Titling Stories

[RichardWark]

Just a little fun thread - I'm not saying mine are anywhere near the best or most creative, but isn't titling your stories one of the most fun parts of the creative process? Whether you go for an obscure title like, I don't know, "The Quality of Mercy" (not a real Literotica title as far as I know) or something more obvious, like "Fucking My Daughter in Law's Ass," there is just something about putting that particular stamp on your work. What is the coolest title you ever gave one of your stories? Or, maybe, what title for a story here impressed you?

Personally, I think my title "Northern Lights" was a nice touch. It was evocative, I felt, helped just a little in establishing the setting, and indicated a beauty that I was trying to go for in a story. I also rather liked "Alonda/Jade."

As far as other authors go, Carrteun's "Bathers and Black Squirrel" is one of my favorite titles, and Chasten's title "Pie Thief" actually rang a couple of chimes for me, especially when thinking about how it maintains a presence throughout the story.


Richard Wark

wark2002
https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5430653&page=submissions

 

[ElectricBlue]

My quirkiest title: Aalison the Aardvark

Most enigmatic: Rope and Veil

Most sensual: Songs of Seduction - Silk and Skin

Most straightforward: A Girl on the Bus

 

[Rob_Howard]

My very first story on Literotica is titled 'Clothes Are Not Dry Yet'.

I don't know why I was proud of that title. I thought that a title like that under Exhibitionist and Voyeur category would surely be eye-catching. The rest of my stories have pretty much straightforward titles.

The title that really grabbed my attention here was 'Bowling for Clothes' by Requiax.

 

[RejectReality]

I tend toward wordplay in this name. It may be a character's name, a plot point, a location, etc. that I'm playing with. I'm not afraid to go for puns/dad jokes either. I try to use something that hasn't been used on Lit before, unless a title so perfectly fits the story that I don't care if it's the 20th iteration of it.

I've got "A Sale of Two Titties", "Bet Your Bottom", "At Heaven's 'Bate"... I'm also fond of one word titles and titles that are acronyms/homages like "IPOP".

I'm not fond of the obvious titles like "Fucked Her in the Round Brown". I feel like that's what the description line is for. Titles like that make me shy away from reading them. I'm obviously in a minority, because highly successful authors have that strategy as their bread and butter. Still can't bring myself to do it.

When it comes to fantasy work or any more substantial piece, I tend toward titles that are eye-catching, but may require the description line to give any sense of what's inside. "What Ails" is a steampunk-lite quickie about a young wife being treated for "hysteria". The description line on that one isn't even a huge amount of help, but I think there's enough of a hook to it to snag the readers I'm after.

That's not to say I won't wordplay with my fantasy pieces either. "One Whore's Town" and "A Thief N' the Knight" are two in the pipeline.

There are very few places where the title and description aren't both prominently featured together, so I tend to think of them as a single unit.

 

[Omenainen]

I tend to go for obscure rather than straightforward. And I like my titles. “Forever Is a Long Time”, “Love Thy Neighbor”, “Interstellar”, “End of the World as We Know It”. I think my most descriptive was “Midsummer in Finland”, and that’s a rather boring title.

Nothing comes to mind regarding others’ stories, so I guess no one else’s title has made a very grand impression… or maybe I’m just self-centered

 

[rescatooor]

Can't say I'm really all that happy with most of mine either.

I do like "Distancing" since it's about love from afar (across the garden) during lockdown. It's probably one of the better titles in that it has a double meaning as both descriptive and minimalist.

I have many stories coming up that have just the place name as a title, like "Knokke" and "Vilnius". I also have one story named "Genderfluid" (somewhat subtly descriptive, I suppose). One named "Hera". One named "Alyssa's Many Valentines" which is as descriptive as I get.

Like Omenainen, I too have a Finnish Midsummer story on the way, which currently has the working title of "Under The Midnight Sun". It was originally just The Midnight Sun but then the Twilight book came out and that Bella Thorne film. Many good names are kind of taken.

 

[mynameisben]

I strive to come up with a title that doesn't begin with the word "The" or the word "A" because that's just been done to death. But a quick review shows that over half of my story titles indeed begin with one of those dreaded articles.

