I have mentioned several times that I started my
writing career by writing short stories. And then features. It was only much later
that I started writing books.
When I started writing short stories, I would
sometimes get a story idea through a title, that would just drop into my head. Or
maybe an image of the character. I never found it difficult to weave a story of
1200 to 1500 words around that title.
It may come
across as crazy, but I have written several stories around catchy titles.
I don’t know how it used to work at that time, but whenever the title would
jump into my head, so would the main character, as would the different strains
of the story, like the secondary characters and the way the story line would
move.
I have a similar approach whenever I write my books.
No, I would never dare to write an entire book based on just a catchy title.
Because for a novel, I definitely need my plot points in place, a rough outline
with the beginning, middle and an ending, very clear in my mind.
But, as I can’t give up my love for titles, I use
the title method to give my individual chapters nice titles. Each individual
chapter must have a title. For me the title works as an inspiration on how to
handle that particular scene or chapter. I know it sounds crazy but that is the
way my brain works.
What about you all? Have you ever written a short story
based on a title that just dropped into your head? What’s your take on chapter
titles?
I haven't written many stories but for me, the story comes first, the title last. Though I love catchy titles.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with titles, so they almost never come first anyway. My latest short story didn't have a title until the very last minute.
ReplyDeleteInteresting method. For me it's the idea that pops into my head suddenly, somehow.
ReplyDeleteDestination Infinity
I struggle with titles and so I wish I think of some and then do that! That's amazing to me. Sometimes I'll see a name, a signpost or a catchy phrase that I think might work for a story title, but if I don't write them down, I'll forget them. My working titles for my books sometimes change three or four times, and some of my short stories get titles from something one of the characters said because I can't think of anything else.
ReplyDeleteOops, I dropped a word in there because I was typing without thinking enough first. "I wish I could think of some" is what it's supposed to say in that first line.
DeleteNormally the story idea and title come to me at the same time. Characters take a bit longer. I've written one story (that I know of) with a title that was too popular. "The Mission." It's very difficult to find on a search engine because there are so many stories and books with the same title or the word "Mission" in them. I'm more careful now. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteWriting for a title is Cool. I get a character, and a vague sense of situation to resolve, and the title usually appears sometime before the end of the novel. Or short story. Since titles should be descriptive of the overall story, you're making that segment so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI do chapter titles sometimes. I also write around catchy titles from time to time. One of my WIPs had no title for a long time, which made me uncomfortable. I like to have a working title when I begin.
ReplyDeleteI haven't done that with the title first. For me the title may follow a character or plot or setting idea. It's funny how something starts and carried through with one book, but then the next book is born and nurtured through an entirely different process.
ReplyDeleteFor me, titles almost always come last. A lot of times my shorter short stories are completely ad libbed. The first sentence leads to the second sentence, which leads to the third, and so forth. After a while I get a feel for the ending, sometimes. Everything else comes in during edits.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound crazy to me. My recent post 'I am obsessed with Curves' is written that way...inspired by title itself :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I've never written a story around a title, but I love coming up with titles once I've done the first draft. I only did chapter titles once, for a middle grade book. It was fun :)
ReplyDeleteI wrote Alligators Overhead around the title. I wanted to use it, so I developed Pete and Weasel so I could. You're not so crazy! :-)
ReplyDeleteI've written plenty of stories around a title. I'm a children's picture book writer, so it's pretty easy to do.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense to me. I write based on a catchy first line, once I have that I'm good to go.
ReplyDeleteI've TRIED to write books based on catchy titles. The titles were awesome but I just couldn't make the idea work!
ReplyDeleteNormally the character comes to me and some theme around that character. But I have to have a working title to get going with the story.Amazingly, the title actually helps focus the story. I also love chapter titles. When I read a table of contents, sometimes those chapter titles are what make me want to read the book.
ReplyDelete