Good and Bad Story Titles

[JennyCapricorn]

Something being connected to a larger collection of stories might be a turn off to other readers, because some of them will feel like they need to read the others before they read this one.

If its not a standalone having the titles be similar to each other in some fashion is nice.

But if it's a standalone that just so happens to be related to another story, then I make no mention of this until the end where I've put up authors notes pointing out other works in which you can find the same characters. I've not gotten any complaints about this.

(We also violated another taboo by having the chapters jump between the BDSM and Lesbian Sex categories based on content which I have been told does not help)

 

[NuclearFairy]

(We also violated another taboo by having the chapters jump between the BDSM and Lesbian Sex categories based on content which I have been told does not help)

I've heard it both ways. It's really hard to say on that one.

 

[Writer61]

And then I saw a comment on a story where the commenter said he knocked a star off because the title didn't reference the existing connected stories.

Does anyone have a feeling on both the protocol of this, or whether including the larger collection title makes the stories more or less enticing to the reader?

I have three series at the moment and have taken a different approach with each:

• The Fall of Laura: series name - part 1, 2, etc.
• Adam in Asia: series name - story title
• Adam in Public: story title (although most started Naked in)

So far, there have been no comments for/against, and there is no apparent difference in the ratings either.

 

[djrip]

I go for informative and a little titillating but not just a blatant statement of what happens.

Wrong Twin Rubdown
Bikini Barista Sleepover
New RA at the Girls' Dorm

But I have some that are more vague. They make reference to their stories but it might not be clear what they're referring to until reading them.

New Rules - this was for a song-based stories event and is from the song by Dua Lipa.
Moving Day
An Eye For Love
Scales on Skin

A name of a character or organization from the story can fit:

Sarah's New Job
Vixen Cruise Lines

How about informative of content, with a name from the story, and a little sexual innuendo on the side?

Massaging the Pussycats

 

[SkyBubble]

Some titles of mine. I'll leave it to you to judge whether they're good or bad. I liked them.

A Bed of Rosemary
Bed, Body, and Belinda
Christmas Carol
Dorothy Surrenders
Gretchen's Unexpected Passion
Hitting a High Note
Libby Takes a Ride
Love Is in the Cards
Seducing Betty Ann
The Deflowering of Rebecca
The Kiss
The Note
Virgin Mary

 

[SissyBrandi19]

I was checking out some new stories today, and it struck me that some of us maybe don't place enough importance on story titles.

Unlike the stuff we publish on Amazon, Smashwords, and elsewhere, our Lit stories don't have any cover. There is no image or art that could grab the attention of a potential reader. Having that in mind, I'd say that story titles potentially play an important role in attracting readers, especially those casual ones who are unlikely to engage in extensive browsing and tag-checking of story lists.
This is doubly important when we take into account the sheer number of new daily stories.

What do you consider a good title, and what do you think is a bad story title? I understand this is likely to be subjective, so I am curious to hear your takes. I'll share a few examples.

For me, a good title is one that subtly hints at what the story is about, contains some clever word-play, or sounds intriguing enough.

I'll give an example from today's story list: The Way She Moves - Lesbian Sex Category. It's a chaptered story, and while it's not something I would personally consider reading due to its (short) length, the title sounds intriguing enough to me. A quick skim through the story (and tags) tells me it's a story about a ballerina, so the title is both intriguing and cleverly hints at what the story is about.
I find that I really like this title, even if I won't actually read the story.



Bad titles.
Heh. I won't give any actual story titles as I don't want to shame any author, so I'll just give a few general examples.

A Football Player Fucks A Florist
Sex With My Neighbor

While these titles give some information about the plot, I find they lack in every other department.


Another type of titles I dislike are titles that contain the name of characters only. Say a story named Emily, or a story named John. Naming a story Emily and John, while a bit better since it does at least hint at heterosexual content, still pretty much sucks. From the standpoint of the reader, these are just some random names. They don't really convey much. There is no intrigue in them, unless it's some exotic name, but even then it's a weak title, in my view.

Again, I realize this is all subjective so I'm looking forward to see your examples.

This is actually a very, very good thing to discuss and point out! In the process of writing my book (due to hit shelves Oct-Nov, 2025) I wrote many candidate titles. My book is a humor anthology of 17 essays with the stated goal of being both hilarious and also offensive, the idea being that in viewing things that might offend yet are funny, one develops resilience. But the most difficult task was the title!

I ended up with about 16 candidates. The one I personally like the most I also knew was death to book sales - "The Orthogonality of Outrage & Correctness: A Primer" - I mean, who the fuck knows what "orthogonal" means? (It means statistical independence, i.e. two things that are completely unrelated). A goofy title that still, no-go was "People Who Live in Glass Houses Should Not Have Glass Toilets (Unless You're Into That)" which...wtf?! So while the binders have not been glued to the pages just yet, it looks like we're going with "I Think, Therefore I Offend". Obviously a variant of a very famous quote and rather apropos to the idea of this book. Yes, a shameless book plug - arrest me!

 

[Writer61]

I mean, who the fuck knows what "orthogonal" means?

Me, although not the meaning that you quote.

 

[SkyBubble]

I wrote a parody of Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar. I called it Julius Caesar: With Friends Like These...OR The Assassination of Caesar as Performed by His Friends in the Roman Nobility Under the Direction of Brutus and Cassius.

I'm rather proud of it and I'm looking for other Shakespeare to take on.

I'd like to thank William Shakespeare for all the great straight lines.

 

[SkyBubble]

How do you usually come up with the right title?