Chapter Titles - The Unsung Heroes?

 I think I might have talked about this before, but even if I did, it's totally worth mentioning again. I think chapter titles are a ton of fun to come up with and can be fun/helpful for readers. They give you a bit of a teaser of what is to come, and a lot of times can be a play on words that might have the reader expecting something different form what the chapter is actually about, which can be nice as the writer. You don't want your readers to think your work is too predictable and sort of subtly setting them up to expect one thing and then hitting them with something else (that also makes sense when you think about the heading again in the new context), it can be a nice little gotcha moment. 

I think it's also helpful to have chapter titles to help readers more easily navigate a book if they have moments they want to go back and revisit based on future chapter revelations. Numbers just aren't that helpful in that regard. I know I don't pay attention to them or note them as anything more than a break within the book or a stopping place. But for me, I sometimes like to go back and reread something that has a direct impact on the latest bit I just read. It's just nice to see if you misremembered or if you interpreted something differently or maybe you just want to see the exact scene play out again. 

Another thing I think is worth noting is the fact that a lot of readers would like chapter titles to be reintroduced (among other things) to books being written these days. They're just something nice to have. And even though I get mad at GoT for the gore, zombies (still annoyed about this), and the seemingly endless number of pointless plotlines, it was helpful to at least have the character names as the chapter heading so your mind could instantly shift to that character and where the story last left them. I've read books where they did nothing to prepare the reader for a change in POV and it was hard to shift perspectives without those clear signals. Obviously it's doable and done all the time, but it has the potential to muddle the story in your mind a bit if you read too long thinking something is related to one POV when it's actually a different one. Untangling those crossed wires isn't always as easy to do as some might like. 

So, to sum up, there are a lot of reasons to have chapter titles, especially as a reader. And while I definitely appreciate them as a reader and want them in all of my books, I have to say that coming up with them is still one of my favorite things to do while writing. How is it not fun when you come up with gems like "Brunch - Where the Liquor and Stories Flow" or "It's Called Glamping"? Teasers for what's to come with a dash of humor all in a few words, and hopefully more humor once the chapter is over and you can see what those chapters were hinting at all along. Here's hoping making up chapter titles stays fun and that I can keep doing it, because it really does bring me a small bit of joy when writing.