6 Ways To Name Chapters If You're Bad At It

I'm bad at naming chapters. The worst, actually. I used to write out the whole chapter without naming it, then go back through, agonizing over what to use as the title name. All the titles I could think of were either over-the-top or just lame. It was a pain for so long before I finally started paying attention to the chapter titles in other books and realized that a traditional chapter title was not required.

I really have no idea if this is a common issue with other writers, for all I know everyone else can name chapters with less effort than it takes to blink. But if it's hard for you like it's hard for me, keep reading. This one's for you. ;)

Idea #1: Don't name them! Just use numbers.

You don't always need a title, and frankly, readers put very little pressure on you to title them in the first place. You can skip the name and just give the chapter a number.

And there are many ways to number, too! You can use just plain numbers(20,21,22) or write them out(Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two), or even do both[Twenty(20)]! If you want, you could even write them in roman numerals, though I'll tell you from experience that those can get confusing once you get to numbers like forty-eight.

Idea #2: Pick a theme for how you want to name the chapters.

Theme ideas include:

• Starting with 'a _____' For example: 'A Beginning' 'A Horrible Disaster Involving a Computer', etc.(this is how I named the chapters in Crash and Burn)
• Puns!
• Alliteration
• Song lyrics
• Character's name+weird nickname. E.g., Joe The-One-Who-Lost-My-Chemistry-Experiment Schmoe, Jane Who-just-discovered-she-has-superpowers Smith. Bonus points if you use this with multiple POVs.

Idea #3: Have fun weird random titles like Rick Riordan does

Rick Riordan is the best at chapter titling. I aspire to such greatness. Just crack open a Percy Jackson book if you haven't already and behold the comedic genius.

Idea #4: Use Time References

If time is important in any way to how the story runs, just name the chapter with something that tells you how much time is left. '10 days', 'a week after the accident', 'only five meal packs remaining', 'project is 80% done'.

Idea #5: Pull a Winnie-the-Pooh

Have you ever read a Winnie the Pooh book? As in the originals, by A.A. Milne. He always titles the chapters with 'in which'. 'In Which Pooh Gets His Head Stuck In a Honeypot', 'In Which They Find Owl A House'. I've tried this before myself, and so long as you don't spoil too much, it's super easy!

Idea #6: Skip the titles and include other content

There's plenty of other stuff you could include after the chapter number. Instead of a title, you could include a quote(from a character in the book or otherwise), a fun fact(like something about the creatures in the novel or the town where your story takes place), or a portion of prophecy(if your novel has a prophecy) at the beginning of each chapter.

And those are my ideas! I've been working with a lot of these for so long, I really wanted to share my ideas. These have helped me lower my stress levels over the titles big-time, and I really hope they helped you too. 

Before you go name your chapters, tell me, is naming chapters hard for you, or is it easy? What clever chapter titles have you seen? Tell me in the comments!