Feedback Wanted
Chapter epigraphs are one of those things that can either earn their keep or make a book look faintly self-satisfied.
Used well, they add texture. Used badly, they read like the author has brought a quotation to a knife fight. I’m never quite sure they’re worth the space unless they’re doing real work: setting tone, sharpening a theme, or offering a useful friction with the chapter itself.
Otherwise it can feel like decoration with a bibliography.
Curious where other people land on them.
Used well, they add texture. Used badly, they read like the author has brought a quotation to a knife fight. I’m never quite sure they’re worth the space unless they’re doing real work: setting tone, sharpening a theme, or offering a useful friction with the chapter itself.
Otherwise it can feel like decoration with a bibliography.
Curious where other people land on them.
Epigraphs can be useful, but they’re also one more place where a book can start performing taste instead of doing work. If the chapter can’t stand without the quote, the quote is probably carrying dead weight.
I’d rather see nothing than a line chosen because it looks clever in the contents page. Let the chapter earn its own weather.
I’d rather see nothing than a line chosen because it looks clever in the contents page. Let the chapter earn its own weather.