Novel-Control-Station-Skill/references/chapter-title-method.md

Chapter Title Method

Use this when the project uses chapter titles, when the user asks to name or rename chapters, or when a numbered-only chapter system may need to change.

Goal: make chapter titles act as controlled story signals instead of decorative summaries.

1. First Decide Whether This Project Needs Chapter Titles

Chapter titles are optional.

Use numbered chapters only when that better serves:

• invisibility
• speed
• relentless forward pull
• a deliberately plain presentation

Use titled chapters when titles materially add:

• hook value
• point-of-view or time/place orientation
• motif return
• tonal identity
• structural contrast between chapters

If a title adds nothing real, keep the chapter numbered.

2. Lock One Naming System For The Whole Book

Before naming individual chapters, decide the book-level system and record it in 00-project-overview.md and 09-style-guide.md.

Common systems:

• pure numbers
• number plus short title
• character or point-of-view labels
• time or place anchors
• image or motif titles
• pressure phrases
• object, clue, ritual, promise, or line-of-dialogue titles

Do not mix systems casually. A format shift is allowed only when it marks a real structural phase change and is written into project canon.

3. Give Each Title A Job

Each chapter title should carry one primary job and at most one secondary job:

• focus the chapter's core pressure or change
• create curiosity without stealing discovery
• orient the reader to point of view, time, or place
• return a motif, image, or theme-bearing object
• signal a special chapter mode or narrative stance

If a title is trying to do everything, it usually becomes weak.

4. Build The Title From The Chapter Control Card

Pull possible title anchors from:

• core goal
• key conflict
• dominant residue
• point of view
• time or place marker
• returning image or motif
• object, promise, lie, debt, or clue under pressure
• chapter-end hook

Choose the most load-bearing anchor, not the chapter's entire event list.

5. Generate 3 To 5 Candidates

Before locking the title, generate multiple options from different angles:

• pressure phrase
• concrete image or object
• contradiction
• charged verb plus noun
• speaker or point-of-view marker
• time or place anchor

Prefer precise nouns, active verbs, and language that sounds native to this book's voice.

6. Screen Candidates With Five Checks

Pick the best candidate by checking:

• chapter fit: does it still match the actual chapter center
• curiosity: does it create pull without giving away the payoff
• distinctiveness: does it avoid blending into nearby chapter titles
• voice: does it sound like this book, genre, narrator, and market mode
• consistency: does it match the project's naming system and title register

Reject titles that are spoilers, flat summaries, vague decorative riddles, or recycled grammatical shells.

7. Timing Rules

Use a two-stage process:

1. before drafting, record 3-5 candidates and choose a working title in the chapter control card
2. after the chapter passes structure and authenticity checks, run a final title-fit recheck and lock the final title

If the chapter's true center moved during drafting, change the title instead of defending the first idea.

8. Genre-Pressure Adjustments

• suspense and thriller chapters often benefit from pressure, threat, false certainty, or charged-object titles
• mystery chapters often benefit from clue, witness, question, or location framing
• romance chapters often benefit from emotional debt, misread promise, or relational shift framing
• literary chapters often benefit from image, contradiction, or motif return
• historical and fantasy chapters often benefit from institution, place, ritual, or cost framing

These are pressure preferences, not templates.

9. Anti-Patterns

• title summarizes the chapter's climax or reveal
• title sounds dramatic but the chapter does not support it
• title is generic enough to fit twenty other chapters
• title system changes every few chapters with no structural reason
• title carries information the chapter itself never earns
• title is frozen before drafting and never rechecked after the chapter changes

10. Default Recommendation

When no special project constraint says otherwise:

• use chapter titles only if they add real value
• keep one stable naming system for the whole book
• let each title do one main job
• generate several candidates from the control card
• finalize the title only after the accepted chapter exists

11. 中文执行模板

在需要直接执行章节起名时，可直接使用下面这段模板：

如果这本书尚未确定是否使用章节名，先判断章节名是否真的有增益；若章节名不能提升钩子、聚焦、定位、意象回收或叙述声音，就保留纯编号。若本书使用章节名，先读取 00-project-overview.md、07-chapter-roadmap.md、09-style-guide.md 和本章 chapter control card，确认全书命名体系、标题 register、标题主职责。然后从本章的 core goal、key conflict、dominant residue、point of view、motif/object/clue、chapter-end hook 中提取最承重的 1 到 2 个命名锚点，按不同角度生成 3 到 5 个候选标题。每个标题只承担 1 个主任务，最多兼顾 1 个副任务：制造悬念、聚焦压力、提供时间/地点/视角定位、回收意象、突出本书声音。优先使用具体名词、主动动词、带压力的短语；避免剧透高潮、复述流水账、空泛文艺句、伪诗意迷雾、模板化词壳和与全书体系不一致的格式。随后按 5 项标准筛选：1. 贴章度，2. 悬念度，3. 辨识度，4. 声音匹配度，5. 体系一致性；选出一个 working title 写入章节控制卡。正文成稿并通过结构、真实性、连续性检查后，再复核标题是否仍然准确对应本章真正的 mission、turn、residue 和 ending hook；如果本章重心已经变化，立即改题，不要硬保留旧题。最终输出时给出：本书标题体系一句话、本章 3 到 5 个候选标题、每个候选标题的命名理由、最终定稿标题，以及一句不超过 20 字的定稿说明。