It was a film that finally gave me the conviction to give each chapter in my novel its own title. Now, I know that I shouldn’t have needed a film to give me that conviction because both Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie frequently used chapter titles in their detective novels, and so I should feel no shame using them in mine. But their novels come from a different tradition to mine: Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett do not use them, for example. They also come from a different time; chapter titles are not used in detective novels these days.
The film that convinced me was The Hateful Eight. Tarantino loves chapters and he loves chapter titles, and I thought that if he can use them in a film, then I can sure as hell use them in a book. He also does something books don’t even do, he tells you when it’s the last chapter:
I like that because it tells the audience how to approach what happens next, and to me, that’s what chapter titles are all about. In my opinion, all books should say “last chapter”, because when you know things are about to end you pay more attention to their significance and it enhances everything you read. Put another way: the writer knew for damn sure this was the ending when they were writing it, so you should know when you’re reading it.
Book titles and chapter titles are of course often designed to intrigue the reader, get them to buy the book, or to keep reading; but they have a second (and far more important, as far as the writer is concerned) purpose.
How can I sum up everything in a few words?
It is to point the reader in a particular direction. I love to give them something to keep in mind whilst they read, the lens through which to view this part of the story. I do this in several ways: first with the book cover and title, then with a prologue, then with the title of each chapter. The novel has it’s themes, and each chapter has a motif or mini-theme, and the title is designed to give you some gentle nudging in that direction.
That said, generally I hate coming up with titles because they’re so definitive and I’m often not happy with them. How can I sum up everything in a few words? Sometimes I get lucky and the right title just jumps out of the air. So, in an effort to help anyone else who struggles with titles, I decided to take an honest look at the title of, and chapter titles in, my novel You Can’t Make Old Friends, and tell you where they came from, and how I was trying to use them.
[Some SPOILERS, naturally]
Book Title: You Can’t Make Old Friends
Origin: This was the title of a Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton song on an album my wife bought.
Significance: It summed up the key theme of my book so strongly that I just had to use it: the idea that old friendships are something you have no control over; you don’t choose them, and you can’t get rid of them. Should Joe Grabarz be so concerned about the death of some drug dealer? Possibly not, if it wasn’t that they were old friends.
Chapter 1: I Always Knew I’d Find You Dead One Day
Origin: These are the last words of the chapter; Joe’s response to finding his dead friend (Rory).
Significance: To be honest, they were the coolest words in the chapter, and also told the reader that someone was going to be found dead in it, so… you know… if the prologue about two young boys getting beaten up put you off, keep reading.
2: What’s Different Now?
Origin: A question asked by Rory’s mother.
Significance: One of the themes of the novel is ‘what happened in the ten years since Joe last saw Rory’, and this seemed a pretty good way to telegraph that into the reader’s mind.
3: Just Another Dead Drug Dealer
Origin: How Joe describes the police’s attitude to his dead friend.
Significance: This was about emphasising the central theme of an old friendship by highlighting what Rory is without that friendship. Because, you know… if he’s not Joe’s old friend, he’s just another dead drug… oh, you get the idea? Sorry.
4: Everybody Has to Pay Rent
Origin: An observation Joe has about why some people do things they wish they didn’t have to.
Significance: To be honest, I had trouble naming this chapter because it’s real purpose is to set up the story’s major subplot. But I found this an apt line, summarising some of the difficulties Joe has, but also highlighting some of the sociological and political commentary of the novel.
5: The Little Sister
Origin: Many of you will know already, this is the title of a Raymond Chandler novel.
Significance: Chandler’s Philip Marlowe books were the biggest influence on me when writing You Can’t Make Old Friends. As a result, I found it a nice way to honour him, and it was handy because this chapter revolves around Rory’s little sister.
Note: the film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is also inspired by Raymond Chandler and also uses this as one of its chapter titles:
6: The Bastard Behind It All
Origin: Part of the question ‘Who’s the bastard behind it all?’, which is how Joe paraphrases someone else’s question about who’s behind a new drug.
