# Titles



## Gavrill (Mar 9, 2009)

Now, us writers know the importance of titles. Perhaps the allude to a very important element of the story or maybe they summarize your story in just a few words. And we all know how difficult it is to come up with the _right _title. A vampire story called Blood Moon may sound cool, but in reality it sounds like the cover of a cheap paperback. 

Now, a vampire story called Innocent may get a much different reaction, because it may be an ironic title. Or your main character may have a link to the word "innocent", such as being innocent of a crime or having a child's mindset.

Irony, allusion, and summarizing are all good ways to name a piece of writing, unless you're writing nonfiction (in which case you'll either want a summary or an eye-catching title like Never Be Lied to Again, which is a best selling book on how to detect lies).

I'm sure I'll think of more examples and ideas. Anyone else want to add something?


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## foozzzball (Mar 9, 2009)

Quickest/easiest is to take a nice line or phrase from the body of the work.


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## Shouden (Mar 9, 2009)

I like to use one word titles for my stories. I think they can speak more to the story than a longer title, because it's like "If you could sum of this story in one word, what would it be." Sometimes that title is changed as I write, but I still usually like the final title.

Anyway, that's just my preference.


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## Chanticleer (Mar 9, 2009)

Hmm... the titles of my two current serials "Perspective" and "Unorthodox Tactics" were based loosely on the themes of the story. However, I recently wrote a story about stopping a duel that I called "Hamilton's Reality Check" so I'm not above doing historical references.

On a less narcissistic note, I know lots of people who have successfully used lines from poems in their titles.


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## Gavrill (Mar 9, 2009)

foozzzball said:


> Quickest/easiest is to take a nice line or phrase from the body of the work.


However, sometimes that doesn't always work. What if that line gives away too much info? Plus, why give your work (which I'm assuming you've spent lots of time on) a title you spent very little time figuring out...

For example, I have a story I'm writing (but not really focusing on >.>) called Strawberry Juice, which is about a vampire that prefers strawberries to blood. You can plainly see how it gives the visual link between actual strawberry juice and, well, blood.

Titles should have some thought put into them, that's my idea. A pun or a visualization...treat it like you treat the opening to your work. It should be a hook. Think about it. When you pick up a book, what's the first thing you see? It's certainly not the first paragraph. :3



Chanticleer said:


> On a less narcissistic note, I know lots of people who have successfully used lines from poems in their titles.


I saw an author who did that in her vampire series. I believe her last name was Attwater-Rhodes. I enjoyed her books when I was younger.

Edit: scuze my narcissism >.>


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## Yorokonde2 (Mar 9, 2009)

My short stories are rarely posted with their final titles. Some of them are one shots that don't really deserve a title anyways. The Town of Never Mind I did was the first one I've done in a while that I felt deserved a title at all.

Personally, I prefer two-word titles. One word just feels like a blurb sometimes, at least to me. XD


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## Gavrill (Mar 9, 2009)

Yorokonde2 said:


> My short stories are rarely posted with their final titles. Some of them are one shots that don't really deserve a title anyways. The Town of Never Mind I did was the first one I've done in a while that I felt deserved a title at all.
> 
> Personally, I prefer two-word titles. One word just feels like a blurb sometimes, at least to me. XD


That sounds like a story I'd like to read. :3


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## M. LeRenard (Mar 9, 2009)

Sure.  What everybody said.
No, but really, like anything in writing it should make a good hook, and it shouldn't be too clichÃ©.  My favorite titles are titles that have seemingly nothing to do with the actual story, because they force you to go deeper into the work to find out where that title is coming from.  But cute, catchy titles are just as good.
That said, I can't make my own titles for crap.


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## Gavrill (Mar 9, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Sure.  What everybody said.
> No, but really, like anything in writing it should make a good hook, and it shouldn't be too clichÃ©.  My favorite titles are titles that have seemingly nothing to do with the actual story, because they force you to go deeper into the work to find out where that title is coming from.  But cute, catchy titles are just as good.
> That said, I can't make my own titles for crap.


I actually make a title before I write the story. It's great for brainstorming ideas. But if I write the story first, I can never think of a title. >.>


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## fivecrazyfurries (Mar 9, 2009)

The Great Gatsby was completely finished before it's title was produced.
Honestly, I find them less important than the backpage and the actual story. You can't judge a book by it's cover after all(Laaaame pun I know) but I think you can by it's back cover.


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## TakeWalker (Mar 9, 2009)

Placebo said:


> I actually make a title before I write the story. It's great for brainstorming ideas. But if I write the story first, I can never think of a title. >.>



I had nothing to say about this topic at first, but you actually just summed up my approach to titles. They're hard as shit to come up with when I've got a story idea, but hey, I'm currently writing a story inspired by nothing more than a bunch of people throwing out random words on my journal.

