WRITING TIPS ˎˊ˗

[ 08 ] Titles!

( I'll start off with an extremely silly thing and that is that as I wrote the title for this chapter, my 8 year old nephew shouted "titties!" because his eyes not only fooled him, but also because he couldn't understand why on earth someone (me) would put an exclamation point at the end of "titles" ... I suppose that little rascal has a point )

Anyhow, here we are!

Today's chapter will be all about TITLES!

- how to choose a title
- how not to choose a title

- what to do to help you come up with a title name

& all that fun jazz.

1) HOW TO CHOOSE A TITLE 

This is a no brainer, but definitely go for something that appeals to you. If you like the title, it's more likely that you'll be motivated to write for the story.

Choosing a title can REALLY help someone map out a story.

For example, say you have a story titled "Revenge."

That title is a CLEAR indicator of what the story will most likely be about, which is a plus for your audience/ anyone coming across it. 

It also works if you don't have a story idea in mind, but you do come across a word that you want to use as a title. 

Back to our example, say you really like that word but don't have a plot = revolve the story around the title + build upon it. 

Often times I've been asked if it's better to title something just one word / multiple words, and my answer is this:

what fits your story better?

Seriously, there's no rule saying you can't use a title with more than one word,

HOWEVER,

do keep this in mind:

If you're writing a story with a longer title, make sure it doesn't give the entire story away.

I can't tell you how many times I've face palmed myself from reading titles like:

"I'm Seth Rollins's Sister and I fell in love with Dean Ambrose"
"New Girl brought into the Authority"
"Kevin Owens stole my taco" 

Okay, that last one I've never actually seen, but I'd read xD

The other thing about "longer" titles is that you have to remember that often times, people are more likely to skip your book if it's title is too long. 

People like simplistic titles, not sentence long titles.

Map out how your longer title would look in a cover,
because you also don't want your story cover to be too clustered because of the title.

The same goes for a one-worded title: keep it simple, but unique.

Lately I've seen "phobia" related titles surface up as a trend, and personally I love them,
BUUUUT

they are extremely difficult to pronounce + often times lengthy asf.

Personally, If I came across a book titled something like:

Anthropophobia
Apotemnophobia
 Arachibutyrophobia
Dishabiliophobia