Titles

[daughter]

Members--

This may have been covered before, but being new I am curious to hear your views. How important are titles? How do you formulate them? How do they affect a read for you? Are you likely to skip over a read because of a lukewarm title?

What makes a title appealing and thus improves the odds of being read? What kind of titles are you likely to ignore? Any key words or types of titles appeal to you?

Thanks.

Peace,

daughter

 

[KillerMuffin]

Here are a few of mine:

The Gathering Night
Alexandra's Odyssey
Lusty Blueeyes
Akron Needs a Little More Than Dental Floss
Front Lawn Butt Sex
Stalking Tango
Burning
By the Roaring River
Never Kill a Man On All Hallow's Eve
Coming Home
A BMW & a Pair of Green Panties
The Willow


Now, if you've read the stories, forget about them, just look at the titles. Pick the one you want to read the most and the one you want to read the least. What's the difference? What intrigues you? What makes one of them any more interesting than the others?

Some people swear by alliteration. You know, An Aardvark in Atlanta kinda thing. It works for some, but I think it's a lazy way of doing things. I started out with some titles that would do better for books then started picking out an interesting string of words in the story itself that caught my eye and working with them.

 

[daughter]

Preferences

KM--

I think sticking to any single method is limiting regardless of the method. Alliteration isn't bad, but I wouldn't rely on it solely.

I find most of your titles appealing. And if the writing is equally as good, I'd be more inclined to continue reading you because my experience with your stories. I then have two criteria for deciding if I wanted to follow your work.

Why do I find your titles appealing? There's a hint of what to expect. They create interest. Oh, and no alliteration. LOL

The title I like least--"Burning". I read it and thought, "So what? Burning what--hair, dolls, towns"? Doesn't mean it's not a good story. I might be missing a good tale. However, when I'm scanning 100 titles on a list, and I don't know a writer's style, what else do I have to go on? Titles can be a hook.

Thanks for responding.

Peace,

daughter

 

[Mickie]

Titles should be appropriate for the style of the story. The language for an erotica title as opposed to a porn title will give the reader a hint of what the story contains. That way, they aren't disappointed when 'Hammering Susan' is about Susan's romantic love affair with a carpenter instead of an out and out fuck fest using a hammer as a dildo. The language and style you use in a story should be consistent throughout all marketing efforts, including the title and the blurb used to describe the story. Don't try to draw in the wrong kind of readers. If you want more people to read the story, market in an honest way that this is a love story, or doesn't use numbers and letters to indicate breast size.

Mickie

 

[daughter]

Good point

Mickie--

Good Point. I'm guilty of one-liners and failing to give hints. I do strive to be consistent with tying title and storyline together.

Thanks for responding.

Peace,

daughter

 

[Marxist]

Mick,

So let me get this straight, I shouldn't title a story "Monica's Monster 32B Tit's"?

I was wondering if I'm the only one who pretty much closes the page on a story where the narrator resorts to numbers to let you know the size of woman's tenacious tatas? At that moment I lose trust in the narrator and downgrade him to drunken frat turd. How many guys can walk down the street and pick a woman's correct cup let alone her actual numbered measurements

Granted, I think it's different when a man talks about the size of his or another man's cock. We all know men don't lie about that and have a perfect sense of scale.

 

[Whispersecret]

I went into some detail about titles in this, hopefully, helpful essay:

How to Get People to Read Your Story
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=14176

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Any title that gets a readers attention is a good one. Let the reader know what to expect from your story in the title. If your story is comedic, the title should be...that's pretty much it. If a reader scans through the story list and sees something called "Susan's late night fuck" they're expecting raw pornographic materail.
Akron Needs a Little More Than Dental Floss" by KillerMuffin would appear to be comedic...If so, great title!
Don't mislead the reader, but get the reader's attention, and that's all there is to a good title selection...