Ffff, my main project is 24 chapters and started as nothing more than trying to figure out how the three words that sprang into my head unbidden made sense together.


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## Gavrill (Mar 10, 2009)

fivecrazyfurries said:


> The Great Gatsby was completely finished before it's title was produced.
> Honestly, I find them less important than the backpage and the actual story. You can't judge a book by it's cover after all(Laaaame pun I know) but I think you can by it's back cover.


I fell asleep before I even read Pride and Prejudice. I mean, what a snooze of a title. I'M A BUSY DEER. I HAVE NO TIME TO READ "BACK COVERS".



TakeWalker said:


> I had nothing to say about this topic at first, but you actually just summed up my approach to titles. They're hard as shit to come up with when I've got a story idea, but hey, I'm currently writing a story inspired by nothing more than a bunch of people throwing out random words on my journal.
> 
> Ffff, my main project is 24 chapters and started as nothing more than trying to figure out how the three words that sprang into my head unbidden made sense together.


My strawberry story (as I call it) came from a childhood memory of eating strawberries after being shot by an arrow. So while they were calling the doctor, I saw blood trickling down and just pretended it was strawberry juice, thus the title.

I like putting some sort of personal meaning in both my stories and titles instead of random words, but if that works for you, then more power to ya. :3


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## Shouden (Mar 10, 2009)

Yeah, I like deep stories as well, and sometimes prefer to put a simple title on something complex and deep. That way, after the reader's done reading it, they'll look back at the title and see it in a different way. To me, sometimes putting a long title or trying to allude to something in the story by the title can sometimes take away from the story.


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## Xipoid (Mar 10, 2009)

I give titles to things after they become well formed and self-sufficient, except in the case where the title is what spawned the creation (which is rare). I prefer to create titles that are metaphorical, cryptic, or just plain nonsensical. Everything else just feels wrong to me.


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## TakeWalker (Mar 10, 2009)

Placebo said:


> I like putting some sort of personal meaning in both my stories and titles instead of random words, but if that works for you, then more power to ya. :3



Have you ever tried writing an entire story from a two-word title? ;D I find it to be an excellent challenge.


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## ScottyDM (Mar 12, 2009)

Placebo said:


> I fell asleep before I even read Pride and Prejudice. I mean, what a snooze of a title. I'M A BUSY DEER. I HAVE NO TIME TO READ "BACK COVERS".


Poetigress hates the working title of my novel-in-progress: _Instinct and Intellect_. She may have something there. I used to call it _A Life for Rent_, but as it was inspired by the Dido song titled _Life for Rent_ that may be a touch too close for comfort.

Back in 2005 I wrote a short story for a contest I titled _Family Matters_. Unfortunately just about everyone has written a story at one time or another titled _Family Matters_. That title means nothing. I later followed that up with a sequel titled _Family Christmas_. Well after the contest I thought of a much stronger title for that first story: _An Apple... for Your Happiness_. Unfortunately I haven't thought of a better title for that second story, yet.


*Obscure Titles:*

I've got a novella-in-progress that currently carries the title _Melpomene's Daughter_. Originally I called it _Zort, Baby!_ Which is lame. As a reader I'm not fond of obscure and unexplained titles, so in a middle chapter I have reference to a couple of the other Greek muses, Clio and Thalia, as possible alter egos to the heroine. Then in the final chapter a character comments to the heroine, as they contemplate the death and destruction around them, that she'd be better as Melpomene rather than Clio or Thalia. To which the heroine says she doesn't want to be a muse, but maybe being the daughter of a muse would be okay.

In keeping with that theme, I've got another story outline with the title _Thalia's ProtÃ©gÃ©_. No death or destruction in this one, it's a comedy. Thalia will appear to the main character in a dream and explain to him that he is her favorite protÃ©gÃ© and that his adventures give the whole town much joy and pleasure. Then she instructs him to go ahead with his latest hair-brained scheme and promises to not only protect him from a powerful witch, but to cause her to help him. In the end something outrageous happens to the main character, which becomes the cause much mirth amongst the locals and fuels wagging tongues for many years. He may have been Thalia's favorite, but that doesn't guarantee _he_ will be blessed by her special attention.

Speaking of the muses, back when I was first struggling with getting the basic idea expanded into a novel for _A Life for Rent_ (as I called it back then), my muse and two of my characters appeared to me in a dream. The two character's argued their points, then my muse whispered in my ear how I could accommodate both ladies. I'm not sure which muse is mine, or if she's Greek. The solution she suggested would have left one lady pretty happy and the other pretty unhappy. But perhaps she talks to me still, my current plot leaves both ladies satisfied. And no, unlike Solomon I'm not going to cut the hero in half. 	;-) 


*Obvious Titles:*

I've got another outline for a story currently titled _The Old Man and the Sea Maiden_, which is a classic animal bride tale with a selkie in the role of the bride, but with a modern sensibility. The main character figures out his dream visitor is no dream, but some sort of fae. He's not sure what until the next-to-last scene when she wakes him to reveal herself. Unfortunately with that title many readers will know immediately. My short title is _Man and Maiden_. It might be a better title.


