Titling Stories

[rescatooor]

I'll play:


Title: Missed Connections: New Orleans

Tagline: Strangers on a train make the best of a ticketing error.

Category: Romance

Like based on this I would expect something like Before Sunrise in New Orleans. I wonder how much of this actually takes place on a train. If a lot, the New Orleans part of the title seems a bit unnecessary and simultaneously I feel the Missed Connections and mention of trains maybe put too much train station chaos forth.

I think the title might need to be a little bit more romantic to really entice the readers. I give it a 4.

 

[Comshaw]

Most of my titles are rather bland. They tend to describe something about the story. Sometimes though they do turn out rather catchy. A good example is 'Forced Rape'. That particular story is about a man and his nephew who are forced by a masked gunman to rape their crush.

Another is 'Page: The Unexpected Surprise.' It's about a shy student that defends another student against a bully and is rewarded for his actions by that student's sister who promises to go to the dance with him. It's a surprise to the main character that she would do that. The reality of who she is compared to his mental image of her is totally unexpected.

The only problem with titles like that is some get spun up about them. I suspect those are the same people who can find (and complain about) an extra space between words in a 10,000 word story.

There is one I'm working on right now, 'Barefoot on Broken Glass'. That title hit me one day when I was listening to Anne Lennox singing 'Walking on Broken Glass.' As I listened to the music an image of the scene in Die Hard where John McClain was crawling away from the bad guys leaving a blood trail because he was barefoot and forced to walk on the broken glass on the floor hit me. The story blossomed from there. It is one of the rare instances (for me) where the title birthed the story.

Comshaw

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll play:


Title: Missed Connections: New Orleans

Tagline: Strangers on a train make the best of a ticketing error.

Category: Romance

My first thought would be this is a series Missed Connections New York, LA etc...

But to me adding New Orleans tells me it will probably be intriguing because NO is known for brothels, party town, and if you're into it, the home of voodoo and annoying sparkly vampires.

I think the tag line is a good indicator of what will happen, and the fact its in romance gives the impression it won't be quite as sleazy as it would be in other categories.

Personally I'm not much for romance so I'd probably say somewhere around 4.6ish, but I bet in that category you're probably floating somewhere between mid 4.7's and 4.8's

 

[yowser]

A good title is gold, often as rare.

My best are playful:

A Victorian Interlewd
First Lick
Frig Newton
Suzanne's Supreme Night of Poker

 

[NotWise]

Despite my reader's complaint, I think some of my titles have worked.

That Little Bitch
Cole's sister-in-law makes his fantasy come true
(maybe the short description isn't great, but the title pulled a lot of attention to a little nothing of a story.)

Sex and Dinosaurs
Digging Dinosaurs in the Desert Doesn't Damp Desire
(I was just having fun)

Her Bodyguard
. . . and his Dirty Valentine
(making the short description part of the title was a mistake, but I still like it)

Pixie in a Sundress
Sex and lies and parties by the pool
(I like that mostly for the short description)

Sex Under Studio Lights
Artistic Aunt Deb is my Gateway to Mom
(so, maybe the short description sucks)

 

[AlinaX]

Pixie in a Sundress
Sex and lies and parties by the pool

Nice. Tempting.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Despite my reader's complaint, I think some of my titles have worked.

That Little Bitch
Cole's sister-in-law makes his fantasy come true
(maybe the short description isn't great, but the title pulled a lot of attention to a little nothing of a story.)

Sex and Dinosaurs
Digging Dinosaurs in the Desert Doesn't Damp Desire
(I was just having fun)

Her Bodyguard
. . . and his Dirty Valentine
(making the short description part of the title was a mistake, but I still like it)

Pixie in a Sundress
Sex and lies and parties by the pool
(I like that mostly for the short description)

Sex Under Studio Lights
Artistic Aunt Deb is my Gateway to Mom
(so, maybe the short description sucks)

Good ones! You inspired me to look at your story list, and I like the title “Stinky and Fudd” the best.

 

[MillieDynamite]

So far, I have two stories with the word blood in the title. Baptism in Blood, Written in Blood, and plan several more vampire tales with the same Blood theme for the titles. Though Baptism isn't in the current series, I may rewrite it where it is.

 

[RejectReality]

Pickin' an' Grinnin'
He's looking for a vintage piece or two, and she's got it.

Recycled
Daughter dumps boyfriend, but Mom's into recycling.

Souvenir
Getting more than a lousy t-shirt from this summer vacation.

 

[HectorBidon]

Title: Missed Connections: New Orleans

Tagline: Strangers on a train make the best of a ticketing error.

Category: Romance

I did click on this story. I sometimes go through the New Stories list looking for something to read. Ninety percent of the offerings I skip right over because of the category, the enormity of the chapter number, or the presence of the word "futanari." But this one caught my eye, probably because of the tagline. I clicked on it, read the story, and quite enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it, btw.

I think the tagline is just about perfect. It lets the reader know what the story is going to be about, but in a smart, sophisticated way that promises a smart, sophisticated story. The use of the genteel euphemism, "making the best," suggests that the writing will exhibit some dramatic restraint and emotional depth rather than just superficial titillation. Anyway, click-bait-wise, it worked for me.

I have my own strangers-throw-together-by-happenstance story. I'd say its tagline is adequate, but not as good as yours.

Title: Cabin Buddies

Tagline: A guy and a girl have to share a cabin on a cruise ship.

Category: Romance

 

[rescatooor]

I did click on this story. I sometimes go through the New Stories list looking for something to read. Ninety percent of the offerings I skip right over because of the category, the enormity of the chapter number, or the presence of the word "futanari." But this one caught my eye, probably because of the tagline. I clicked on it, read the story, and quite enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it, btw.

