"Message Board Topic 3/26"

[Topaz]

There are literally thousands and thousands of online stories out there in this particular genre alone. And while they can be divided into specific categories, even then there are hundreds of other stories listed in the same column. But...somehow, while looking at all of those story titles, you pick and choose the ones you want to take a chance on

reading. Something about it must stick out to you, or imply some kind of pleasant situation that you want to read about. What is it? What draws you in about a story's title alone?

 

How important do you think the title of your story should be? An how do you come up with something that catches a reader's eye?

 

Whether you're reading stories or writing your own...the title is the 'book's cover' that everyone is looking to judge by. How do we make that cover appealing?

 

Let us know!

[JamesSavik]

The titles are easy. It's the stuff that comes after that is difficult.

 

I can come up with a Pulitizer Prize winning title. My problem is matching up a Pulitzer prize winning story to the title.

 

Here are some good ones if you can make something of them:

 

 

Dog Guy, Cat Guy- the tale of romance between two very different people and the furr flies.

 

Diary of a Neurotic Dog- a Dog's eye view of a romance. Dom did something like this in his blog but I think it could be expanded and refined.

 

Night Moves- a grifter meets a nice guy and finally discovers what he wants but is it too late?

 

Dawn's Early Light- two injured Marine heros come home to recover and are awarded the Navy Cross. When they come out, they discover that the Corp is deadlier than anything that Saddam had.

 

 

the End of Winter

 

the Polk County War

 

10,000 Shades of Gray

 

the Destruction of Matthew Gentry

[TurtleBoy]

In most situations, I usually pick the title which seems to suit more to what I'm in the mood for. For ex: Comicality's new semi-novel Dreamlover. A title like that you just have to check out. It leaps at you! The curiosity gets you instantly.

I tend to keep away from anything that starts with "The" mainly because there are so many novels and stories that start with the, you get them on a list in alphabetical order and thats all you see is pages of "The" they don't really stand out.

I'm not sure if it's much the same with other people, up until recently I've only really had my own opinion to worry about. But I find Titles with abstract phrases tend to tickle my fancy. Irregularity I guess you would call it.

Titles such as, Marbles to Rifles,

Obderate Avidities(this ones actually the name a novel I've been

working on forever)

Exhale

External Combustion

Favours(how many ways can that go? hehe)

 

Well I guess you see it odd names get me in easy, I'd name a few more but my minds not allowing me to be very creative, it's quartre to four in the moring, and the brain just doesnt work quite so right. Hopefully that helped a bit, uh just wanted to get the ball rollin on this one. Theres been many views, and I'm the second post. C'mon people, come in and post!

-TurtleBoy-

[Former Member]

This is an interesting topic... Now that you mention it, I'm not really sure WHAT draws me into a story. Above all else, stories by authors I like (Comicality, EleCivil, um... others...) tend to catch my interest. When just looking through the story lists on sites like Nifty, though, I tend to open up almost every story. If the first sentence or paragraph isn't well-written or doesn't catch my attention, I'm done. Of course, there are a few things in a story's name that make me skip right over them. For example, any story called "Finding <name here>". I'm sure some of these are great stories, but the name is just so common...

 

I really dont know what attracts me to a certain story. Good question, though.

[Lugh]

BAH!

 

You should not judge a book by its cover nor by its title because (unless it's vanity publishing -- including on the net!) then the author often does not get to choose either.

 

 

As for words such as "the", "an", or "a", they should be relatively invisible and good indexing software will not "see" them if they are the first word.

 

 

As for my "titles", I give a story a working title, preferably something I can remember (and spell!) that links it uniquely in my mind. Most people do not 'get' my working titles because they often have nothing to do with the story itself.

 

Titles for submissions are different and a lot of thought goes into them. However, they still may not make sense, which explains why authors need editors.

 

Lugh

[Madbomber]

Well, I agree with most of what Turtleboy said, but have to disagree with some too. I like titles that catch my curiosity. Titles that make you think, "I wonder what that's about?" Titles that are so intriguing that you can't leave them without at least reading the first few lines. Not to toot my own horn, but I've always liked my title, "A Circles End." It's an oxymoron in itself so I figure it's always been intriguing. I don't, however, think that the word "The" is a turn off. I have to say that because one of my other stories is called, "The Light." It may not be intriguing enough, but I can't see it as a turn off if I were scrolling through story titles.

 

I also agree with AndrzejEllis in that specific authors draw me in more than anything. I'll read anything Com puts out just cause he's Com. The way I get there is I read something new, something with a catchy title, and if I can make it through the first few paragraphs and the story keeps my interest, I'll keep reading.

