Titling your stuff -- how do you do it?

[KillerMuffin]

This is not cool stuff to do because your title is your primary marketing method. That's the first thing a reader sees and the first thing that gets your work rejected.

My titles aren't all that great, I'll admit. They're not all that bad, either.

There's a few camps on the title business.

Alliteration - some believe that alliteration is the way to go with their stories. It's catchy, it's good for creating a rhythm that readers are attracted to, and it's great for memory. "Lovely Lactating Ladies."

The ________ - some believe in truth in advertising, so they call it the (whatever) and stuck it up there. This also gives things a sort of literary feel to it. "The Cabin."

Name - some think that putting the lead, generally female, character's name in the title is the way to go. It's personalizing and attractive. "Jessica's Big Dick Adventure."


The way I title is pretty simple. I like to have a verb in it, usually a gerund. An -ing word. When I'm done writing I'll do a read through of the manuscript and, in addition to editing, I'll keep my eyes open for a phrase that stands out and either expand on it or use it as it is. "Akron Needs More Than a Little Dental Floss." or (which I personally hate) "Throbbing in His Jeans."

Sometimes titles come to me, like "Front Lawn Butt Sex," but they usually need work.

What do you usually do?

 

[damppanties]

Titles - Brrrr.....

KM's managed to pinpoint my main problem. I hate thinking up titles. I absolutely couldn't come up with anything for my last story and *blushing* went with what my editor suggested. I hope to do better with my next one though (fingers crossed)

-DP.

 

[jon.hayworth]

I have a working title for the file until after the final edit - at this stage I use the wrong process.

I do not think what title will market my story. I think what title fits the story. The result is that some have people's names and others do not, some are lengthy some only one word.

Maybe I ought to think what will be a catchy title - but I will probably stick to my way.

jon

 

[Weird Harold]

What do you usually do?

I cna't seem to write unless I've got a title to start from. The titles (usually) come to me first, and then I write a story to fit.

 

[whiteboy]

varies...

Well I sometimes choose the title first and than rename the title if it looks like it's heading in a different direction. Tittling can suck in my opinion but can actually be rather fun as well. Patience is the key and just letting your imagination flow is the door way.

 

[Ray Dario]

I'm with WH on this one. I usually come up with a title that I think is cool and then expand that into a what if and then write the story.

Can I help it if I'm the only one who thinks my title is cool?

Ray

 

[Hitchhiker]

Short and sweet and some mystery makes for a good title.

Lucy and the writer???????
Work in progress

Earl Grey and Two sugars? Pure insperation

 

[JUDO]

Titles

You're absolutely right, KM, we have very little to wrap our stories in. No cover, no index, no pic of the writer on the back flap - just a title and a little (very little) log line.

My first story "Interruptus" was always intended to be a series and will continue to be. So, I gave it that title because I wanted to use interruption as a scenic device. The characters are always (well...not quite always) getting their sexual parlays interrupted by something or other (eg. phone calls, door bells, etc.).

My story "After Midnight on the Red Line" got its name from the location of the story. I suppose it might be a little literary, this method of titling. After all, we have "Peyton Place, Wuthering Heights, On the Waterfront" and many, many others which take their name from location.

My chapter for last year's Literotica Chain Story got it's name from an old Texas joke punch line "The Yellow Rows of Taxis" - a play on words for a famous song in that state. I love finding witty, clever titles because I think it starts the reader with the idea that they will be getting into something well-written. Hence, the popularity of the alliterate titles.

So, common punch lines - A Banana in My Pocket, Waiter, there's a Boy in my Soup!, etc.

Famous titles - Moby Dick, Withering Heights, Tinkle,Tinkle Big Star, Dinah Won't You Blow?, etc.

People or places - The Cock of Gibraltar, Panama's Canal, How I Climbed the Grand Tetons, Going Down Under, etc.

Might all be clever ways to entice a reader, depending on the story. Certainly, a couple of these are inspirational for a certain type of story.

But, you know the proper motivation is always important. Why do reader's read a story?

Hopefully, it will have something new and different for their particular fetish (interest). So, as I have been planning stories lately, I try to find ideas that haven't been done in certain categories and make sure that the title points out what is new and different about the story.

In some cases, this is difficult. For example, every kind of incest has been done, but not necessarily with two twin brothers, for example. No, I'm not doing that one. (Hmmm...might be fun though.)

