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Titles

49greg said:
I'm terrible at titles and descriptions. I think I use up what little inspiration and talent I have writing the story. I usually come up with the description/tag line as I'm submitting it. The title I barely think about just before submission.

It's the wrong way to do it, and I've tried to reform by putting thought into the stories I have in progress.
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I'm just the opposite. I have the title before i write the first word of the story. Sometimes the title fits and sometimes.... In any case, I very seldom change it.

But then again, I don't go for power titles in the first place.
 
My titles all suck. That is the entire reason for my low readership and hate mail. It has nothing to do with my writing; just my titles. :D

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Seriously though, I got busted for my story "Chinese Christmas" because it had nothing to do with China. :rolleyes: I even went to great pains to explain what a "Chinese Christmas" is in Texas cause I've heard they are called other things in other places. Probably so as to not offend 2.5 billion people or however many there are now.
 
geronimo_appleby said:
so i miscounted ... or mebbe it was you?

i was ahead, but slipped back out of kindness. ;)

by-the-way, when you thinking of revisiting hue and da nang?
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I'm working on it. I just hope the bounty on my head has expired. :eek:
 
TxRad said:
I'm working on it. I just hope the bounty on my head has expired. :eek:
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nobody gives much of a shit about them days now. i hope to get back in time for tet. well, kinda. the only thing holding me in uk at present is my mother's imminent demise. so hankering after se asia is sorta inappropriate.
 
TxRad said:
I'm just the opposite. I have the title before i write the first word of the story. Sometimes the title fits and sometimes.... In any case, I very seldom change it.

But then again, I don't go for power titles in the first place.
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I usually don't start writing until I have at least a tentative title in mind. I have to set up the computer files to save the story to.
 
GoldenCojones said:
Seriously though, I got busted for my story "Chinese Christmas" because it had nothing to do with China. :rolleyes: I even went to great pains to explain what a "Chinese Christmas" is in Texas cause I've heard they are called other things in other places. Probably so as to not offend 2.5 billion people or however many there are now.
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I sort of looked at that, and thought Maybe That One is Not Going to Suit My Reading Tastes :D but now I am intrigued and want to read it. Don't explain it to me here! or I will probably not get round to reading it.
:kiss:
 
Of course as I sit here and judge the daylights out of poorly titled stories, I'm no better slapping any random two words together on it, hehe. Typically whatever song I'm listening to the most as I write is what it gets labeled as, regardless of if it has anything to do with the story. Or it's Standard Issue for the content and completely unoriginal. Coming up with a good title is hard :(
 
Like sr71plt, I come up with a title to have a way to file the work in progress. My first story on Lit was published on another porn site and was titled "Goat Testicle Soup", needless to say even on a sleazy porn site, it didn't do well.

When I found Literotica, I changed the title and found real acceptance.:)

A good title and a snappy description that sets a hook, makes a lot of difference.
 
I'm one of those people who has a title and an ending before I even start.

I know that many writers get good results without this... But I just don't.
 
I also usually start with a title and first line or opening paragraph. Sometimes the ending comes first and drives titling and subtitling, as in BIG BANANA and the UNDER HIS EYES pieces. Sometimes a title and high-concept sentence are enough, like LEFT BEHIND (They never even missed her). But I find myself with a huge slush pile of titles and openings, most of which will never reach prime time. And sometimes the title changes as the story grows. Well, it's a start...
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
I'm one of those people who has a title and an ending before I even start.

I know that many writers get good results without this... But I just don't.
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I usually have an ending in mind (and I don't zip along on the writing if I don't have one), but that's not always the ending that is there when it's finished. I don't put limits on myself on where a story is going to go or end up.
 
Hypoxia said:
I also usually start with a title and first line or opening paragraph. Sometimes the ending comes first and drives titling and subtitling, as in BIG BANANA and the UNDER HIS EYES pieces. Sometimes a title and high-concept sentence are enough, like LEFT BEHIND (They never even missed her). But I find myself with a huge slush pile of titles and openings, most of which will never reach prime time. And sometimes the title changes as the story grows. Well, it's a start...
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I hear stories about writers who work this way, and it boggles my mind. I've been known to get lit and doodle ideas, but I never do anything with them til I sober up and kick them around.

