I'm grateful to @kctorawrites and @ElisaSaphier for asking questions on Twitter about naming (or not naming) chapters in books. They made me think... I've named the chapters in all three of my books (two 'fictionalised memoirs' and a RomCom) but I'd never really thought about why.
The answers to Karen and Elisa's questions were varied - all the way across the spectrum from yes to, ummm, no. In fact, some of the answers in the middle were really interesting, as were many of the reasons given, both for naming and not naming. I'd recommend a peek at both if you're a reader, writer or simply a bit nosey.
So, having taken the Twitter degree in 'To Name or Not to Name Your Chapters' (there are 168 replies to the older tweet, above) I've come to some tentative conclusions.
Chapter names seem to work well, and be slightly easier, with comedy, or other 'light-hearted' books. My first novel, Hitting the Jackpot is a RomCom, I found the whole process a lot of fun and hope readers enjoy musing about my chapter headings as much as I loved creating them. Why are they easier with comedy? My guess, that's all it is, is that the 'light' nature of the book opens the door to 'light', 'teasing' chapter titles. There is a temptation to make chapter titles a 'summary' of the content, or a 'hint' ref what's to come. With comedy, I feel it's easier to go much broader than this and include 'joke' titles, based maybe on a throwaway line of dialogue, which makes the reader think, 'What? How on earth is that going to happen?' Then, when they see it doesn't happen, hopefully they are amused by the joke, the tease.
I've a feeling it's easier to name chapters after you've finished writing them. This also steers you away from the temptation to automatically try to 'summarise' the chapter in the heading. Try reading it through after it's written, and hunt for that 'odd' throwaway line of dialogue which doesn't actually tell you anything about what's happening in the story .- but, of course, the reader won't know that until they've read the chapter... In Jackpot, I have a chapter called The Headless Squirrel (ch22). I promise you, no squirrels are harmed in my book. The title comes from a moment when one character surprises (and shocks) another with something they say. The second character responds with shock, disbelief, '...like he's beheaded a squirrel with his bare hands.' Of course, some of my other chapter titles summarise the content (The Win ch1, The Lie ch2), but didn't somebody once say something about variety and spice?
I've started calling my chapter titles 'intro-cliffhangers'. So, instead of (or as well as) having a 'cliffhanger' at the end of a chapter - you can have one at the beginning. 'The Enormous Japanese Penis' (ch 52) must surely have caused at least one reader to decide not to turn the bedroom light off yet... I'd hope for a similar reaction to 'The Deal... With Benefits' (ch16) or 'The Facebook Rules of Courtship' (ch38).
Using chapter titles to tease, entice, as 'intro-cliffhangers' works particularly well, I feel, if you're into the fashion of writing 'Potato-Chip Chapters' - ie short, sub 2,000-word chapters. See: https://shorturl.at/cDGO3 If you know the chapter is quite short, then the temptation to find out what 'The Right Little Goer' (ch13) or 'The Rat in the Letterbox' (ch25) are all about will be much stronger, maybe irresistible.
There's no 'right answer' to any of this, it's a matter of personal taste. In my next book (not a comedy) my chapter titles are all newspaper headings. I just felt they 'suited' the story matter particularly well. For the book after that, I'm returning to comedy - expect some potato-chip, intro-cliffhangers in that one.