 

To answer the other questions, how important is a story title, I would say it is pretty important to come up with something catchy, but it's more important to write an interesting story that is, for the most part, grammatically correct. The biggest turn off in a story for me is if it's difficult to read.

 

Lastly, how do you come up with a story title that will catch the reader's eye? That's the toughest one there. I guess the only answer to this is creativity. You have to have an ounce of creativeness, and enough time to throw around a couple of ideas for a title. I think it's important to stick with one title too. A couple of times people have tried to change their story title mid stream. This causes confusion in the reader and might be a turnoff. In the end, think about where you want your story to end up in the long run and pick something that will be consistent throughout the story. Pick something that has meaning to the story and will draw someone in without the benefit of a catchy cover.

 

I'll give an example of this in my story, "The Light." The title will have meaning throughout the story until we figure out what the light is and why my character keeps having visions of it. It's one of the main mysteries to the story and won't be defined until I am close to the end of the story (note: I haven't written anything regarding this story, which consists of only three chapters, in well over three years).

 

I also think it's a good idea to come up with a brief synopsis of the story that might work to bring the reader in even more. Sort of like the back cover of a book that tells you what the story is about.

 

Anyway, tough questions, Com. Hard to answer definitively, but a good start to the new story discussions. Anyone else have comments?

[Topaz]

"Words From Comicality"

 

I definitely think that putting time and effort into an appropiate title for your story is an important part of the whole process. I know some people who won't start writing a new story until they have a title ready to go. Others let the title come to them while they're writing. And some wait until the story is finished before tacking up a few words to describe it all. So I guess it's just a matter of how you feel about the story in general.

 

I personally try to come up with a decent title around the same time that I begin taking notes on the idea for a story. I'm one of those people who just can't concetrate on writing until I've given it a name. I don't know why, but it bugs me the whole time I'm trying to focus. Hehehe, weird. Even though I may change the title later on, something has to be there from the very beginning. Then there are story titles that I was planing to change later, but I'm thankful that I left them as they were. (For a long time, I agonized over the name "Gone From Daylight", because I didn't think it sounded 'dark' enough. It got the point across, but I was searching for something much more foreboding at the time)

 

As for creating a title for a story, I usually try to come up with something that tells you what the feeling of the story is going to be in as few words as possible. Maybe including a subtle play on words ('Class' By Himself, On The 'Out'-side). But mostly, I want to convey a certain mood with the title alone. If someone sees the name, "My Only Escape", and they read the story, they should know why it's called that half way through the first chapter. That way (During one of my merciless gaps between chapters), just seeing the title appear brings the reader right back into that emotion again, and they remember what the story is about. I think it's cool that the title and the content go hand in hand. So I use that to the best of my ability with everything I write.

 

As for what I look for, while browsing through a long list of story titles? I'm not really sure myself. Naturally, if it sounds like some quickie in the backseat of a car, I might avoid it altogether. If it has 'cum' or 'suck' or 'cock' in the title, then I know exactly what that's going to be like. There are no romantic love stories called "How Ramon Got His Ass Pounded", hehehe at least not YET! But I do look for titles that express a certain emotion clearly without coming right out and saying it. Something that implies sadness without just being called, "Joey's Sadness". Or a title that sounds like there will be a longing involved, or a hopeless infatuation, or a chance meeting between two like souls...things that I can relate to and enjoy. They make a difference when I'm searching quickly.

 

Of course, I've probably missed HUNDREDS of really good stories because I didn't give them a chance. And because of that, I missed out. But luckily I have folks reccommend great stories all the time. So hopefully I'll be able to catch some of the ones I missed.

Edited March 31, 2007 by Topaz

[Graeme]

Most of the time, the title doesn't impact on my selection of a story. If it is print novels, I go by the author and then the blurb on the back. I might try a new author based on the blurb on the back and a quick look at the start, in which case a good title may help me pick it up in the first place.

 

Online, I almost exclusively read by author or recommendation. The title plays very role in what I read.

 

As for my own stories, I'm not that subtle on titles. For a couple of short stories, I've asked for suggestions on titles from my beta-readers because I hated the ones I came up with.

[Guest Nicolai]

Actually...all the time, the title has an impact on me.

 

Like Comicality pointed out, titles with 'Suck' and 'Cock' just...don't hold my interest. Simple as that. Sure, only if I couldn't imagine anything and needed any help to get off...I'd be using it. But that's not likely to happen.

 

 

I do occasionally read some of them, just because I can, I suppose. But I usually miss out on those.

 

For me, a good title means something. Sure, the story might not be as good as the title...or maybe, the title just lead me to something even greater. Who knows?

 

Anyways...this was my input. I think I'm starting to dehydrate...if the headache is any indication. Hydration is no good.