I may have to try it.
 
Nathan_Brazil said:
I hear stories about writers who work this way, and it boggles my mind. I've been known to get lit and doodle ideas, but I never do anything with them til I sober up and kick them around.

I may have to try it.
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My mind has "kicked them around" quite sufficiently before notifying me that there's a story to be written. I have so many story ideas going that I don't do any "kicking around" in a effort to force a story out. I kick it back to my subconscious and wait to see if it forms itself without me having to do any painful pushes to get it out.

So, I think I'm close to Hypoxia on this. The difference is that I don't agonize over a first sentence like others seem to do. Having a first sentence that propels the reader into the next sentence (rather than being some glorious thing that frames the whole story) is enough for me. I rarely have a first sentence before I sit down to write. I have a mood in my mind to create and I just sit down and let it write itself.
 
Regarding why the title can help your score: A perfect title attracts fans and at the same time repels the non-fans enough that many don't even click to read, so in the end, the story has a much higher proportion of fan votes than non-fan votes. The literary equivalent of a good book cover.
 
I add titles when they pop into my mind.

I'm working on a lesbian sex tale where two gals manipulate each other for cooperative outcomes. I call it FRIENDS IN NEED. The sub-title hasn't hatched yet.
 
jsmiam said:
Regarding why the title can help your score: A perfect title attracts fans and at the same time repels the non-fans enough that many don't even click to read, so in the end, the story has a much higher proportion of fan votes than non-fan votes. The literary equivalent of a good book cover.
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This is genius. Very perceptive.

I just can't do the porny titles. I know they help but...I just can't. Anymore than I could rename Citizen Kane "Dead Fat Guy Wants a Sled" or turn Gone With the Wind into "Couple Loves Each Other and Then Doesn't Then Does and Then Guy Ends Up Not Giving a Damn".

So instead I use subtle, quasi-meaningful titles that no one gives a shit about.
 
Unique Titles

This old How-To about titles by whispersecret is worth reading:

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-get-people-to-read-your-story

I try to have unique titles, ones that have not been used on Literotica by anyone else, and get an url without a number.

I failed with Photo Shoot - the url is photo-shoot-23.

Except for Photo Shoot and a couple of others at -1 to -7, almost all my titles are unique. No one else wanted to use 'Hedgehog Feud' or 'Getting Nude With Chairman Mao'. I wonder why not?

I think my most successful titles (not necessarily the stories but the titles) are Virgin's Sister; Virgin's Sister Again; Sister Nun; and Sister Valentine. Titles with 'Sister' attract readers, so does 'Virgin'. Put the two together and the views increase. :)
 
oggbashan said:
This old How-To about titles by whispersecret is worth reading:

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-get-people-to-read-your-story

I try to have unique titles, ones that have not been used on Literotica by anyone else, and get an url without a number.

I failed with Photo Shoot - the url is photo-shoot-23.

Except for Photo Shoot and a couple of others at -1 to -7, almost all my titles are unique. No one else wanted to use 'Hedgehog Feud' or 'Getting Nude With Chairman Mao'. I wonder why not?

I think my most successful titles (not necessarily the stories but the titles) are Virgin's Sister; Virgin's Sister Again; Sister Nun; and Sister Valentine. Titles with 'Sister' attract readers, so does 'Virgin'. Put the two together and the views increase. :)
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I never even noticed the number thing, ogg. Thanks for pointing it out.

*Edit: In my library on Lit, which is nowhere near the size of yours, I have only one title that has a number by it. It's a poem named "Wanderlust". It's apparently the fourth such poem. So my titles are original if nothing else, I guess.

I may suck, but I suck in a way that is particular to me. :p
 
Last edited:
A title may attract me to a story, but I decide by reading the description. I don't find the star system helps much - it only measures other people's likes and dislikes, not mine!
 
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