Significance: I had real trouble naming this chapter too because it focuses on a few different things. Joe has a conversation with a friend who relates a conversation from earlier in the evening, which involves someone relating an incident from their childhood seventy years ago; so there’s a lot going on. I experimented with a few alternatives, the most long-lived of which was ‘A Drink And Stories’, from the line “they would sit, sharing a drink and stories”. But ‘The Bastard Behind It All’ seemed the best way to intrigue the audience, which is what I would have to do if I couldn’t satisfyingly sum up the multiple themes of this chapter in a few words. Which I couldn’t.
7: Damn Powerful Women
Origin: Joe’s internal response to being overcome with lust (his thing is powerful women).
Significance: Again this intrigues the reader, makes them want to read the chapter. But also I enjoyed the interesting double meaning: ‘Damn Powerful Women’ as in ‘Extremely Powerful Women’ and as in ‘Condemn Powerful Women’. And when Joe thinks it, you’re not entirely sure which he’s thinking. Intriguing? Well, I hope so.
8: Concrete Evidence
Origin: Joe searches a building site for evidence about why a company rejected a shipment of perfectly-good concrete.
Significance: Amazingly, it took a while for this obvious pun to occur to me, but once it did I had to use it. There is no theme to this chapter, it is just meant to be tense. Therefore I had nothing to lose. But if you want to be more meta (and who doesn’t), this chapter is just fun, and so is the title.
9: It Was Real to Us
Origin: Twice Joe uses this description to describe childhood fantasies/games.
Significance: One of the minor themes of the novel is the persistence of memory, or lack thereof. Joe has memories that he cannot be sure are accurate, but they are real to him. This can be extended beyond memory into the present day and the subjectivity of all relationships. We can deceive ourselves willingly. Think about that! Or don’t, it’s up to you.
10: As Slippery as Wet Soap
Origin: Joe’s description of a significant antagonist/ally.
Significance: This scene is one long conversation, pretty much, between Joe and the police officer investigating Rory’s murder. They both have been deceiving each other, trying to keep in front, playing games. This was the sentence closest to that theme I could find. Again I wasn’t entirely happy with it, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been entirely happy with anything in my life. Only joking. But seriously, not all titles can be gold.
This chapter is just fun, and so is the title.
11: The Last Years of Innocence
Origin: A reference to Rory’s decline from decent man to drug dealer.
Significance: I invented this title to give Rory’s descent an ironically tragic feel, as though it might be worthy of a literary novel of the same name. But beyond that irony, there is some truth to the tragedy, and I wanted the reader to think about that, and the nature of tragedies both epic and worthy of great novels, and small and everyday.
12: A Time to Do Things Properly
Origin: How Joe describes the day of this chapter.
Significance: Again I had trouble because this chapter concerns many characters, and follows Joe as he lays the groundwork for his plan to snare the people behind Rory’s death. This is probably the chapter title I was least happy with because it neither means something, nor is fun or intriguing. But it was the best I could do, so I lived with it.
13: Thick as Thieves
Origin: How Joe describes three characters.
Significance: This is a nice double meaning again, as Joe puts it “You were thick as thieves then, and look at you now: still thick, and still thieves.” I thought this summed up this fun chapter, which centres on his conversation with three thugs (possibly my proudest achievement), rather well.
14: Storm Joseph
Origin: The name of the storm that rages throughout the book.
Significance: The storm was always a pretty obvious pathetic fallacy/allegory. And in this chapter that reaches it climax when both the storm and Joe unleash their full might.
Last Chapter: Kiss and Tell
Origin: Something Joe says he doesn’t do, regarding seeking publicity.
Significance: A reference to this chapter’s first half being composed of newspaper reports summing up events that have happened since the last chapter ended. Another piece of irony, because Joe doesn’t tell people in the book, but he does of course tell us, the reader.
And that’s it. I hope this helps some people, or interests some others. I do this to try and pull the lid off my writing process in the vain hope that it emboldens some others who think they might be doing things wrong. I don’t know that I’m doing them right, but at least we’re doing them wrong together.