I think the tagline is just about perfect. It lets the reader know what the story is going to be about, but in a smart, sophisticated way that promises a smart, sophisticated story. The use of the genteel euphemism, "making the best," suggests that the writing will exhibit some dramatic restraint and emotional depth rather than just superficial titillation. Anyway, click-bait-wise, it worked for me.

I have my own strangers-throw-together-by-happenstance story. I'd say its tagline is adequate, but not as good as yours.

Title: Cabin Buddies

Tagline: A guy and a girl have to share a cabin on a cruise ship.

Category: Romance

I'd have fronted the cruise ship thing. Up until that last word, you think it's like a holiday cabin in the woods.

 

[lovecraft68]

Pickin' an' Grinnin'
He's looking for a vintage piece or two, and she's got it.

Recycled
Daughter dumps boyfriend, but Mom's into recycling.

Souvenir
Getting more than a lousy t-shirt from this summer vacation.

Recycled sounds like fun, and um...I may have used this plot for an e-book

 

[Candy_Kane54]

My titles tend to be lyrics from a song with the title of the character's first name:

E.g., my first story had a character named Bonnie and the title is "Your Silver Nights and Golden Days" from the song 'Bonnie' by Supertramp.

My second story was about a character named Alexis and the title is "Throwin' Pennies in the Bay" from the song 'Alexis' by James Gang.

 

[TadOverdon]

1. Does it have "Mother" or "Mom" in the title?
2. My work is done.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

When I started submitting here I had fun and tried to be clever with titles. I have since learned that if the title isn’t click-bait, it’s a failure. Despite this knowledge, I’ve had to prioritize honesty about the story’s content, over getting potential readers hot & bothered. I still cringe at the title I settled for in the Summer Lovin’ contest entry, “Summer College Surprises,” because the main thing for the reader to know about the full range of the story was that it takes place during an in-person summer trimester at a college. I think I bounced back a little with the description, “To work on her project, Ziri must screw & get sex over with!” That, plus placement in the First Time category, may have engaged some reader interest.

Don’t just get the eyeballs, make the pupils dilate. While I was writing a Group Sex story, I used the working title “Parallel in a Hexagon,” which had Deep Meaning within the story’s events, but does absolutely nothing to make any human interested in reading. Fortunately, by the time the story was ready for submittal, I saved it with the title “3 Women, 3 Men, 3 Days.” The description also egged on the reader’s imagination: “They explore the delights of what a couple can’t do.”

I chafe at the limits on numbers of characters (spaces included!), but understand that two or three long lines of text don’t make for click-bait.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5116173&page=submissions

 

[JaxRhapsody]

So far, I have two stories with the word blood in the title. Baptism in Blood, Written in Blood, and plan several more vampire tales with the same Blood theme for the titles. Though Baptism isn't in the current series, I may rewrite it where it is.

Nothing wrong with that. Nora Roberts has been writing a series with -In Death title for probably 15 years or so, now. I think I'm 20 books behind.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I honestly have some titles I didn't like, but I couldn't think of anything better, and there has to be a title. Sometimes they're about as hard as character names.

 

[AlinaX]

Nothing wrong with that. Nora Roberts has been writing a series with -In Death title for probably 15 years or so, now. I think I'm 20 books behind.

I read a few of those. Fun at times, irritating at others.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I read a few of those. Fun at times, irritating at others.

A romance/mystery, with a hint of sex. And by "hint", I mean I have the first like 12 books or so, minus two or three, New York to Dallas, and another not named -In Death, and the most sex I've seen was in the first book. I read the first one in high school for english class, liked it enough to steal it, years later, saw in Walmart a book. I was like; "hol up," looked at the inside page; "there's more of these‽".

 

[MajorRewrite]

My new story is “Mom Son Lap Halloween”.

Isn’t that a beautiful title? It’s almost lyrical.

 

[rescatooor]

My new story is “Mom Son Lap Halloween”.

Isn’t that a beautiful title? It’s almost lyrical.

If anything, it's to the point.

To be honest, maybe the Anime titles and Chuck Tingle are onto something and titles really should be the new synopses.

 

[SimonDoom]

My new story is “Mom Son Lap Halloween”.

Isn’t that a beautiful title? It’s almost lyrical.

I don't know about lyrical, but it sure as heck is effective.

34,000+ and counting views in under 24 hours.

Take the most applicable tags and mash 'em together. It's a great strategy. I feel like you've proved my point! Thanks and congrats on how it's working so far.

 

[rescatooor]

I don't know about lyrical, but it sure as heck is effective.

34,000+ and counting views in under 24 hours.

Take the most applicable tags and mash 'em together. It's a great strategy. I feel like you've proved my point! Thanks and congrats on how it's working so far.

I agree it's a great strategy. I still don't need to like it.

What's next? Stories becoming equally as economical?

Here my haiku:

Alien titties:
Her three green nipples oozing.
My seed everywhere.

Gimme my five stars.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree it's a great strategy. I still don't need to like it.

What's next? Stories becoming equally as economical?

.

That's your right. You don't have to.

As to your question, my view is "no." As I said above, my approach is that the story is one's art, and the rest is marketing. That's how I see it. I have no artistic investment in the title of a Literotica story. Once my story is done, I want it to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible. I handle my title, tags, and tagline with that end in mind.

No one is obligated to see things this way. But many Literotica authors DO seem interested in how to get more exposure for their stories, and there are useful things authors can do to increase their exposure if that's what they want.

 

[gordo12]

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

My first Western. Sadly Westerns don't get a lot of traction on Lit.

The Gunfighter
Yeehaw! Guns, Gals, Whiskey and a Five-Legged Fly