The Next Best Book Club discussion

I've looked around for an answer to a question that's been bothering me and can't find anything, so I figured I would check here:

- What's it called when an author starts off a chapter with a few keywords or phrases that give a summary of what the chapter will be about. The best example I can think of is Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, where each chapter starts off with something like, "A Killing; death of the plains; The Judge takes council" and stuff like that.

So, does anyone know if that technique has a name? Can anyone think of other books where it's been used?

I don't know what this technique is called, probably just chapter intro/summary.
I recall Jules Verne did it in Around the World in Eighty Days and Two Years' Vacation.
Giving titles to chapters (along with their number) is also pretty common, like in Lord of the Flies. So you could call it overlong chapter titles or something like that. I guess synopsis is not the right description for this, since it should be spoiler-free.

Thanks Matt. Yeah, with Blood Meridian at least, it's not a chapter title, and it does tell you vaguely what is going to happen in the chapter, so in that regard they are spoilers. It seems odd that it doesn't have a name for what that's called.

Hey Chris,
I'm not quite sure what your referring to as I don't believe I have seen this in books. If so I probably just didn't catch it. Although I have seen quotes in every chapter after the number and before it gets started; as such in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Maybe now that I think of it, the quote in some way ties into the events of what will happen in that chapter.

Hey Justin, thanks for the response. Yeah, I've seen a bunch of books with quotes to kick off each chapter, but until Blood Meridian, I'd never seen an author start each chapter with a summary of what was going to happen in each chapter. It made me wonder where Cormac McCarthy saw/thought of the technique. It's kind of odd when you think about it because it's the author providing a sort of spoiler as to what is going to happen, yet it works really well, in Blood Meridian at least.

Chris, as someone mentioned above, Jules Verne used that in most of his books, and actually, the small press I work for will be putting out a book in February that used the same technique for its chapters.

I agree, it does work really well, in the books I've read that had it.

Lori wrote: "Chris, as someone mentioned above, Jules Verne used that in most of his books, and actually, the small press I work for will be putting out a book in February that used the same technique for its c..."

But we still don't know the technical term for this. I think it's time to invent one.

Epigraph: A phrase, quotation, or poem. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison, or to enlist a conventional context.


I wasn't sure this term refered to what you were describing, but based on the part of the definition that says as a summary, it sounds correct. Another example to add to the list of authors/books that have employed this device as a summary would be Dickin's Oliver Twist.

That just shows how little I retained from college; I read some Jules Verne and would never remember that he used the same technique.

Heather, it sounds like that might be it! This question has been bothering me for a long time and I finally have an answer. : )

If I remember correctly, Twain did this in Huck Finn at the start of each chapter. I don't have a term for it though. Epigraph works for me.

I always ask my friends and family if I should ever put some lines from some of my poetry in the beginning of chapters. Most tend to say no or ehh as it may deminish or take away from the story at hand although it would of course tie in. So with that being said, I would think a rundown introduction before the chapter starts is interesting and makes foreshadowing a bit forward and obvious but still a good idea nonetheless.

I tend to ignore chapter headings so it doesn't bother me. I recently finished a book that used this technique, but I didn't find it a spoiler at all.

I saw this technique a lot a long time ago. It's fallen into disuse.

Catherynne Valente uses this technique in some of her books.

This weekend I had the chance to flip through a couple of the examples mentioned in this thread. It seemed as though most of them, like the Jules Verne books, had a single phrase before each chapter like, "Into the deep" or "The monster again." What seems so unique about McCarthy's use of it in Blood Meridian is that he lists every single plot point of the chapter, up to ten items, instead of one item. Very interesting.

I have seen these 'Epigraph' used many times in older books. As mentioned by others, when first coming across them I thought they would be a spoiler. However, to my surprise they never were. Regrettably commitments over recent times have considerably reduced my available time for reading and at present I cannot recall the titles of the books concerned.

Whilst discussing chapter headings I have another question. In the past it was accepted, and expected, practice for chapters to have 'chapter headings' as well as a number. Whether a single word or a short phrase did not matter. In more recent years many authors and readers have opted for chapter numbering only. I know someone who having released a book recently followed the 'modern' convention: numbers only. However, some of their readers have since stated they would like to have titles as well as numbering. What has been the experience of you who are authors? Which would you who are readers prefer?

I know it's a bit off topic by what's everyones take on Prefaces? I looked into them and did one for my upcoming book because I felt people should know where the content came from and how it came to be.
I find it somewhat relevant to this topic given it serves as an introduction to the story itself. Anyone ever do one?

@Peter I've been doing chapter titles, but I'm thinking about stopping that.

@Justin I think it's perfectly fine if it fits the book.

First: apologies for long delay in getting back to this discussion.

Thank you for your responses.

Justin: I would be interested to know whether your inclusion of a Preface works. Recently saw comments stating that a large percentage of todays readers do not read these or any other introductory sections. Apparently to do with short attention spans and impatience for action.

Stan: Interesting that you intend to stop with chapter titles. Is this due to reader comments?

@Peter Chapter titles seemed to have become superfluous. That's my only reason, because otherwise I enjoy the challenge of developing a continuing theme.

@Peter, that's an interesting observation. I hadn't noticed the decline of chapter headings (I had always chalked it up to reading different genres that may not use them as much as others) but now that I think about it, you're right.