Feb202017

Romancing the Inventor Chapter Titles & Other Quandaries

I have a mad love of chapter titles, Gentle Reader.

You may, or may not, have noticed that all of my books have chapter titles. I’ve no idea where this love comes from, that’s the weird thing. Yes many of my early reader books had chapter titles, but it’s not like as I got older they didn’t fade away as they mainly do in genre. And didn’t most other authors have that too? Yet they readily abandon the chapter title. Perhaps it’s because of my comedy bent?

Here’s a look at the chapter titles in Romancing the Inventor:

RTI parasol teacup romancing the inventor SS1

  1. In Which We Hope Vampires are Perverted
  2. In Which Inventors Have Powerful Dimples
  3. In Which Equations Prove Fruitful and Multiply
  4. In Which Werewolves Come Calling
  5. In Which Things Get Perverted at Supper
  6. In Which Imogene Contemplates Rodger
  7. In Which We Learn the Source of Vanilla
  8. In Which There are More Dimples
  9. In Which Werewolves Meddle
  10. In Which We Solve All the Equations

I don’t always use the “In Which” tag, but in this particular book I really wanted to. It felt right. Perhaps, if you want me to seem very smart, I’m playing on the idea of solitary women of the dark past (particularly those with aberrant sexual interests), being monikered witch? (There’s you college essay for you.) Competence, the book I’m working on now, has a different approach. But it still has chapter titles.

One of my great joys as an indie author is that I get to make sure my chapter titles appear at the front of the ebook. My formatter and I had a long hash out of the necessity of this and how I wanted them to appear, exactly. Because when I can be in control, I am such a control freak.

I don’t necessarily gravitate to reading books that have chapter titles, but I do notice when they appear and I like it. Possibly because it is so rare these days.

I wonder why it’s so out of fashion. Too much like non-fiction? Perceived as juvenile?

{Gail’s monthly read along for February is Black Dog Blues by Rhys Ford.}

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Dianna Sachs says of Romancing the Inventor:

“The relationship between Madame Lefoux and the intrepid parlormaid, Imogene, has a sweetness that underlies their discovery of each other. The pair must navigate their emerging feelings for each other while withstanding the manipulations of a few familiar characters – some benign and others decidedly hostile.”

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Posted by Gail Carriger

3 Responses

  1. Jo said:

    I definitely adore chapter titles; they were one of the many things that drew me to your books in the the first place! Other favorites also have chapter titles (Dealing With Dragons, Song of the Lioness), and when I started writing myself I included chapter titles of varying complexity and silliness. But I’ve never really thought about this before… Interesting!

  2. Virginia said:

    I’ve always been a fan of chapters that have quotes at the beginning. Specifically the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire and the Myth books by Robert Asprin. They crack me up and give me a little insight into the characters or plot of the chapter to come.

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