Titles Are Hard—But We Can Make Them Easier · 9:59am Nov 12th, 2017
Over the past few years, I've participated and had my work critiqued in countless writing workshops, each one varying in both content and usefulness. After all, there's only so much that university students, most of them beginning writers, can comment on in half an hour. Yet, if there's one thing that's been constant in every workshop I've attended, it's this: when the time comes to comment on the workshopped piece's title, everyone goes silent. Or, if they do speak up, it's just to give a non-specific "I liked the title" or "I didn't like the title."
No one knows how to write a good title. They know when a title is good, but not what makes it good, or how to take those qualities and use them in their own work. And this isn't just a university problem; every writer struggles with this. Anyone here who's published a fic can speak to this. In the Writeoff Association, one of the most common complaints you hear every round is that entrants can't think of what to put down.
The past few weeks, I've been thinking about titles a lot. And although I don't claim to be the best at titling stuff myself—hell, I struggled with the title to this blog—I think that I've come up with three key rules that the majority of good titles share.
In this blog, I'll share those rules, and give a few examples of titles that I love that abide by them.
Starting from the top...
1. The title should be related to the piece.
This is the most obvious and basic one. Your title should bear some relation to the content of your work. Whether that's using the name of the MacGuffin (The Maltese Falcon), the setting (The Office), the main character (Harry Potter), or just using the infamous "Character Name verbs a noun" construction (Princess Luna Picks Up Hitchhikers)—it's up to you.
2. The title should be meaningful.
It's hard to explain what I mean here in a few words, so let me offer some examples instead.
Let's look at Lord of the Rings. That's a pretty good title. It's related to the story, obviously, since it's referring to Sauron. And it's meaningful, since Sauron is the main antagonist, and the creator of the iconic One Ring that the story revolves around. Now consider if, instead, Tolkien had decided to title the series Tom Bombadil. He's a minor character in the books, which means that the title would still be related. Yet, since he is so comparatively unimportant, all the significance of the title is lost. It's not meaningful.
Any author on this site could title their story The, and it would be related to the story, since every author uses that word. But that word alone has no meaning, carries no real weight within the story. It doesn't work as a title for the piece as a whole.
It's also a bonus if a title is able to resonate with meaning even to someone who hasn't read the story. Consider Reese Roper's 2014 poem, "On Day Number Six." Without even knowing what the poem entails, his title invites a whole host of thoughts. It demands comparison to the Book of Genesis, and its opening, in which God forms the universe bit by bit, day by day. It carries the implication that this poem is not bringing us to the beginning of Roper's story, but to some point along the path—six days in, to be specific.
The best titles carry meaning and significance on a number of levels.
3. The title should act as a hook.
This is the one that authors forget about/ignore the most, and it's to their detriment. While the inherent purpose of a title is, in its most basic sense, to be the "name" or identifier of your work, the best titles actively attract readers. Titles do this in much the same way a traditional first-line hook does; they provoke interest and wonder, paint conflict, create a discrepancy, even shock the reader. The meaning and significance I wrote about in the last rule can go a long way towards hooking a reader, too.
It helps to think of your title like this: in many ways, your title is the actual first line to your story. It's likely to be the first thing the audience reads, and is likely to sit above your story. In both formatting and execution, it comes before the first line of the story. So if we're crafting hooks with the idea in mind that we need to grab the reader from the start, why not apply that same logic to our titles, the real start?
This builds into a larger point about the importance of your story's metadata. Metadata, as the name might imply, is info about your story—in other words, your title, your cover art, your descriptions, your tags, etc. Even your username is a piece of metadata, albeit one that's harder to manipulate (I think of poet Amanda Ameen, who changes where on the page her name is displayed depending on the poem). It really can't be overstated how much of an effect your both the tone of your story and the way it's received.
The best titles aren't just there for show—they pull their weight by engaging readers just as much as the story itself.
