I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of chapter headings. They seem to me to take far too much time to think up and don’t add all that much to the story. That said, I had a funny idea last night. What if I include a dialogue quote at the start of each chapter rather than a heading in Eternally & Evermore.
In theory, there should be a line of dialogue in each chapter that nicely sums up that chapter.
So I’ve been trawling through the story looking for quotes. So far I’ve done twenty-four chapters out of fifty-two. About half way, then. Here they are. Let me know what you think of this idea and the quotes I’ve picked out.
- “Better not to ask than get embarrassed by the knock back.”
- “It must be great to be so in love. To have some close to you like that”
- “There’s nothing worse than living with regrets.”
- “You’re going to do it. Aren’t you, William?”
- “Hate is a strong word.”
- “You’re a better man than he’ll ever be.”
- “He’s not worth it.”
- “I think this is the part where you kiss me.”
- “You can hold my hand, you know,”
- “But it’d be worth it. Wouldn’t it? I’d be worth it?”
- “I was thinking that, perhaps, the wait might be over.”
- “I actually tremble when you touch me.”
- “Yeah. I know. Eternally and evermore.”
- “Youth is wasted on the young.”
- “I just know she’ll be pleased to see you.”
- “So, at the risk of sounding vulgar, what’s it worth?”
- “There’s something I need to tell you.”
- “I always said she’d be mine and not yours, didn’t I?”
- “I just needed to know.”
- “I knew it. You still have a thing for her.”
- “You just accepted it. You weren’t supposed to just accept it.”
- “Could you and I ever just be friends?”
- ”Life got in the way, that’s all.”
- “It’s complicated.”
The idea behind this of course is to give you a sense of the direction of the story just from these quotes. I don’t think any of them ‘give anything away’ so to speak, but I can see the progression of the story in them. But then, I would wouldn’t I? After all, I know what happens.
I’ve also written a short piece about love that I’ve split into three and will appear at the start of each of the three sections of the story. It serves no real purpose, but I like it. Here it is.
PART ONE
Love makes you smell the flowers you never knew were there.
Love makes you hear the birdsong in the morning and see beauty in the sunrise and the sunset.
You think Love has made the world a beautiful place.
But Love just woke you up and made you experience the world for the first time.
PART TWO
Love won’t make you flawless.
Love won’t make you rich.
Love won’t make you smart or funny.
But Love will take away the fear that holds you back from being all you can be.
PART THREE
Love isn’t the destination.
Love is the journey.
You take it with everyone that cares about everything that you are.
And you get to the end with the person who sees you more clearly than anyone else on earth.
I must admit that this was inspired by something I read recently. I also need to say that at this stage both the chapter quotes and this statement of love before each ‘part’ are very much subject to change. One idea that has been floating around my head is to replace the dialogue quotes with song titles that say the same kind of thing. Although that could be a lot of work finding said song titles.
