I nominate this. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
>>25502661- no- yes- only if they actually facilitate understanding of the work- no- no- no
>>25502661Plotfag shit.Except for the maps, i agree with the maps.
>>25502661What about discussion questions
>>25502661There's usually a synopsis on the flaps if it's not on the back.
>chapter titlesNot necessary>synopsisyes>mapsNot necessary usually. If a story involves a lot of travel, the writer should have a map and it wouldn't hurt to share.>indexesIt's indices. Also those aren't as useful as you think. If it's just a list of names, it's pointless. If it contains character details, it can spoil readers. It's better for readers to make their own as they read for more complex works.That said, I wouldn't be opposed to major character portraits with some non-spoilery biographical info.>numberingThe books of a series do not necessarily conform to the codices of the series. A classic example would be LotR. Numbering would not make sense for every work. Likewise many series do not have a canon order.>Table of contentsWaste of space outside of epubs or textbooks
>>25502661>indexes of characters and places with pronunciationThat's a thing?
books don't have titles for each chapter anymore? what are people too retarded to come up with them? Oh wait is it because all chapters have to be exactly 10 pages nowadays so there are about a million chapters in which fuck all happens.
>>25502820In genreslop yes. And that is the reference point of OP
>>25502661Chapter titles are useless and the synopsis at the back spoils the entire book. I agree with characters and maps (especially for non-fiction) but what needs to come back before all this is summaries of chapters before them, for both fiction and non-fiction, so you can more easily find something you're looking for in there instead of having to use google or AI. I don't know why we stopped doing this.
>>25502661Most history books I've been reading lately have most of these. Read more books.
>>25502841Yeah, like Gulliver's Travels and BlOoD MeRiDiAn
all books/papers/whatever that only admit of page citation should always have numbered chapters and paragraphs in a fashion similar to poetry and plays (each 'paragraph number' should be in the format of [chapter.paragraph])the superiority of this system is clear to anyone who has ever had multiple copies of a book in different form factors, and is incalculably more obvious in the age of electronic text
>>25502820It's a thing in LotR. I've literally never seen it anywhere else outside of webnovels.
>>25502841>Chapter titles are useless and the synopsis at the back spoils the entire bookThe synopsis on the back is usually the premise or elevator pitch. It shouldn't spoil a book any more than a title or cover.
>>25502661>Chapter titlesHow much more plotfag philistine can you get
>>25503005I don't remember seeing it in my copy, but like the guy above said, they're quite useless, just an extra page of nothing and if you care about pronunciations you'll just google it
>>25502661>Indexes of characters and places with pronunciationsThis image is full of bad ideas but this one just strikes me as catering to retards. What do you need an index of characters and places for? Isn’t that what reading the fucking book is for?
>>25502668fpbp
>>25502668What do you have against Table of Contents?
>>25502661faggot ass manchild
>>25502661Red State Mars has a list of dramatis personae at the beginning of the book that I kept referring back to but I was on my own for the Pinyin pronunciation And the inside front and back covers were maps
>>25502820I read https://idlewords.com/2005/11/dating_without_kundera.htm and the pronunciation keys for Polish and Czech for Ferdydurke and Svejk helped me not lay down bad habits
I haven't read a physical book in a long long time. They don't have a Table of Contents anymore? So if you want to find a certain chapter you just have to flip through randomly trying to find it? Wtf.
>>25502661Yes.>100% not-retarded post
>>25502661In some instances they can be useful. "Maps"? Not most cases for some.Now for the next thread. >THINGS TO TAKE OUT OF /lit/
>>25502661genre fiction is for simple people
>>25502841>I agree with characters and maps (especially for non-fiction)it's called an appendix and nonfiction books still have themnobody here reads books
>>25504257If you need a table of contents to figure out chapter 16 is between 15 and 17, then that's a you problem.Tables of contents only really work for finding your place if they give spoilers, which is a net negative for fiction writing. They're perfectly fine for non-fiction and used frequently there.They're also fine for epubs where they let you select a chapter to jump to.>>25504004Some books with a lot of setting info that can be difficult to memorize will include glossaries so you can look up who an ancillary character is if you've forgotten because they were relatively unimportant or you put the book down for a while and need a refresher.Some books will even have family trees.
>>25502661Not having a table of contents is crazy.
>>25504047They’re only useful for reference works, and this is a literature board. Books are meant to be read all the way through.
>>25506103What if you want to jump back to a particular part?Video games like Half-Life 2 are also meant to be played straight through, but it’s nice to have a chapter select feature for subsequent playthroughs if you want a second pass at a particular part
>>25506310>What if you want to jump back to a particular part?If you actually read you can do that with next to no effort. >Video games like Oh, I see. You're a retarded plotfag with a blown attention span who struggles to remember what happened 5 pages ago in whatever slop you're "reading".
>>25506310The chapter select for a physical book is the fucking pages themselves. Beat on a table of contents for as long as you want; the book isn't gonna flip to the section you want it to.
>>25506103What if you want to see how many chapters a book has so you can gauge how many sittings you'll be in for?
>>25506103>only useful for reference worksShort story collections, anthologies and poetry books
>>25504680>If you need a table of contents to figure out chapter 16 is between 15 and 17, then that's a you problem.What if I want to easily find Part III, Book II, Chapter VII for the narrator's humorous remaks on Horace while having tea with Lady Dover?
>>25506728Then go to chapter 3.2.7. It should be between 3.2.6 and 3.2.8. This isn't difficult.