Did that make sense? Of course, it's obviously not foolproof. There's a great level of subjectivity that goes into all three of those rules (a title that acts as a hook to one person may not hook in another, for example). In addition, the three rules cross over often; a title that has great meaning may inherently be an interesting hook, for instance. And there are smaller rules not mentioned here that I think are implied—for example, your title should be original.
But with my three major rules defined, let's go through some examples of what are, in my mind, good titles. Forgive me for how many of them are romance pieces—shipfics just have real good titles, m'kay?
Sunset knows
Pony Fiction
Love is in Doom by Aragon
This is a recent one. Aragon has a knack for good titles (and good writing), and this is no exception. Let's go through the way it follows the rules.
1. It's related to the story. Love is in Doom is a Sunset x Rarity shipfic, but a wonderfully subtle one—back during the Sunset Shipping contest, it inspired not a few debates among the judges as to whether it could even be considered a romance story. That's because the titular Love often takes a backseat to the larger plot and framing device, which is the apocalypse slowly descending upon the earth... the titular Doom.
2. It's meaningful. As explained above, the title's two proper nouns are direct references to the story's two genres: romance and disaster-comedy. As a bonus, it has meaning even if you don't read the story, because the title is also a pun! How wonderful! It's a pun on and reference to "Love is in Bloom", the climax song at the end of MLP Season 2. So, assuming you remember "A Canterlot Wedding", which aired... five-and-a-half years ago jesus christ, the title should be familiar.
3. Because of that pun, the title also acts as a hook! It's a subversion of expectations, a reference to something that pretty much everyone likes (the song in this case), and hints at the conflict and content, all of which make for a good hook.
Losing Sunlight by MarvelandPonder
Losing Sunlight is one of my favorite fics of the past year, and its title is simple, yet effective.
1. It's related to the fic. Losing Sunlight revolves around Sunset Shimmer, who travels back to Equestria for the first time in years to make peace with Celestia, who is dying from a mysterious illness.
2. And it's from this relation that MarvelandPonder manages to imbue their title with a tremendous amount of meaning. The title is a double entendre, hinting at both major conflicts within the story: the loss of Celestia's life—the loss of the Princess of Sunlight—and the tension in Sunset and Twilight's relationship, as Sunset's inner conflict threatens to estrange her once again from her friends.
3. The title hooks in readers by the mentioned hinting at both conflict and shipping. It's cool!
The Terrifying Prospect of Swans in Love by Fedora Mask
This is the one I always come back to when thinking of good titles.
1. It's related, as always. Swans in Love is a Celestia x Twilight shipfic, where both ponies secretly have the hots for one another but are terrified to admit it. The "swans" here refer to Celestia and Twilight... despite the fact that this takes place before Twi's ascension. Eh, I still think it's clever.
2. For that exact reason, it's meaningful! It refers to the central conflict, the central characters, and is a real funny image. Referring to the two mares as "swans" is a great way to poke fun at them, which works to humanize Celestia, and help bring her down closer to Twilight's level.
3. It works as a hook through all those same ideas. It's funny, the use of the word "terrifying" hints at awkwardness and conflict, and lets the audience know there's gonna be shipping. It's like an offer you can't refuse, but with more kissing and less severed heads.
Peachy Pie and Misty Moon Keep the Realm Safe Until Dinnertime by Pascoite
Pascoite has a few great titles, but this is the one that always sticks out to me.
1. Again, it's related to the piece. The minific follows a typical game of make-believe between Peachy Pie and Misty Moon until dinnertime... when shit goes down.
2. It's meaningful, since it mentions the main characters and gives an idea of the plot.
3. Fic titles with this sort of construction are always appealing to audiences, but this one works on multiple levels. Not only does it have that construction, but it's also funny, and promises cute filly shenanigans—expectations which, as you know if you've read the fic, eventually get subverted.
Poetry
I had the inspiration to write this blog while watching videos produced by Button Poetry, a group that records and publicizes the best slam poetry and poets from all across the US. One strength that slam poets often have over other writers is this: they're fantastic at titling their pieces! Slam poets understand that every bit of your poem needs to pull its weight, and that a strong title is the first building block to a strong piece.
