Change "Chapter" to something else

Duskford

Duskford

CHYOA Guru
Guess this is more like a pet peeve of mine, but I'd like to see the "Chapter" at the top of every page changing to something like "Page" or something similar. When you write stories in arcs and want to name the first page of those arcs "Chapter 1, 2, etc", the proper definition of a chapter in my opinion, it's a bit annoying to see "chapter" stuck on every page. Just a suggestion, I can live without it and understand if others don't agree.
 
Maybe it could be inputtable? So that for example i could call my 'narrative unit' day 1, day 2 , etc.. or anything you could come up with.
 
Well, not sure about if "Page" would be a good choice as it has an own meaning as well.

Maybe something that means "depth" or "level"

Though I never had a problem with "Chapter"... maybe call it "Act" instead of "Chapter".
 
Please don't take this as a jibe, it's not: but I respectfully disagree with most of what you just said, Gene.Sis.

gene.sis said:
Well, not sure about if "Page" would be a good choice as it has an own meaning as well.
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Personally, I think "Page" is more accurate: each 'chapter' IS one "Page": "webpage" to be specific. Therefore, of the options thus far presented I think "Page" is the best.

EDIT: Additionally, from what I remember of the CHYOA paperbacks of yore they mostly said "To (blank): turn to Page (Blank)" so it's truer to our art's roots.

gene.sis said:
Maybe something that means "depth" or "level".
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We are not an RPG site, we're a writing site. (Although I admit, we do have a sideline in Text-based RPGs...) However, I took a look at this suggestion and did find one possible new option: "Measure"...

gene.sis said:
Maybe call it "Act" instead of "Chapter".
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I actually prefer 'Chapter' to 'Act', as Acts are generally longer than Chapters, often taking up between a seventh and a third of a whole book.

The Idea of calling them a 'Scene' also occurred to me, but some "scenes" are broken up into multiple Chapters/Pages in existing stories, so I think that too is something of a misnomer.

The other idea I had was 'Vinyet', but it feels too pretentious and inaccessible to the average reader.

Does anyone else have thoughts about the ideas thus far presented?
 
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Nemo of Utopia said:
Please don't take this as a jibe, it's not: but I respectfully disagree with most of what you just said, Gene.Sis.
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Well, that were just loose thoughts. I basically agree with everything, except "page" as I can scroll down 3 pages until I reach the end of the site

Nemo of Utopia said:
EDIT: Additionally, from what I remember of the CHYOA paperbacks of yore they mostly said "To (blank): turn to Page (Blank)" so it's truer to our art's roots.
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Mh... I think, our internet roots called it "thread", though I see a thread more as a complete branch, thus it would be rather a "post(ing)"... mh :/
 
Nemo of Utopia said:
EDIT: Additionally, from what I remember of the CHYOA paperbacks of yore they mostly said "To (blank): turn to Page (Blank)" so it's truer to our art's roots.
Click to expand...

Those same books also had single choices and exposition take up more than one page, so that's not a very good proof for "page" being superior.

I've always said "thread" around here since that's how CHYOO had it labeled. Off-site, when describing collaborative CYOAs, I called them "additions" primarily because it was simpler that way. As for alternatives, best I've got is "pegs."

Though to be fair, we could call them "Frightfully Underdeveloped Chronicle Keepers Aggravating Learned Linguists" and I'd still be happy, so I may not have tried too hard.
 
I normally use 'thread' or 'scene' when talking about the work I post on the site. It's just that people usually comment stuff like "Oh, this chapter was cool!" or "Can't wait for the next chapter", and then I just stop and think, "Dude, this wasn't a chapter, just a part of one". And there's the issue I've already mentioned, I want to name a thread, let's say, "Chapter 2 - Something", and there's a tiny "Chapter 12" above it.

Well, like I said, I don't want to cause trouble and anger anyone, I'm just bringing up a suggestion. As for a term that could replace 'chapter', I like 'Page', because it could, well, make it feel like a book.
 
Once upon a time a narrative unit was called a "thread". Now it's a "chapter", which I think is a little better. "Page", in some way, harks back to the paper CHYOA: "do this? turn to page 17; do that? turn to page 23". Page seems a little closer than chapter, perhaps, but I don't have a strong sense of the best term.
 
It has been driving me crazy to see this since joining CHYOA. The whole chapter thing needs to go. I have no issue with the idea of page, except for the fact that it sounds so paper-ish. Perhaps a symbol such as < > followed by the number so anyone can call it whatever they wish.
 
Or maybe there is actually no problem.

Yes the chapters here are not the same as a chapter in a paper novel, but the structure that stories take here wouldn't work with longer chapters.

The term page is a bit vague when it can be between a few words to more than 3000 (which would be more than 5 pages of a book.)

I like the chapter thing, so I vote against changing it.
 
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