Did the author overuse emboldened subtitles in chapters?

Use this forum to discuss the June 2019 Book of the month, "Cynthia and Dan: Cyber War" by Dorothy May Mercer.
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Allyseria
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Re: Did the author overuse emboldened subtitles in chapters?

Post by Allyseria »

It bothered me. I hate simple things like this and too many exclamation points because it really brings me out of the story. Font should never be something that's emphasised in a book. It's just not needed.
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chloelogan3
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Post by chloelogan3 »

In my opinion books shouldn't use subtitles as it gives too much of the chapter away....
It also stumps the flow of reading which causes me to lose concentration, hence making it harder to stay focused on topic
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Post by OuKoyoo »

Honestly, for me only the first few instances of emboldened sentences distracted me but reading on I had no issues with them anymore. Ignoring them worked well for me.
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Post by Bretagne »

I personally really dislike subtitles. I find that if you have to provide a disclaimer for what's about to happen, then you should put forth more effort into the actual content of the writing. It feels like the author sold herself short by using subtitles.
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Post by SunVixen »

Ferdinand_otieno wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 08:54 From the beginning of the book, I encountered sentenses written in bold that seem to foretell too much of what was to happen. For me it felt a little bit overused since it would give away too much of the actions in the chapter.
What was your opinion on their use?
It was obviously owerused in many chapters. This unusual use of subtitles is slightly reminiscent of a medieval Chinese novel. :roll:
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Post by iknwuzoh »

The use of bold subtitles does not have to be too much for the author convey the necessary meaning to the author. The author needs to do something about it.
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Post by bmfought »

That was the start to me actually taking notice of them. I felt it was childish to announce a rated R scene. Once past that, I stopped reading at each of the others and felt they were a nuisance. I think the writer should have just left them out and it wouldn't have been an issue.
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Post by Momlovesbooks »

I agree with you. The book would have flowed more smoothly without the distractions of too much bold text. I felt it didn’t really add anything to the story.
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Post by Falling4Ever »

It would bother me a lot because through school, I feel like we get trained to think bold text must be more important than the text under it, or that it is a title.
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Mallory Porshnev
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Post by Mallory Porshnev »

I find the bold type to be more comical than anything, but I can also see how it might be taken by the reader as dumbing down the novel. I never like it when an author talks down to me.
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Post by Sana Rabbani »

The Author seemed to unnecessarily overuse emboldened subtitles in chapters. The reading flow would not have been interrupted this much without these subtitles.
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Post by Sheila_Jay »

For me then emboldened subtitles were not an issue; but I must admit I felt that the first few instances were caused a bit of distraction. However, I got used to the emboldened subtitles as I read along.
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Post by joshfee77 »

Ruba Abu Ali wrote: 02 Jun 2019, 03:39 They got me to stop every now and then and did interrupt the flow of the story quite a few times.
I agree with this. Emboldened subtitles don't serve much of a useful purpose, I feel, especially if you are enjoying (or completely lost in) the story and following along with the characters and the action anyway. I think it's better for an author to simply tell the story, broken up by regular chapters. The subtitle/subheading approach makes it seem too fragmented, more like a textbook. Keep that stuff for non-fiction!
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Post by ArielKiaira »

maggi3 wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 13:08 They didn’t bother me, but I could see how they might bother others. I just saw most of them as clarifying where the scene took place or the time, but others felt unnecessary. I don’t think they added to the story all that much.
Yes, I think the book would have been fine without the inclusion of those subtitles.
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Post by Adina Lutinger »

They didn't really bother me, but I didn't understand why did the author use them so much.
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