So, don't listen to me. I'm as creative as a timeworn doorknob.


Ben

 

[AlinaX]

Mine that I'm particularly fond of:
- Hermaphroditus Awake
- Insatiable an Appetite
- Red and Blue, Intertwined
- The Colour of Love

 

[Bramblethorn]

Most of my story titles have a double-layered meaning, although some are more obvious than others. I aim for something that'll make readers think "huh what's that about?" rather than telling them the plot.

 

[lovecraft68]

I try to keep my titles simple and catchy and indicative of the story. "Sharing his student" for example pretty much tells you what you're going to get. Sometimes there's a homage

I have a student teacher story "After School Special' a homage to those old shows they had when I was growing up in the 80's.

That Damned Red Dress isn't a sexy sound title, but the story reflects the bitterness of the story and your first hint its not a fun sexy romp.

Like RR I've done a little word play "Under The Mistle-toe" is a foot fetish story
Mom is bound to please is a mom/son story based on bondage
My personal fav of my "cleverness; is "Mercedes Bends"


I think "Shhh!" was a gamble on a title because although it fit the story, its sort of odd, but ended up placing in a contest.

I personally avoid the outright stroker titles because whenever I see a "Mom sucks cock" type of title I roll my eyes and move on.

Interesting that Silkstockinglover has a ton of those including the ridiculous "what mom knows fucks her in the ass, in Vegas, in..." an entire series. But seeing she has an insane amount of favs maybe there's something too them. The fact her stories are written with a lot more depth than the title would suggest makes me think she feels silly porn titles work.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The 35-character limit annoys me. I wanted to call one story "Sit on my face and tell me that you love me" - a Monty Python song title - but had to leave some words out.

I have a few titles I'm happy with, because they manage to both describe the content while also being a bit intriguing:

Wheelchair Bound? - contains bondage and a wheelchair, but the wheelchair user finding only freedom from it.
I say Ass, You say Arse... - a transatlantic anal story
Chaperoning Matthew - the old-fashioned concept of chaperones - why? My favourite opening lines, too. It's the only time I've used a name as a title - I don't usually like those.
Homesick Halloween - exactly what you get. Romance.

Other titles I'm not so happy with. My Smoking Hot series is so-called because it starts with a guy persuaded to quit smoking by sucking cock instead, but until someone's read ch.1 it's a bit meaningless.

 

[Thefireflies]

I’m fond of Heather’s Exquisite Map of Tassie. The title, that is. In the context of my story, it's a double entendre

 

[Bramblethorn]

The 35-character limit annoys me. I wanted to call one story "Sit on my face and tell me that you love me" - a Monty Python song title - but had to leave some words out.

I had the same problem with "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves".

 

[mynameisben]

I had the same problem with "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves".

I've seen that quote, many many times. It may be best that you did have problems.


Ben

 

[SimonDoom]

Most of the time, I take a practical approach to titles. Not all the time, but most of the time. My attitude is that the body of the story is my art, and the rest is marketing.

So I usually craft titles that reveal something about the story plot that I think will titillate and attract readers.

A Bikini With A Mind Of Its Own

Late Night On The Loveseat With Mom

Hotel Exhibitionist

Nude Day Running Adventure

I've found this approach to be successful at doing what I want it to do.

Sometimes I try to make my titles playful and over-the-top, as well as descriptive, like

Bubble-Butt Gym Whore or

Unwitting Porn Star Wife.

My wackiest title -- I'm proud of this one -- must be

Mom, You're a Hucow!

 

[rescatooor]

Would it be a silly idea to try and rate our titles?

Like just give the story name, category and description. And the rest of us say why we would or wouldn't click on it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Most of the time, I take a practical approach to titles. Not all the time, but most of the time. My attitude is that the body of the story is my art, and the rest is marketing.

So I usually craft titles that reveal something about the story plot that I think will titillate and attract readers.

A Bikini With A Mind Of Its Own

Late Night On The Loveseat With Mom

Hotel Exhibitionist

Nude Day Running Adventure

I've found this approach to be successful at doing what I want it to do.

