What is the logic behind your choice of words?

At first I was trying to be "deep" or just "summing up" simple titles, but then I realized the names weren't exciting enough. So I decided to go for teasing titles.
Example:
A chapter previously called "The Day After" is now "There's a Man in your Room!"
Another chapter that's about the bad guy manipulating the MC to believe he was trying to help her bestie, is now "Eun Ha, what are you doing next Friday?"
And so on.

Then I started wondering how other authors pick their titles.
Mind to share?

    My novel is divided up into volumes named after different arcs for my main character (mostly going along with how she develops as a character and her identity, e.g. the first volume was "The Fourth Miss" and the second volume was "The Artist"). So therefore, all the chapters that fall under those volumes draw from the volume title & a certain action or etc.

    e.g. the latest three chapters:

    "Manual Labor and the Artist"
    "The Artist Tastes the Food"
    "An Attempt of the Artist to Find the Young Master"

    And then they generally correlate w/ the events going on in that chapter. :grin:
    I find that by requiring myself to write titles w/ a few keywords in them, it's easy to not run out of ideas.
    (Though it does get a bit difficult whenever I keep wanting to say The Artist + verb combo. I have to purposefully keep myself from doing that to keep the structure of the titles somewhat unique.)

      yaoyueyi I started something similar in my other novel, but I really run out of ideas and renamed them.
      It went like:

      The Maiden and the Bride
      The Maiden and the Priest
      The Maiden is Interrogated...
      and so on.
      Your method is clearly wiser!

        Either in the sense of the chapter, or as poets do in one of the first or last lines of the text.

        I pick my titles purely for the sake of causing excitement in my readers. If it doesn't work to draw the reader in, then I usually haven't thought about how to pick the title of my chapter well enough.

        I like to use the chapter title to make the reader look forward for something in the chapter.

        I noticed many of my favorite fantasy authors did the same to lure a reader in. The point of the chapter should always be to make the reader anticipate something. If they aren't excited by the title, then they might not read it.

        Obviously, everyone has their own style, but I think the most important thing is you enjoy the name of your title.

        If it doesn't make you go I would read that, then you might want to consider another title.

        However, for someone who writes Eastern Fantasy, you usually choose the name of a technique that sounds cool like Primordial Transcendent Body, but for women's novels it's usually names like Little Cupcake's Tragedy or Oh No! He left without his pants!

        I guess as long as the title is fun it's worth reading...

        I kind of go on whim. If it sounds OK, it's a done deal. I mean, I plan everything else for my story. Like to keep some things random.

        Normal me: Wordplay and base it in the chapter
        Chapter 13: Who's Chapter

        Lazy me: Just a word
        Chapter 5: Sloth

        Trying not to make it a spoiler
        Chapter 26: Oldman's wisdom

        I'm just going for chapter and the number but in my old stories i've picked up a word or a quote that was the most important in the chapter and named after that
        Example - chapter ends with a hero hearing from his mom "You're a monster!" which scars him mentally for the rest of the story. So the chapter is "Chapter X - monster"

        When I first began writing, the title was based on the mood of the chapter, but now I'm more laid back by using the conversation style to name each chapter. This way it's more superficial with less thought on how to present what I'm going for in that chapter.

        Personally, chapter naming has been something that I've never actually thought of much before until I started writing online.

        Previously for my actual books, all chapters were quite simple and just went chapter 1,2,3,4. . .
        or, if it was a different language occasionally I'd write my chapters in like roman numerals, or other languages.

        However, as I started transitioning onto web-novel medium, my chapters were more interestingly named. For example, I would take something from the chapter that is kind of funny, or just small interesting moments, and turn those lines into the title.

        An example would be "Woah, I'm first?"

        Or I tend to use my chapters as a one-line summary of the chapter. So if someone new is introduced into the book, the title might be called "The Hoodlum" or "Madam Mavira", etc, etc.

        I hope this provides some insight into what goes on in my mind when naming lol.

        I write random things that loosely have to do with the chapter. I cycle between puns, dumb references and just plain summary word. Basically, whatever I can think of as I look over my story once.

        I usually name chapters last and how I do it depends on the novel.
        One has chapters telling the overall theme or describes the major event occurring in the chapter.
        Another novel is about phases of the face so I use words to describe the facial expression of the main character. Another, my favourite one at the moment, has chapters that switched between "God of blah blah blah" and "Beauty of blah". The one starting with "God of..." focuses on one of the main characters. "Beauty of..." represents the exploration of emotion, item, event or concept.
        Then, the last few are numbered chapters. Just numbers with nice symbols like ~1~ or -1-.

        I'll say, if I find some interesting content in the chapter, that shall be the title.

        Content; the man is using a ball to seal someone like a pokeball.
        The Title; IS THAT A FREAKING POKEBALL?!!!!!!!

        I usually pick some key words from my chapters and make something out of them. However, it tends to vary from novel to novel. I do come up with some pretty weird titles at times.

        Chapter titles of my recent book -

        • | Resisting Urges and Curious Concerns
        • | Disturbing Past and Destiny's
        • | A Profound Mystery and an Indecipherable Anonymity
        •| A Lonely Moon and the Concerned Star

        SrtaA

        Well if it's an arc then I number them.
        Like Chen Banquet (1), Chen Banquet (2),... So on.
        For individual chapters sometimes I base the name on any important dialogue that is the crux of that chap.
        Or I write something that defines the overall summary. Sometimes I do find it difficult to give a name or I feel that there is nothing major happening in chp that I will get a name for it.😑 That time I don't think much and just give any random one relating to it not caring if it's interesting or not.

        Just like how we cannot end all chps in a cliffhanger similarly we cannot give interesting names for all chps.

          I just go with whatever pops up in my head at the time. Usually I try and take a key element of the chapter and create a short little phrase that paints a vivid image about what the chapter's about

          For example, a chapter about a certain manipulative, snakelike individual and a draconic businesswoman would be called "Snakes and Dragons"

          One that features a fight with a werewolf is called "Tooth and Claw"

          Another one where the MC has an emotional breakdown is simply called "Panic Attack"

          I just summarize what's happening.
          "Chapter X : In which somebody does this and that"

          so as not to open a new branch, in the continuation of the topic ... what do you call a new novel? According to the plot, the main idea?

          As one familiar literary critic said, how many readers will read it depends on a good title.

            Gourmet_DAO I'm decidingly lame at this topic. I have good ideas for other people's novels, but when it comes to mine, it seems I don't have the necessary assertiveness and nerve to put the words CEO, Almighty and Wife together. Despite knowing I'd get more readers with such technique.
            I believe we westerners are more used to vague and cryptic titles, such as "Twilight". I don't think a book named "The Shameless CEO Vampire's Wife is Pregnant Again" would make a best seller in West. But apparently it does in East. With this mindset, I'm totally lost here.

                I take a few random words from somewhere in the chapter.

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