Unique Titles?

[oggbashan]

I have just been reviewing my list of submissions as oggbashan.

Of over 200, only 15 have numbers in the URL to show that the title wasn't unique at the time of writing. Only Photo Shoot has a double-digit number.

Should I be surprised? Who else has story titles such as Hedgehog Feud, or Getting Nude With Chairman Mao?

How individual are your titles?

Does it matter? Does an unusual title detract or add to a story?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I try to do series to avoid the title scramble. I consider my offerings to be sketches for stuff down the road, so I don't sweat titles.

 

[RejectReality]

I added "Her" to "Her Cut to the Chase" so it would be an original title on Lit. It's unique, but not all that unusual.

Considering so many titles are "Fucking my hot neighbor", coming up with a unique title isn't all that hard

If a title fits something perfectly, I'll stick with it regardless of whether it's been used before on Lit. But if I'm still tossing ideas around, I research and find out if what I have in mind has been used before, and give lower priority to the ideas that are already present as titles on Lit.

I think that a title with more creativity than the lame example I used above is a positive toward encouraging people to open your story. If the title is really unusual, it might very well have the opposite effect.

 

[PennLady]

I hate coming up with titles in the first place. If I think it's common, I'll look it up just to see but it doesn't mean I'll change it. I think only two or three of mine are not unique.

 

[lovecraft68]

coming up with a unique title isn't all that hard

Really? Wouldn't know it from these titles.

Beauty of the Wood

Forever of the Wood

Heart of the Wood

Secret of the Wood

But then again if you used different titles you wouldn't be drawing the built in audience to the stories-all contest entries by the way- and get all those guaranteed 5 votes, now then would you?

Think I forgot about your comments on scouries thread?

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Only one of my stories, Trophy Wife, has a recycled title. I didn't even think of checking to see if it had been used before. But even if I had, I probably would have left it in place. It's just too perfect for the story.

In general, I don't have a hard time coming up with titles. But those times that I do struggle, my struggles can be futile. I have a few titles I despise, and even years later I have not come up with anything better.

 

[Darkniciad]

To me, titling is so much a part of the process of developing the story that it's very rare when I finish a story that doesn't already have a title I'm happy with. Most of the documents have the same file names as the title I post with, because I've already nailed it down before I write the first word.

There are a lot of stories in my half-baked folder that are there simply because I can't figure out a good title for the thing.

This is as good a place to bring this up again as anywhere.

If you want to know if your title has been used on Lit before ( for the most part ), all you have to do is type it into the address bar of your browser. Take the URL from the first page of one of your stories

http://www.literotica.com/s/sunny-daze

Then backspace to the /s/ and type in your new title. Eliminate any punctuation, apostrophes, etc., and replace all spaces with dashes.

http://www.literotica.com/s/dis-be-my-title

If it goes somewhere, then it's been used before. If you get an "awaiting moderator approval" notice, then it's been used before, but is no longer available on the site.

If it 404s, then you're good

 

[glynndah]

I have two with numbers which doesn't surprise me considering they're "Show Me" and "I Want". All my other titles are unique. So far, anyway, no one's posting a second "Foxfire, a Chainsaw and a Pig".

 

[emap]

I wanted to ask why it matters, then I thought about it, and well I'm still asking why it matters?

Granted if it's not a fast stroke story, I think I remember how to do those still, maybe I'll do another eventually, the title may matter. Usually though the title isn't the important part, what you put in the blurb will get people to look.

Course if you don't really care then what goes in the blurb doesn't have to be all that informative either. Which is me, and I think that covers it. My blurbs are not always good reading or even give an idea on what is in the story. Course that is mostly for my series postings and well everybody knows what goes on in those anyway.

Huh I'm tooting my own horn. Dangit I swore I wouldn't do that, I will slink away again now.

Adendum-Dangit you got me curious so I went and looked. I have eight titles with a number after and they are all low numbers so apparently I started a trend on some of them like Vampire and Werewolf. Dangit I didn't want to do that, I am sorry.

 

[sr71plt]

Usually though the title isn't the important part, what you put in the blurb will get people to look.

Isn't that just supposition? I see no reason to think readers aren't drawn in or put off by titles as much as by any other indexing element--and there's no reason I can see to suppose that they skip that and go straight to the short description.

 

[emap]

To a certain degree yeah it is supposition. I read the title and the blurb personally but I am not normal.

I have plenty of readers of my stuff and I am not exactly good at titles or blurbs so it's simply because I posted it I suppose. Course I have looked at the stuff publishers say and they go on about how the title and cover bring people in but they buy because of the blurb on the flap or back of the book. I'm fairly sure that isn't 100% true but they do have to know what they are talking about or be homeless so there is a big amount of truth to it.

 

[oggbashan]

I wanted to ask why it matters, then I thought about it, and well I'm still asking why it matters?

I don't think it matters whether your title is unique or has been used many times before. I didn't set out to make most of my titles unique.

I think there is merit is chosing a title (and sub-title or blurb) that is appropriate to the story and is likely to attract or interest potential readers.

Possibly my best title, in terms of attracting views, is "Virgin's Sister" in the Incest category. That title has two frequently sought words.

I think my "Breastfeeding Class" gets more views than the story deserves only because of the title.


Edited: This 2001 How-To http://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-get-people-to-read-your-story by WhisperSecret is a good summary on chosing titles.

 

[slyc_willie]

I just checked, and the majority of my titles are unique. I'm a little surprised by that, but also gladdened. I think everyone hopes they have something unique to share, and a title that stands alone is a good start.

 

[Darkniciad]

Looked mine up. Chaptered stories may have overridden some of these. I don't know if there's another single-shot called "Lowborn", for example. But, based upon only whether my title has a number after it:

103 unique to Lit and 1 used before as Dark. 50 unique to 5 used before as Les ( although one of them is because I used the same title for a new take on a story I wrote as Dark ). 30 Unique to 13 used before as RR ( again, one of them is me re-using my own title )

The larger numbers as RR aren't surprising, because I'm fond of 1 word titles in that name.

 

[sr71plt]

Most of my titles are unique. For stories I don't bother to look for unique; I use whatever goes with the story (and I usually have the title when I begin writing). In published works, I do try not to duplicate, at least in the same genre. But titles can't be copyrighted, so I only avoid it for commerical reasons.

 

[HeyAll]

The majority of my titles are unique, and I try to keep it that way. A good story title is important for getting views and attracting the right audience.

But with that said, sometimes there are story titles that I have to have, even if they've been used a couple times already. For instance, "The Office Slut" had already been taken, but I loved the title and I didn't want to change it.

More recently I wrote a story with a title that I loved, "A Slut is Born," which is a play on the movie "A Star is Born." I found out it was used a couple of times already, but I'm not going to change it since it works so well.