Tips & Tricks to Writing on Wattpad

5 Tricks to Titles

5 TRICKS TO TITLES

1) The different types of titles

1.1) The one-words
Self explanatory. They're only one word.
These can pack a punch [did i really just say that?], or they can fall flat.
If you use this kind of title, make sure it's not too generic and related to your story.
Super generic words, like 'Love' or 'Hate' as a title won't work. They're not really eye-catching and don't give much information.

1.2) The 'I-can-go-a-really-long-time-without-breathing-so-I'll-show-it-in-my-title's
These are particularly common on Wattpad.
I'm talking about the 10+ word titles that make you run out of breath without even saying them.
*glares pointedly at 'My Mates The Alpha and He Rejected Me Because I'm Not Hot So I Left and Now I'm Back' books*

1.3) The statement titles
These are also pretty common on Wattpad.
They're just a statement, or question.
Interesting, sometimes, but flat, and not very creative.
Examples: My Mate's the Alpha?
My Sexy Billionaire Bosses
etc, etc.

1.4) The _____ and/with/or/of the/etc The _______ Titles
Uncreative, but gets the job done.
These only really work if the things your filling the blank with are creative, or clash with each other a lot.
Otherwise, it might fall flat, or sound cliche.
Example:
Bad: The Player and the Nerd [No offense to anyone who has that title, it's just that we've all seen the plot a thousand times. And most of us want to run it over with a truck. An eighteen wheeler truck]
Good(ish): The Alpha and the Teddy Bear [Still a bit cliche, but they kinda clash with each other, which kind of makes you curious]

1.5) Formula titles
Common formulas:
The + Adjective + Noun [ex. The Hunger Games]
Place + Of + Noun [ex. City of Bones]
The + Noun [ex. The Selection, The Hobbit]
Adjective-like Noun + Noun [ex. Vampire Academy]
Character + And + Event/Noun [ex. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson]
The + Character/Person + Verb + Noun

1.6) The Phrase titles
The very distant, and much better cousins of the Statement titles.
Like the Statement titles, they're sentence-like.
Except they're based off a phrase, and they're catchier.
Ex. Dead is the New Black.
I am Number Four

2) Coming up with a title.

2.1) Write down words related your book. Any words- Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, etc. Circle particularly special and/or important words. Try putting the words in different combinations or orders to see which ones sound best together.

2.2) Think of songs that are like your story
I think Fanfictions use this a lot.
But anyway, write down a list of songs that are similar to your story.
If you like any of them enough, you could use them as your title.
For example, my 1D fanfic, has the title 'Over Again', one of One Direction's songs. [Then again, the whole fanfic is pretty much based off the song, but technicalities]

2.3) See if there's any phrases that describe your book
This can go two ways:
First one, is if your characters say something, or you think of something that you think really describes the book. You could try cutting that down and using it as a title. For exmaple, the title for my story 'Something about Summer' [now Summer Rain] came from the sentence 'There's just something about summer that makes everyone feel better'.
Second way is to twist a classic saying. For example, the Gallagher Girls series, if anyone remembers those, did this a lot. Especially with book 2. 'Cross My Heart and Hope to Die' became 'Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy'.

3) Research other titles in your genre

I actually never do this, but I don't know, a lot of books I've read and articles suggest it. So basically, go on Goodreads, or Amazon, or even *gasp* outside to your local bookstore or library and find stories that are similar to yours and write down their titles. You see if there's a trend with popular books, which titles are more attracting, which ones fall flat, what kinds of titles/words are overused in your genre, etc.
You can also just search it in Wattpad too.

4) Tests to try:

4.1) The Subway Test: If you were reading a book with your title in public [ex. on a train, or the subway], would you be embarrassed? If it's a title you'd be embarrassed to have someone see while you were reading, don't use it. [I'm looking at you 'I've been Kidnapped and I love it', 'Falling for my Rapists' and 'In love with my Brother/Dad']

4.2) The Google Test: Pretty straight forward. Type your title into Google, see what comes up. If there's already a gazillion books, movies, TV shows, songs, plays, and idk Board Games or something with the same title, don't use it.

4.3) The Attention-Grabbing Test: Say your title to a couple friends and ask them what they would think if they saw/read this on a book. Ask if they would read it or not. For a more un-biased opinion, try saying something like 'So I found this book called '-insert your title here-' and I don't know if I should read it. Would you?'

4.4) The Related Test: You'll need your friends again. Tell them your title and ask what they think about first. If what they think of is worlds away from what your book's about, consider changing it. You might want to get a lot of opinions on this because everyone things differently.

5) The 'If-You-Even-Think-About-It-I'll-Smack-You-Into-Next-Week' Do Nots

5.1) Give away your whole plot in the title
Your plot should not be your title.
To know what the plot is, I should actually have to read the summary.

5.2) Use text talk/SLANG or a lot of punctuation in your title
'OMG i luv the hawt boi cuz he's sxy!!!!!!!'
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

5.3) Put your title in all caps
IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SCREAMING AT US
See, now this is better isn't it?
But honestly, when I see all caps, I can actually hear a voice in my head screaming the words.
It's. Not. Fun.

5.4) Use no capitals in your title
This isn't huge, but personally, I think titles should have capitals on important words.
Maybe not all words, but the important ones.
And especially the first one.
I just feel uncomfortable if they don't.

No idea if that was actually helpful, but I hope it was. If you have any more tips, or tests, or do-nots, comment them below.
Next Tip: Pacing

~JJ :)