I think if I was using a large number of POV characters, I would use their names for the chapter titles, as George Martin does. As it is, I have four, so I feel that chapter titles are ok. I've tried to use the POV's name early in each chapter and to have something early on (generally a thought) that shows who the POV character is. I've used short chapter titles ("The Farm", "Homecoming" etc) but nothing much more elaborate than that. One of my pet dislikes is the author winking at the reader, so in-jokes and real-world references are out for me.
Ah no I love this. In one of my many yet-to-be-even-completed-never-mind-bloody-published novels, the lead character runs down steps into the darkness and suddenly hears hissing at her feet. Looking down she sighs "Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes!" In another, after the Statue of Liberty has been blown up, yes you guessed it: Heston's iconic speech from Planet of the Apes. I love doing stuff like that. For me it's a way of sharing what might be a private joke, though sometimes it might be a little obscure. In
The Last Temptation of Billy the Kid I was going to have him say "At the last moment I hears this voice and ah reckon it were the Good Lord hisself, and he tells me "Billy, don't be a hero." But I thought it was something very few people would get, so I left it out. Still, if you know the reference it's not bad.
Chapter VII
Cat Conundrum
In which Ponsonby visits Aunt Agatha and gets a nasty surprise!
My grandmother was always giving me dusty books with chapter titles like that, which is why it all feels very 19th century to me.
Though a quick check through the book shelf reveals that a surprising number of writers feel the need to add a squirt of whipped cream and vermicelli to the top of every chapter.
I think this kind of thing is good for kids reading, to keep their attention, but I'm not a fan of it in adult literature. The only place I see it really working is in HHG2G. Adams was a master at that.
I've done that with all my novels so far, as I tend to use a lot of POVs (26 in my first novel). It keeps things ticking along for readers and means they don't have to wonder who they are 'with.' My WIP, though, is from first person and I've been toying with titled chapters, but it feels a little forced so I'm sticking to numbers. Unless I change my mind...
I admire GRRM for that. I find it very hard to do POV for a chapter, as it restricts you from moving to other scenes, and you really have to be able to see through your character's eyes and ONLY see what they see, and nothing more. I don't tend to do that; almost every chapter of my novels, and any stories, feature cutaways to other scenes, people, times, places.
Another perhaps relevant question: if you title your chapters, are you a fan or not of the kind of alliteration Astro Pen quotes above? Always smacks of cartoons to me, but I wonder how the rest of you feel?
