Titles

Hi, Foster, for me, titles are very important. Occasionally (but rarely), an idea for a title will smack me in the mouth and say "Use me!" Mostly, I find the title discovers itself; much as a poem discovers itself during its writing.

One way of looking at titles is that their function is to capture the attention of a prospective someone and to get them to at least start looking at the rest of your work.. If you don't at least partially achieve that with your title then it will not matter how brilliant is what follows... because it may never get the attention it may deserve. In this age of information deluge... We develop short cuts to cope with the amount of data that comes are way. Meaning, decisions on what to focus our attention are often instaneous, automatic and delegated to the unconcious. That is just a fact of life. Marketing people know this only too well when it comes to adverts. Though we may laugh at their efforts when we have time to consider them, they have the response statistics on their side. It is not because most people are stupid, it is because it is a generally beneficial strategy of coping with information overload and we all do it when time is at a premium. If you have five minutes to get through a supermarket, you will come out with the brand names. It may be sad but probably true, that had your title been misspelled titties, this thread would eventually be read more times. (I think if you replaced titles with titties in your opening post, that too would make for an entertaining read, despite myself) I am not suggesting writers should always pander to crudity when deciding on a title. Think of your targeted audience first, then think as to what might capture their particular attention. If you wanted a wide, general readership however, some things go across boundaries, e.g. errr... titties... Which one could argue is an apt metaphor for titles in that in many cases exposed bossoms serve the same purpose (try swapping same in my opening paragraph!)

I find titles a piece of cake, it's the stuff between that and the end that I struggle with.

Thanks everyone. Stormy-Petrel, I agree - titles are very important. I wish I could see more of the ones you've used, but you've very little posted at the moment. I couldn't imagine writing a story based on a pre-conceived title - that would be great... 1legspider, I never before thought of titles as a function of marketing - but perhaps I should. Your titles are very interesting, many urging me to read further. Your comparison of titles to certain female attributes is worthy of further contemplation...i'm still laughing at that one. and styxbrooks, i envy not only the ease at which you can come up with titles, but also what you write as well. If you're struggling, it doesn't show in the end. Thanks, all.

"...I couldn't imagine writing a story based on a pre-conceived title..." Pre-concieving a 'unique' and (to the author) 'challenging' title is, I find, a most excellent way of getting the creative juices flowing - every single one of my Larry & Mick stories is written in this way - & like 'em or not like 'em, I've never been able to write so prolifically since using this method. Try it! It's fun! I couldn't resist 1legspider's 'experiment'... "I’ve been thinking about titties a lot lately, having recently been presented with two opposing views of their purpose. I labor over my titties, changing them, changing them back. They’re the last words I write, easily the most difficult and always the part I’m least happy with. What do you look to accomplish with your titties? What are some of your favorites? Do they really matter all that much? For me they do, but that doesn’t help me to come up with them…" ...brilliant! :-) * P * :-)

A good while back, Karl Wiggs used to provide a line as a title or inspiration point and I managed to eek quite a few good pieces this way.

There was an article today in the guardian that reported on some research conducted into titles. The findings seem flimsy from the article, for example, the Da Vinci Code should have been a flop (I could have told you that, although I would've suggested the poor quality of writing, plot and characterisation as more imprtant reasons than the title) but it's an interesting article nonetheless. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1674327,00.html(link is external) Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com(link is external)

pepsoid pepsoid pepsoid...i've been misquoted before, but this one takes the cake. funny stuff. i'm going to give reverse titling (i just coined that phrase, i think) a try but it seems like i'd be trying to fit a borderless entity into predetermined boundaries - but hey, if it works for larry and mick....

It "works" for Larry and Mick... not so sure if it would work for "serious" works... But then I don't write "serious" works... I'm off for a cup of tea... :-) * P * :-)

my works are "serious"? I'm still gonna give it a shot, pepsoid...thanks for the idea.

Good luck! :-) * P * :-)