Here are two recent examples of really great titles in poetry.
"I Ask What 'Circumcision' Means in a Full Sunday School Class" by Raych Jackson
This is the specific title that I always quote when talking about this topic with non-pony types.
1. It's related. Within the context of the poem, Jackson's titular question is one of the the many "sex questions" she wants to ask the worshippers in her church.
2. It's meaningful. Thematically, Jackson's poem is about the cultural and theological intersections between religion and sexuality. And even without knowing that, her title summons those same ideas, making a clear juxtaposition between the "suggestiveness" of circumcision and the "purity" of a Sunday School classroom.
3. Let's be honest: no matter how serious the ideas presented in the title are, it's also quite humorous. The thought of a girl shouting that in a Sunday School class is a funny one. You want to see what the class' reaction will be. Jackson manages to capture that humor while also presenting a complex idea about what religion teaches—or doesn't teach—children about sex. In my eyes, that counts as a good hook.
"The Difference Between a Girlfriend and a Woman" by T. Miller
This poem is wild, if you've never heard it before. Check it out.
1. It's related—probably more directly related than any title before, as the entire piece is written in the format of:
A. A girlfriend is/will...
B. A woman is/will...
and repeat.
2. It's meaningful, since that different is the entire conceit of the piece. Additionally, it summons thoughts about the way we think of femininity when it relates to romance.
3. The title's hook comes from the question it creates in the reader's head: "There's a difference between a girlfriend and a woman?" That's a question that wants to be answered, which prompts to reader/listener to continue on. The previously mentioned thoughts about femininity don't hurt either.
And that's all I got. Now that we've been through them, I'm betting that these rules sound pretty obvious. Yet, even if they are obvious, I think it's helpful to have them spelled out somewhere, so instead of trying to remember a nebulous idea of what makes a good title, we have actual criteria to help us guide our title-crafting. Think of these less as rules, perhaps, and more like helpful prompts, or reminders.
I hope that these make sense, and are helpful to someone. Let me know what you think, especially if I'm wrong.
Some additional rules suggested by friends:
4. "If you can make a pun, DO IT"
5. "If you use 'Untitled,' remember that it's not signifying a lack of title, you're NAMING YOUR PIECE 'Untitled'"
6. "When in doubt 'Deez Nuts' will suffice"
Thanks for the advice. I've also spent a lot of time pondering how to find the perfect title (see my post: [Insert Title Here] (or What You Will)). Sometimes you think of the title first, and the story follows... Other times you can write the whole story and still not have a good title - very frustrating... And occasionally you think you have a good title but nobody else gets it...
Why do I get the sense that someone's going to take that as a challenge?
In any case, excellent guidelines. Especially number 4.
I'm a bit of a title junkie myself so this was fun~
dis a good post
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One of my favorite titles of mine was one that I came up with while doing research for the story in question... Don't You Cry For Me, my winning Writeoff piece from mid-2016. A major theme of the piece is learning to accept and move past grief, and the folk song "Oh Susanna" (which has "Don't you cry for me" as a line in the chorus) comes up as a recurring motif. In terms of my pony fiction, I came up with the title for Touch Me, Please, Don't Touch Me before I wrote a single word of the story itself.
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When I typed that every writer uses that word, I considered making an exception for Gadsby crossovers.
As I said in the write-off a few weeks ago, I'm in the middle of reading a series of essays on flash fiction, and one of them had to do with this very topic. I'll distill it down to the essentials, and the essayist basically makes the same points as you, but in a different order. They'd say the most important thing is making it stand out. If you scroll down the list of entries on a write-off slate, which ones really grab you and make you want to see what the story's about? That's the most important thing. Having it be relevant to the story is less important the more abstract the title is, but it's a plus. They don't address having it be meaningful at all, with one exception, and it's one I've taken advantage of before: the title doesn't count toward a word limit, so you can cheat and have it convey information the story doesn't or even serve as a first line to the story.
That first one is paramount, though. If you saw your story title as part of a long list of them, is it one you'd want to check out? It'll often take asking someone else that question.