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I have come to realize that titles are much more important than I had thought.
I just come up with something appropriate in a hurry when I finish a story. What I have noticed is that the weakest story I have here (readers agree with me. It has only half as many kudos per hit as my other stories) has drawn the most readers. I try to have a strong first sentence to catch a reader's attention but I think the title carried the load here. Looking at other titles at random on the site I can see that some work better than others as attention grabbers. Since most of us can't read everything a good title is important to getting readers.
Comments
Titles
Well, it seems as if I always need at least a working title to work on the story. I don't know, maybe I don't.
With other stories, a title might attract me, as well as certain authors. Another thing that attracts me is if the story is already complete, and not too long. (MMMV there.)
I don't know if the title's responsible, or something else is. My story with by far the most hits ("John's Living Nightmare", 11,000+) is at the top of my second tier (my nasty tier, if you will) of kudos, and has the fewest kudos per hit. Did the title attract it? How may readers began it, then stopped? One reader who stopped began reading it because it was the only one that didn't look magical, but then appeared to be magical after all.
Perhaps ideally, the title attracts, but then something has to keep them reading -- hopefully, the story itself.
One advantage of a working title: if you really are in a hurry, you could use that.
-- Daphne Xu
Totally Agree
The title is important. It is what attracts a reader to the story. Very much like the cover in a dead tree edition.
The first sentence is important but it really is the first paragraph or half page that needs to hook the reader.
The stype of your prose is also important. If you can make the reader feel that you are leading them onto bigger and better things then they will stay with you.
It is not all 'crash, bang wallop'. A old film critic (no longer with us) used to give film two ratings. The first was his overall rating and the other was the BCI for the first reel. BCI == Body Count Index. How many dead bodies were there in the first reel of the film. You can guess the reason why.
Samantha
Ask Professor Know It All
Back in the 90's Pulitzer prize-winning literary smart guy Dave Barry's
penned a book on writing. He addressed the topic of titles briefly,
giving this as an example of a weak and uninspired title:
THE DEATH CORPSE
And for a title more likely to catch a reader's interest he suggested:
THE DEATH CORPSE, BY STEPHEN KING
And better still would be:
THE DEATH CORPSE BY STEPHEN KING (With Naked Pictures of Pamela Anderson)
I try for titles that I like, one that feels right for the story and maybe employs a clever pun on the subject matter; but then I wonder if readers just go by tags and ratings and author's names they recognize and whose previous stories they enjoyed, so I'm basically fucked no matter what I do with my weird and rambling tales that drag the reader thru pages and pages of the narrator's neurotic internal dialogue only to end in in some dumb punchline; And while naked pictures of Pam Anderson might be a bit overkill, i do wonder what role a nice picture of a cute teen or 20-something girl might play in the fiercely competitive arena of posting free stories on a TG fiction site...
~hugs, Veronica
"Government will only recognize 2 genders, male + female,
as assigned at birth-" (In his own words:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1lugbpMKDU
How about...
How about STEPHEN KING'S DEATH CORPSE?
-- Daphne Xu
Be careful not to get things mixed up though
I don't think
THE DEATH CORPSE BY PAMELA ANDERSON (With Naked Pictures of Stephen King)
would be very effective (or maybe it would?)
thanks for commenting
I liked a line I came up with for a reply to a message from Sammi that I think I will repeat here:
" I have to work on better titles and try not to post stories that aren't ready. While the title may refer to a line or event in the story it has to stand alone as an enticement to the reader."
Titillating Titles
Having worked for a newspaper for nearly twenty years I've learned how important a title can be. I have made over 6500 captions and titled every one. It's fun. Sometimes the title comes first and at other times it comes last but in every case I want it to tease the reader into wanting to look at the caption or story. Not every one works but when it does it's like putting the cherry on your banana split.It lends color and of course what reader can resist popping a cherry - into their mouth?
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
For me
A title has to have something relevant to say about what's going to happen in the story. Usually, the title points to either the theme or a particular thing in the story. Often it's the driving force in the narrative, guiding the plot line. The other guiding force is the ending. Personally my best work seems to come when I have the ending in mind and come up with a title that points toward the end.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Titles are important for new
Titles are important for new authors but so are tags and content.
It doesn't matter how well-written your story is, if it doesn't catch the eye of those who browse stories it won't get read as much. I try to avoid crossdressing stories, while on here they seems to get a lot of hits. Then there are stories with graphic sexual acts and violence, I don't mind those as a few of the best authors on here use those as a way of moving the plot forward and aren't afraid to get explicit if it's part of the plot(revenge, motivation, 'how-catchem' etc.).
Then again, popularity has a lot to do with it. Popularity is fickle, some authors get applauded for their work while others get ignored, there are popular stories that are total garbage yet the authors are applauded for getting political or "taking a stand" despite it being the same schtick they use over and over again. Others are completely ignored despite their story being some of the most heartfelt and engaging stories. Then there are the whiners who complain about grammar yet applaud authors who have rampant spelling and grammatical errors, but as they are some of the most read stories on here they get free passes as the people making the complaints get themselves in the crossfire of fan outrage.
Don't fret about titles. Yours were fine. What might have been an issue was the frequency of your posting the stories as you posted several in a short period of time. One per day for a series is the unwritten rule, but once per week for solos is preferred- well, at least until you become popular enough to pull off multiple solos a day. And if you are going to post multiple solos a day, ensure that they aren't the same topic(fantasy, historical, crossdressing, etc.) so you give readers variety.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
“Don’t need no stinkin’ title!”
I wrestle with every word. I believe you need to capture and hold the reader’s interest ASAP whether it’s the first sentence or paragraph. It has to be crisp.
I worry whether I have too much exposition and not enough dialog. Most readers have so many choices these days, they move on to the next offering like they’re eating at a buffet.
But, I can’t talk about titles. Mine aren’t cleverly crafted. Erin suggested I drop ‘the’ for Wildcats. Stacy InLove thought of Cupy. Cure. Personally, I thought Metamorphosis was a great title for Jessica Jade but so did Frank Kafka when he wrote ‘The Metomorphosis’.
I didn’t even think of the name Jessica Jade. A pen pal suggested it because that was going to be her transition name. And I even messed that up because Jade was going to be her middle name!
Wildcats 4 on BigCloset and “Jessica Jade - Metamorphosis” on Amazon at Thanksgiving!