Read about La Bruja of the Cross Bronx Expressway

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A writing question: Should writers use chapter titles?

Hi everybody!
     Before we get down to work, I want to tell you all that I just got back from Disney World. It was awesome! They always manage to amaze. We stayed in the Beach Club Resort, across from the Boardwalk Resort. It has a pirate ship slide, a lazy river 8 feet deep, real sand on the bottom of the pool, and an old fashioned ice cream shop.  
     We also had a chance to attend Star Wars Weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park. The Star Tours ride is new, although very short. The actors who played Chewbacca and Darth Maul were there telling funny stories about life on a Star Wars movie set. The storm troopers who opened the show were hilarious! It was good to see Disney taking Start Wars Weekends to another level. I’ll go so far as to say the event had a DragonCon kind of production quality. Unfortunately not many people were in costume, including my wife and I. My daughters were dressed as Princess Leia and a storm trooper.
      It’s time now to get to my question. Should authors use chapter titles?. The writing community seems to be divided on the issue, but definitely leaning heavily towards NO. I’m prepping my book Confessions of an Internet Pornographer for publication in September and I now face this dilemma. Many people say chapter titles are unnecessary and terribly out of vogue. Chapters should only be numbered. But I disagree.
     I think strong chapter tittles entice the curiosity of readers. I think they are another way of capturing the imagination of a reader; maybe that's why they used them in the first place. It’s advertising without a lot of text.
     I hope I’m right. But besides their marketing potential, chapter titles are fun to write. It’s not easy to come up with a cool, and  informative title. With that said, here are the chapter titles of my book Confessions of an Internet Pornographer, due to be published September 29th on Amazon.com. 

                                                                        Index
Prologue
Chapter 1: No Money, 2 Kids, Forget About It……..
Chapter 2: The Witch of the Cross Bronx Expressway....
Chapter 3: The Masturbation Factor……………………......
Chapter 4: Without Work, There is Nothing………………….
Chapter 5: To Be Or Not To Be?……………………..…….
Chapter 6: La Senorita Quera Misericordia dela Cruz…………………
Chapter 7: The Days of Tobacco and Rum…………….
Chapter 8: La Vida da Sorpresas……………………...
Chapter 9: Between an Orgy and the Deep Blue Sea……………………
Chapter 10: The 125mph Wedding
Chapter 11: Key Lime Dreams………………..…
Epilogue

I’d love to hear your answer to my question, or what you think of my titles. Until we talk again, I continue writing into the wind.
Love,
Lucho