Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
As I mentioned in my last blog, a strong structure invites the reader into your book. Your table of contents is a big selling point–not only for readers but for agents and editors. But one of the wonderful aspects about bone structure is that while we each have a basic face “shape,” we each also have a unique look. So don’t be afraid to break out of the standard with your book’s structure. Do something a little different. (But not so clever that it calls too much attention to itself. That would be like having so much plastic surgery that you looked, well, plastic.)
A simple structure sometimes works best. For example, He’s Just Not That Into You starts most of its chapters reusing the title: “He’s Just Not That Into You If He’s Not Asking You Out,” “He’s Just Not That Into You If He’s Not Calling,” etc. It reiterates the book’s theme yet shows how that theme is explored in each chapter.
The memoir, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, has a simple but very different structure. Each chapter title is one word, but it has a subtitle. So you find chapter titles such as: “Beginnings: God on a Dirt Road Walking Toward Me,” “Problems: What I Learned on Television,” “Magic: The Problem with Romeo.” While I don’t know exactly what each chapter will hold, these titles, as befits a memoir, are more opaque than a standard nonfiction book. But they reflect a thoughtful approach to the book’s structure and create curiosity.
What are you reading now? Did the table of contents invite you in, or did you enter into the book’s world for another reason?
I’m reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and the chapter titles do draw me in by their uniqueness. Here’s a few: “Stop praying”, “You Might Not Finish This Chapter”, “Profile of the Lukewarm”, and “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God”.
Who wouldn’t want to read the chapter of a Christian book that tells you to stop praying?
(His advice is to start listening!)
Thanks for the thought-provoking blog!
Great article Janet ! I read this yesterday and went home to rethink the titles of some of my chapters. I tend to write with a sarcastic, witty tone because that is just the kind of gal I am so I made sure that my true personality was evident in those titles.
I also like to read books that have short chapters so that I have a sense of finishing something even if I have only read a few pages. My book is written in short chapters for that reason. Busy women don’t have hours on end to finish a forty page chapter. I am a mother of 5 and the wife of a fireman, I know how precious reading time can be and I don’t want to leave a chapter half read.
Teri and Gina, thanks for your astute comments. Crazy Love has great chapter titles (and a great title and cover).
And Gina, you’re savvy to make the chapter titles reflect your personality. The book will have more snap as a result.