Some thoughts.
- Judo

 

[darkness_d]

series

I tend to write in series, so I try to use the titles to give the reader insight into what to expect from the series. These titles are actually easy:

The Goth Grrrl series
"A Goth Grrrl's Screams"
"A Goth Grrrl's Dreams"
"A Goth Grrrl's Powers"
"A Goth Grrrl's Nightmare"

I have another series called "Angels and Amazons" which is about angelic (looking) young women and a beautiful but powerful bi-sexual woman.
"Angels in Dark Places"
"Another Lost Angel"
"Amazon Cafe"

I tend to try to give some insight into the story with single-story titles as well. A man gets a chance to relive his senior year of high school in "If I Knew Then..." A mind control story called "Power for Lust" (as opposed to "Lust for Power" --I consider this the weakest of my titles), and a man given omnipotence story called "And who Made you God?"

Are these titles great? No, but they're fairly functional.

I actually tend to stay away from reading very cleverly titled stories. I am for some reason suspicious of them. I guess I fear that the writing is going to be too "cutesy." On the other hand, I also avoid reading very bluntly titled stories. "Bob Gets Laid" or "Her First Fuck" tend to make me wonder if the author put that much imagination into the rest of the story.

---darkness_d---

PS--None of these stories are currently posted here. I had to remove all evidence of my "darkness_d" persona when my very curious nephew started sharing my computer. Now, I have some reformatting to do before I resubmit everything. Soon, some of these will be back here. (A few are coming of age stories about high school age kids having sex, though, so they will not appear here.)

 

[SexyChele]

I hate coming up with a title almost as much as keeping my tenses straight! Normally, I have a working title - just something so I don't save it as "doc1" on my computer, and can find the darn thing in a hurry.

The title is usually the last thing I do, and it always frustrates me. I've been including names recently, and I don't like to do that. Wish I could be more creative there. However, I am working on a series now, so I like to include the character's name in the title so if she has any "fans" they can pick her out rather quickly in the "New" listing.

This is something I'm still working on and still trying to get the hang of. Too bad I can't just title my stories, "Chele's #1", "Chele's #2", etc. Would make things so much easier!

 

[naudiz]

I can't ever find a good title before I start a piece. Usually a title will occur to me somewhere in the middle, or at the end I'll mull it over and think of one. I try to find something short and relevant to the story. They're probably not the most attention-grabbing things, but it's an area I intend to improve upon.

 

[Charlotte Blanchard]

My writing is only semi-erotic and more mainstream so mine are weird. I tend to write about strange things or really over the top Jules verne style adventure stuff. Either that or suspense thrillers, which usually end up with bizarre esoteric titles.

For instance the last one I wrote is called "Kill Your Darlings."

Some other names of stories by moi (none published here...yet.)

Captive Audience (a mystery about a theater murder)

Everything I Know About the Density Of Neptune- (coming of age story, novel length, about a girl who grows up as the daughter of two scientists)

Star- A glitz glamour story. The girl's name is Star.

Paint It Black- named after the Rolling Stones song. The story is about a serial killer who follows the storylines of rock songs.

Alchemy of Silver- A creepy historical about a man obsessed with turning metal to gold, but is also obsessed with a vampire named Silver.


So you see, my titles are bizarre and I am not quite sure how I come up with them. I sometimes write the story to fit the title.

 

[wildsweetone]

odd question KM...

i never know what i'm going to write about until it hits the screen or paper. i've never tried writing to a title before. might well be an interesting exercise.

while the story is in progress it is saved in my pc simply as the first sentence, that is if i am unable to finish it in one sitting.

titling my stories is the last thing i do. the moment i finish editing my brain clicks in to 'title' mode. they tend to simply come out of the air for me.

 

[whiteboy]

wild

Wild: thats how I work as well... It just pops in my head, the characters come into the picture and I write their story. My problem with last time was that I was afraid to make a sequal. Gonna try it with this one though.

 

[wildsweetone]

good luck whiteboy

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Mia Culpa

As someone who has a story called "Cindy's Sex Seminar" currently being worked over in the Story Discussion" forum, I'm obviously not entitled to give anyone any suggestions about coming up with titles. RF

 

[Quint]

Am great at poetry titles. Have two pretty neat titles and one that, at present, is quite pathetic. Good ones are "Creative COnstruction of Character," for nice use of alliteration and getting to the point, and "I Pushed My Pud Up Her Poop-Chute," for grabbing enough attention that I have over 10,000 views on it. Sorry one is "Sweet Salvation," which right now is irrelevant to the story. I had the idea for a character named Sebastian Salvador, and Salvador translates to "savior." Savior, salvation--what can I say, I was impetuous. Fortunately, I don't have to worry TOO much about the Chain Story; we have the theme in the title, along with our character's name. Not too challenging.

I rather like the Dali approach to titles: irrelevance, irreverence, and insanity.