Sometimes I try to make my titles playful and over-the-top, as well as descriptive, like

Bubble-Butt Gym Whore or

Unwitting Porn Star Wife.

My wackiest title -- I'm proud of this one -- must be

Mom, You're a Hucow!

The closest I have to outright silly porno would be My Mother's a Horny Drunk and the direct to the point "Mom Loves to Suck" otherwise I keep them a little more toned down-note I would never say classy...

A Mother's Sacrifice
Comfort of My Mother's Arms

Part of it is when I first started on amazon they were still allowing taboo so I kept my titles somewhat tame because at the end of the day what killed taboo over there and caused the big 2013 purge of it was titles like "Fucking Mom's ass" and crap like that which is one thing on a site like Lit another on amazon who refuses to grow up and create an adult kindle store meaning anyone can click on anything and that stuff got too many complaints.

 

[lovecraft68]

Would it be a silly idea to try and rate our titles?

Like just give the story name, category and description. And the rest of us say why we would or wouldn't click on it.

I'll try, this is an old one, 2012.

Ashley's Special Gift
Trish and Brad get to unwrap more than a present for X-mas.

Category is group sex.

 

[rescatooor]

I'll try

Ashley's Special Gift
Trish and Brad get to unwrap more than a present for X-mas.

Category is group sex.

I'd rate 4,5 stars. It's is extremely clear about what the story is going to be. You know it's going to be ffm. It's Christmas themed.

The 0,5 minus is merely that it doesn't really stand out as a title. It might be a little too obvious, so there are probably very few people who pick it just for the title. If you entered it in the Christmas contest, where you can only see the title, people might not be as interested in it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd rate 4,5 stars. It's is extremely clear about what the story is going to be. You know it's going to be ffm. It's Christmas themed.

The 0,5 minus is merely that it doesn't really stand out as a title. It might be a little too obvious, so there are probably very few people who pick it just for the title. If you entered it in the Christmas contest, where you can only see the title, people might not be as interested in it.

Fair enough, and I agree its a bit generic.

However, it was a contest story and placed in 3rd, it was my first W here. But that was 9 years ago, who knows how it would do now.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've seen that quote, many many times. It may be best that you did have problems.

It's an old workplace joke, yes. I was referencing that, though in my story it ends up becoming unexpectedly literal.

In the end I went with "The Floggings Will Continue..." and trusted my readers to fill in the blanks.

 

[rescatooor]

Also if anybody wants to rate mine...

Madison's Game
He's a cuck, she's a slut. They were made for each other.

Category is interracial.

 

[lovecraft68]

Also if anybody wants to rate mine...

Madison's Game
He's a cuck, she's a slut. They were made for each other.

Category is interracial.

I like the name Madison, but to me, the title sounds a little more BDSM...The Stephen King Gerald's Game comes to mind.

The description seems more Loving wives than interracial, but I'll add points for being bold enough to put it there so I would go with a...

4.40 going just under the Red H because I think title and tag call out things its not, but again this is subjective so I vote only for myself.

Curious, did you get a lot of LW style heat for it from the incels, or did posting it in IR help you out a bit?

 

[rescatooor]

I like the name Madison, but to me, the title sounds a little more BDSM...The Stephen King Gerald's Game comes to mind.

The description seems more Loving wives than interracial, but I'll add points for being bold enough to put it there so I would go with a...

4.40 going just under the Red H because I think title and tag call out things its not, but again this is subjective so I vote only for myself.

Curious, did you get a lot of LW style heat for it from the incels, or did posting it in IR help you out a bit?

Kind of both. The thing is that the characters are kind of racist in their actions: he thinks she is a white whore, she thinks he as an Arab would know nothing worse than his wife sleeping with black men. And the bdsm theme isnt too far off either because she is trying to be sadistic in sleeping with other men right in front of her husband. I was deliberately trying to cover many fields.

Edit: And yes, it performed relatively poorly. Got some juicy comments too that I were more than fine with, because I meant the characters to be kind of awful and hateable.

 

[cloeknox]

Wow, this thread is awesome!