 

[sdwpthwlkr]

I don't know how you guys and gals choose your titles, but I Just wanted to put this in. Most authors that I know usually write their stories and then try to choose a title that more or less describes the message they want to get across. On the other hand, I have never done that. I always come up with a title and then let it simmer for a little while before crafting the story that goes with the title. Call me an oddball if you want. Take a look and tell me what you think of them. Thanks.A few stories to ponder on....

 

[Natalie Nessus]

The titles choose themselves - in 'Famous Blue Raincoat' it was evident.

'Berlin' was again evident. I try to connect to the story so that when people see the title they remmeber the story

 

[Nivek]

Other good info...

I remember seeing a story (info-page) on this type of information that Mickie gave out one time. That was helpful ... to a point.

Mickie created a info-page called 'Beginner's Guide to Self-Promotion'.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=27698

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

GOOD question. Wish I had a good answer.
Let's see. On Literotica, I've posted:
Hold That Thought, at least some erotic potential
Friday, not the world's sexiest title.
Turnabout Is Fair Play, somewhere between those two.
Inn. worse than "Friday" if anything.
--
Off Literotica, I've written a series for which every title
starts with "For..." Forever, Forest, Foreplay, For Now,
Voortrekkers, etc. -- DON'T do that.
Similarly, DON'T use the girl's name as the story title,
I've written a story called "Susan"; who hasn't?
--
My best title was probably "April's First" but April was
a little young for that story to ever appear on Literotica.
(And since she gets her driver's licence and her first intercourse
within days, there is no way to patch that story.)
--
The best advice in the advice page was probably to use
a title consonant with the audience you want.

 

[REDWAVE]

Don't forget the description

Good question, daughter-- or Rasputin's daughter, to use your full nom de cyber. The title of the first story I put on LE was "Slutty Cockpig." I think it's pretty obvious why I picked that title. After all, I figure most of the readers are jaded horndogs, who want not just nastiness, but out-of-the-ordinary, exceptional, above-and-beyond -the-call-of-duty nastiness. A title like that, I reckoned, would grab their attention and make them want to check out the story. And it worked pretty well for me-- over 11,000 views.


But don't overlook the importance of the description also. Remember, the only things the reader knows about the story before clicking to it are the title and the description. The description should pique their interest and draw them in, too. I understand you can just let Laurel write the description for you, but I much prefer to write it myself. And so far, Laurel's run all my descriptions as is, except for a minor change on one. I try to avoid a mundane description of the action: i.e., "Jane blows her husband, then blows her dog." For instance, my description for "Slutty Cockpig" is "Compulsive cocksucker bares his soul." With that, I tell the readers what kind of main character to expect, but also promise a psychological exploration of that character. And I think I delivered pretty much what I promised-- a hot, nasty queer story (it's in the gay male section), but also a dissection of a psyche. To me, the key sentence of the story is the very last one: "I can get dick any time I want, but I'm starved for affection." It captures the alienation of much of gay male life (and, I suspect, of much of straight life, too) in general.

 

[Nivek]

RedWave

That was informative and very helpful. I will try to keep all of that in mind when I get to the point of titling and description for the story boards.

 

[Bluetrain]

hmmm. i tend to be pretty full of myself and artsier-than-thou when i title my stories; i've never really thought of titling them to get views or whatnot, however.

for instance, i gave "A Clearing by the River" its title because the concept of a clearing in a wood, symbolizing retreat from experience, figures prominently in the story, as do clearnings as major settings for action.

however, in "Lisa," the title simply confers the main character's name because she plays such a prominent role. Not that I'm comparing myself, but Truman Capote did the same thing with "Miriam," as did Collette with "Dido," and Goethe with "Faustus."

yet the novelette I'm working on now has a working title of "As Way Leads on to Way," which I lifted from the Frost poem, "The Road..." Both the poem's theme of regret and a sense of loss, and irreveribility of choice play large roles in the story.

then again, so do pyramids and drowning...