I'm off to see about changing the titles of my chapters. I find that just numbers 1 to 30 (soon) are quite boring. I want to actually have chapter titles. It is sort of to follow the style of some of my heroes (Dickens and Tolkien) but more importantly it gives me a reference to past chapters when I have to look back to check on a fact months later. Hopefully it will mean not having to scan through many chapters to find what I seek.
I'm posting this ahead of going into the story files in case I botch up somehow and need to page Erin or someone for help. Lets see if I can do this without breaking the system.
Dawn
Comments
It's fine to give them titles
but put them after the chapter numbers so they stay in order.
Commentator
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Limited Success
I was able to get the first nine chapters changed,which put everything back in order. The system did grumble though. Around chapter 5 it complained and told me to wait 3 seconds before trying again. By the time I was up to 7, I had to wait 55 seconds. 8 and 9 went in smooth, but I am going to wait a bit before doing the next 10.
Dawn
Anti-hacking
That's actually an anti-hacking routine built into Drupal and the caching software we are using. Making changes to the database frequently and rapidly triggers a slowdown in response. I have that bite me in the butt about once a week and Sephrena who types faster than I do gets those messages too. A twenty-second pause is usually enough to avoid the trigger.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Be aware
Be aware that if you do change the chapter titles it doesn't actually change the underlying URLs.
What comes out on the page will look OK but if you hover over the link you'll see the original name wherever your browser displays the URL.
Try this one: Epilogue
Needles to say, been there, done that. Don't know if there are any other consequences.
Penny
This how I handle stories.
As I write a story I develop a table of contents with the names and places as well as a short synopsis of each chapter. It makes checking facts for continuity a breeze.
Boys will be girls... if they're lucky!
Jennifer Sue
Too much
That sounds like entirely too much work. I have learned to keep a fact sheet that lists all the characters in the story, so I can refer to people later. It is up to three pages on River now. But a synopsis of each chapter ... you are making my hobby into a job.
Dawn
I like your titles, Dawn
Titles like NICK'S STORY and ALISON IN TORONTO make going back and looking up a story part that'll refresh my memory of some earlier event a whole lot easier than just numbers.
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
Thanks
I really like it. Oddly, I was using titles like that when writing chapters out of sequence. For instance, I wrote most of Mark's first day at school weeks ago, and it won't appear for a couple more weeks. I called it Mark's Story. There is also a Wayne's story already written, and I just have to decide where to slot it in. And while I haven't written it on the computer, I have the epilogue in my head, and it will be called something other than epilogue (and I can't say what, because it would be a huge spoiler).
Dawn
Chapter numbers
As has been pointed out above, you should leave the numbers in even if you decide to name the chapters.
This is because the chapters are sorted using the text in the subject line and alpha sorting can make things come out in the wrong order for reading. Example: Epilogue would come out before Mark's Story, and Mark's Story will come out before Wayne's story, whether you wanted them to or not. The numbers solve that problem.
The weighting is important, too. This is because, although you might put chapter numbers in, they are still treated as text, so chapter 10 would be sorted after chapter 1 but before chapter 2. For single-digit chapters, leave the weighting as zero. For double-digits, set to 1. For three digits use 2 and so on. If you're Angharad you have other problems.
You could use solely alpha chapter names and sort them using the weighting, but that would complicate matters if you ever wanted to change things. Best keep things the way everyone understands them.
Penny
Naming Chapters
I've always tried doing that myself but I can never find cool names for my chapters so they just become numbers sadly :(
You could try...
a one sentence synopsis, eg: "In which Mr Brown discovers something unexpected in his bed."
It's uncommon now but was quite normal usage a hundred years ago.
The latest River (solo)
The latest River (solo) could be a start of a series of background solo stories. [It's a wonderful composition]
If you write more of them, please use a naming convention for easy recognition that it is part of the River universe.