*Searching for a Title:*

In an unfinished tale I struggled with the title. It's a ghost story set in a stone-age world where the people practice ancestor worship. In this society a young man may not take a wife until he completes a quest proving his worth. While out on their quest two friends are first attacked by demons while deep underground, lose a torch, then become lost. After their remaining torch flickers out a ghost appears to one of the fellows (his sight was magically transformed when he laid eyes on the demons, but his memory of that is blank). The ghost returns their still-burning lost torch and leads them to his bones where they find more torch fuel (the meat of a waxy nut). In gratitude for the ghost's help the two young men gather up the bones and take them back to civilization, where the go from village to village trying to find a kinsman of the ghost. As the young man who became the ghost had died on his quest, he had never been married and so his bones must be returned to the village of his mother.

At first I tried variants of _The Bones_, then I branched out to these: _Bone's Tale_, _Bone's Quest_, _Tale of the Bones_, _Quest of the Bones_, _Kinsman_, _Kinsman's Quest_, _Clan Brother_, _Dead Man's Tale_, and _Dead Man's Quest_. I've chosen one, but I'd be curious on what you all think of these and which is your favorite for the story I've outlined.

Scotty


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## Xipoid (Mar 12, 2009)

ScottyDM said:


> At first I tried variants of _The Bones_, then I branched out to these: _Bone's Tale_, _Bone's Quest_, _Tale of the Bones_, _Quest of the Bones_, _Kinsman_, _Kinsman's Quest_, _Clan Brother_, _Dead Man's Tale_, and _Dead Man's Quest_. I've chosen one, but I'd be curious on what you all think of these and which is your favorite for the story I've outlined.




Call me disagreeable, but I do not really like any of those. I would have done something more along the lines of _Journey Home_ or _Rest at Last_. Then again, it would depend on how the story was written and whatnot. So, feel free to ignore my less than useful input.


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## Poetigress (Mar 12, 2009)

It's hard to title something when you haven't read it.  A title isn't just setting the stage for the content of the story; it's also setting the reader up for the tone of the story, so without knowing the tone and style of the actual text, it's hard to make good suggestions.  I will say that, at first glance, the various 'bones' titles all sound kind of obvious and generic to me, and they also sound more like either a novel or a film than a short story (I'm assuming it's a short story).

And... yeah, I still hate _Instinct and Intellect_, because it still sounds too much like a textbook to me.


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## ScottyDM (Mar 12, 2009)

Xipoid said:


> Call me disagreeable, but I do not really like any of those. I would have done something more along the lines of _Journey Home_ or _Rest at Last_. Then again, it would depend on how the story was written and whatnot. So, feel free to ignore my less than useful input.


My current favorite is _Kinsman's Quest_.

The whole anthology is focused on the coming-of-age quest in this society and this story is one of several. My two protags are near the end of their manhood quest when they decide to descend into the underground lair of the sky serpent one last time--and very nearly die. It's then that they accept an unspoken quest from the ghost to find his kinsmen and return his bones to his mother's clan. In the second part of that story my two young men walk from village to village--but instead of demonstrating their new-found adulthood through quest-stories, and searching for wives and a clan to call their new home--they have these carefully-packed bones in a _billum_ bag and they tell the tale of the bones. Unnamed ancestor spirits can be a frightening thing to these people. So my protags are not welcomed anywhere and the prospects of their finding wives and homes seems dim.

The story focuses on finding the bones, and the final village where my protags find a kinsman of the bones and the ghost finally gets a name.

Scotty


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## ScottyDM (Mar 12, 2009)

Poetigress said:


> A title isn't just setting the stage for the content of the story; it's also setting the reader up for the tone of the story....


I feel the array of titles for the current anthrofiction contest (scroll down to the bottom) are instructive:
*Cityscape Epilogue: Hero Retirement*
*The Swoopiness of Ferrets, Genetics, and Time*
*They Called It â€œNew Beginningâ€*
*Glass Floor: Naiive Flaws*
*Starting School*
*How Things Used to Be*
*Animal I Have Become*
Some of these are bland, and some scream, "Read me!"

Not every visitor to Anthrofiction Network reads every story during the judging period, so a hot title can really help pull in more readers. Also, it's been amply demonstrated that more readers does not always lead to a higher score. So it's critical to back up that hot title with a great story.

But a hot title can pull in readers.

Scotty


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