#chapter titles

I Get Blinded by Someone’s Teeth

My Girlfriend Teaches Me to Fly

We Take an Unplanned Swim with Winged Ponies

I Receive the Looking Glass of Fire

I Am Welcomed by a Mummy

I Get Attacked by a Magic Bug Killer

I Converse with a Horse in Latin

I Meet the Cabin of Eternal Nap-Time

I Eat Lunch with a Film Star

I Have a Disagreement with the Fashion Club Leader

A Psychotic Babysitter Tries to Kill Me

I Fix a Dragon on Fire

Some Wolves Show Me a Swimming Pool

A Hunter Offers a Clue

I Learn to Really Hate Makeup

Leo Arranges Air Transport

We Discuss Evil Espresso Drinks

We Freeze at the Penthouse Suite

We Go to See the North Wind

Piper Learns to Speak French

We Go Storm Hunting

We Crash-Land at a Warehouse

Dirt Woman Makes a Disgusting Reappearance

I Fight with Some Pretty Sweet Toys

Hera Sends Another Message

We Camp in a Sewer

We Go on the Worst Shopping Trip Ever

I Fight the Evil Hypnotist

The Wheel of Fortune Interrupts My Dream

A Friend Makes a Final Request

Leo Unleashes the Crazy Goat

I Battle the Husker of Corn

Hypothermia Is Not Fun

Evil Wolves Attack Us

Jason Finds His Long-Lost Sister

I Burn a Rather Important Bridge

We Meet Someone Who Is Not a Ghost

Aeolus Presents a Weather Forecast

Aphrodite Shops for Clothes

We Arrive in California with a Makeover

We Climb Devil Mountain

Beauty Queen Goes Battle Crazy

We Cause an Explosion

My Dad Lends Me Some Lightning

We Get a Ride to Oakland

A Goat Volunteers

Jason Tells of the Wolf House

I Attempt to Fight with Breath Mints (Not My Finest Moment)

Khione Gives Out Free Popsicles

I Battle the King of Giants

I Prove My Power

I Fix Up My Cabin

I Show Off My Secret Workshop

I Find My Home

I Have a Talk with My Patron

So one of the underrated aspects of the HTTYD books is the fascinating, profound, and frankly hilarious chapter titles. I’m putting together a collection of some of my faves. It will take a couple posts, but here’s Part One.

[ID: Chapter title that reads “5. Do not open a Coffin That Says ‘Do Not Open’ on the Front” in black text over a white background. The words “Do Not Open” are in all caps. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads “17. How Bad Could This Day Get?” in all caps and black text. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads: “3. Out of the Cooking Pot and Into the Barbecue” in black text and all caps. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads: “13. The Great Potato Burglary” in black text and all caps. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads: “9. How do you take advice from someone who has taken a vow of silence?” in all caps and black text. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads: “18. Here’s an interesting question. Can you outrun an exploding volcano?” in all caps and black text. End ID.]

[ID: Chapter title that reads: “19. Here’s another interesting question. Is the universe a good egg or a bad egg?” in all caps and black text. End ID.]

^Put both of those together because they are consecutive.

Cowboy Vampire / Priest Title Ideas

-> feel free to edit as you see fit.

Bloodtrail

Penance

The Devil Rides at Dusk

The Pale Rider

By Moonlight, By Rope

Hell for the Wicked, Home for the Damned

God and the Gun

Saints Don't Bleed

In the Arms of the Damned

Thirst in the Desert

Even the Dust Cries Mercy

The Dead Don't Hang

Crimson Saddle

Whiskey and Blood

The Cross and the Fang

No Salvation for Sinners Like Me

Bitter Is the Night

Ash on a Holy Wind

He Drinks from My Throat, I Pray for His Soul

Heaven Ain't Far, But It Ain't for Us

playlist

I didn't actually expect this to go big but yea hehehe (it's more of my book chapter names tbh) thanks for the ask, anon!

cruel mothers raise wretched daughters

these sunflowers that no longer shine for me

who would ever make the poet's choice

i watched as my life fell apart

we have grown (but still haven't changed)

the stories we tell ourselves

we are the survivors of the world

in case, i don't live forever

never forget who raised you

warning signals before war

Fellow authors - do you use chapter titles? And if so how do you choose them?

For me, every time I sit down to write something, I commit to NOT bothering with chapter titles. Because who cares, except me, right? My first story focused on time, so the chapter titles were how long it had been since a dreaded event in canon. That made sense and grounded the reader in time, all good.

My second story started with just character names and then evolved into two word chapter titles starting with The. Will I admit that my attachment to this structure was entirely so that the last chapter could be called “The End”? No, I will not, and not only because despite the chapter intended to BE the end of a story that spanned multiple fics, it turned out NOT to be the end bc I wrote another after. So no, we won’t be discussing that.

My original fiction did not have titles. I was proud - I DID IT! It was a first draft! To spend time agonizing over chapter titles was stupid. That is, until I sent it to beta. Suddenly I was frantically adding titles to the chapters as I moved the chapters from my word processing software to the document they could read. My efforts, thwarted. But these were one word titles, simple, direct to the point.

And now my latest is below, another pattern no one will notice or care about, but something that clearly is very important to me:

So, a pointless ramble about chapter titles BUT ALSO a request from other authors to share their strategy for naming chapters! What do you do? How does it happen?

And readers - do you even notice them??