the ending sells the next book.” If you leave the reader wanting more, then you’ve done your job.

I discuss the opening and closing scenes in Write a Western in 30 Days (pp142-144).