Friday, June 17, 2016

Navigating the Tough Maze of Titles

  Whenever I read the titles of some of the books, I’m quite green with envy. The titles are simply mindblowing. They are not just intriguing, they also convey the essence of the story.

 I wonder how the writers, or maybe it’s the editors of the publishing houses who come up with these awesome titles, do it.

Once upon a long time back I hated giving my stories and features (I write features for several newspapers) titles. If I gave titles they would be boring and dull. The editors always changed my story titles.

My journalism teacher in college would always complain that my features were very interesting but not the titles. She constantly urged me to choose better titles for my articles and features. According to her my titles never did my writing justice. She would say, “Coming up with catchy titles is an art that every writer must master. People read articles based on titles. Boring titles show that the feature may also be boring. Catchy titles are useful in attracting people’s attention. Titles should be engaging, catchy and interesting.”

This habit of coming up with mediocre titles followed me when I started writing for newspapers. Often the titles of the features and stories I sent were changed. And changed for the better.

I constantly wondered how other writers came up with such awesome and amazing titles. Jealousy and envy stabbed my heart whenever I read their titles. Days later when I discussed this with a writing friend, she agreed. She too was tortured by titles. But her advice was something I just loathed. “I never give titles for my stories, the editor will anyway change it. So why waste time?”

To become title savvy, I pondered over the titles of the books I read. Did it suit the story? Was it a perfect match? Slowly I transferred this detailed attention onto my work. What was I trying to tell my readers? What was the article/book all about? How could I sum up the work in a few words? What was the best way to convey what I had written? Which words correctly describe my story?

 It was a tedious task, but eventually I got the hang of it. Nowadays the title trauma no longer affects me. For the past several years, the editors have thankfully retained most of my titles.

What about you all? Do Titles Trouble and Torment you? Or, are you the lucky ones who come up with winners? Do you have any title tips that you would like to share?

P.S. My next post will be on 6th July as IWSG co-host


17 comments:

  1. I write articles for websites, and yes, I struggle with titles. I need to put more energy into studying how to write good ones. Thanks for reminding me.

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  2. I still struggle. My publisher came up with the titles of two of my books. But I like your process of coming up with the best title. I'll keep working on it.

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  3. I'm better at it than I used to be but still not great. My husband is good at it, and together we usually come up with something.

    I like titles that have a deeper/double meaning once someone has read the story. :)

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  4. I like the titles I've come up with so far. How they work for others is up in the air. :) Though sometime the inspiration for the title doesn't come until the end of the writing process.

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  5. I thought I had the perfect title for my last published novel (Dead Wrong) because it fit my logline so well. Unfortunately, I neglected to do that online book seller search for similar titles and discovered too late that there are many, many published books out there with that title. From now on, I'll be checking that out very carefully!

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  6. So the lesson is "don't judge the article by it's title". Many newspapers give irrelevant titles just to be sensational.

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  7. Lovely post dear! Have a great weekend! xx

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  8. Hehehe...you should see the title of a book I featured today!

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  9. I recently participated in a writing contest in our city, the stories and poems people sent in were okay, but the titles were colorless, boring and predictable, NO creativity at all. Well, having said that... it is not easy to come up with a great title. I don't make them, they are born.

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  10. I don't have any tips for titles. Often they just come to me; other times, I'm quite stumped and wonder what would encapsulate the story in just a few words. I have better luck with chapter titles for some reason. Probably, because I ask myself, "What's the main thing that happened in this chapter?" That's so much harder to do with a book! :-(

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  11. Choosing a title is hard. But hardest is cover. I have n eye for covers :)

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  12. It varies with me. Sometimes the title is easy and other times it's hard.

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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  13. I mostly pick books by title :-) Totally agree that a good title is very important when it comes to attracting new readers.

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  14. I find a lot of titles are in the eye of the beholder...some folks love or hate titles I enjoy and vice versa.

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  15. I'm still stuck in "title trauma" for everything I write. I usually garner the title from pieces of the writing; but sometimes the title just lands in my head. Then, I have to make the story fit the title. A ridiculous battle; but necessary for those of us who don't do well with catchy titles.

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  16. so true, titles or giving name to the article sometimes gets tricky.
    agree that it should be attractive or catchy.

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