Picking a title

[TheWritingGroup]

My first title is essentially a placeholder. The title will likely several times as I write the story.

Usually the same for me. Pranked: Barbie is the fourth title of that novel. I didn't come up with the five part division (Deciding, Becoming, Learning, Being, Ending) until about a week before publishing it.

--Annie

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Now I'm curious how many people might have clicked on my story, "His Daddy's Car" (in novels/novellas) assuming that it was a father/son incest tale.

 

[XerXesXu]

I'm just wondering how people pick their titles and if they remain the same while developing the story.

I have a 21K-word WIP that I started a week ago that has gone through several title already.

Arizona Visit
Arizona Memories
Arizona Bound

(Three guesses on where the story takes place. Anyone?)

The premise is a very recent college grad goes to visit his sister and her roommate in the American Southwest for a month before he starts his first after-graduation job.

The first title is simply declarative.

The second (because I realize that my existing titles give little away and don't help sell the story) was meant to evoke the passage of time and imply good memories.

The third is one that I like, but around here, it might mislead you into thinking it's BDSM. (It's not. It's T/I, although the jury's still out on whether it goes full-I.)

That makes it feel like bait & switch, but I like it.

I know some people can pick a title at the start and run with it to the end.

Some people have their titles evolve during the writing process (as mine are wont to do).

Other people have the final title emerge from some aspect of the finished story, a phrase, a figure of speech used by a character or something describing some event, that emerges from the page and says 'Here I am! The title you've been looking for!'

I'm just wondering how much work people put into titles.

Sis sux n Bro fux in Az.

Worked on that for 20 seconds. It even makes where she's fucked relevant.

 

[designatedvictim]

What does b/g stand for? Like, b seems to be brother. But g? Or is that boy/girl?

Either way - is there a way given the plot to play on the common phrase "it's a dry heat" while staying true to the contents?

Yes, I wrote that rather facetiously to mean 'boy/girl' and 'girl/girl.'

On further consideration, I shouldn't have because head canon, to me, is usually that lower-case letters implies underage, which this most certainly isn't.

The MMC (viewpoint character) just graduated college and the sister and her roommate are five years older than him.

So, I probably should have written it as M/W and W/W, as I meant to convey.

Although, if pressed, I'd probably cop to using Boy/Girl and Girl/Girl.

They're all adults, although the MMC is at that larval-adult stage of his development.

In other news, discussing this piece had lead me to decide that I've made some huge mistakes with it.

He's visiting the sister in Phoenix, which (now that I've consulted some maps) is much closer to the Grand Canyon than I envisioned. Traditionally, a burgeoning brother/sister thing would take advantage of that proximity for them to do a week-long motor-tour of the Canyon and have their sexuality blossom over several nights of increasingly explicit sex starting with sweet-sweet love under the open sky and likely culminating in some rude pounding in a canyon overlook by the last night.

I don't think I really want to take it in that direction, though.

All these comments relating to 'hot' and 'heat' just reinforce my existing opinion (mention in other posts in the past) that I can't name stories well at all.

 

[lovecraft68]

That is depressingly cynical.

I say that because you're completely right.

Silkstockingslover is far and away the number one author on this site.

Go look up some of her titles, they are embarrassingly porno, some don't even make sense.

But her numbers prove what we often forget here

This is a porn site.

 

[StillStunned]

I mean the #4 most-read story ever is Sister Sucks Sleeping Sibling. The #5 is "Oh Mommy" I Groaned. #7 is Mom Takes a Ride. #12 is Wife is Taken and Fucked at a Party. #25 is Anna Succumbs to Neighbor's Cock. In the last 30 days, the #1 is Pill Induced Incest and the #2 is Lactation Train with Mom. No, you don't have to be vulgar in your title, but it is not an obstacle, and if your two choices are something clever and intellectual or When Harry Fucked Sally you should go with the second one.

My most-read story is "Too Cold Not to Fuck", with more than 190k views. My second-most-read is "A Fool Not to Fuck", with 136k views. Not clever, not intellectual, but very effective.

 

[designatedvictim]

I mean the #4 most-read story ever is Sister Sucks Sleeping Sibling. The #5 is "Oh Mommy" I Groaned. #7 is Mom Takes a Ride. #12 is Wife is Taken and Fucked at a Party. #25 is Anna Succumbs to Neighbor's Cock. In the last 30 days, the #1 is Pill Induced Incest and the #2 is Lactation Train with Mom. No, you don't have to be vulgar in your title, but it is not an obstacle, and if your two choices are something clever and intellectual or When Harry Fucked Sally you should go with the second one.

I long ago came to the conclusion that there is an unwritten rule in T/I that all characters will almost exclusively refer to each other by their relationship status, instead of by name.

By always addressing each other as bro/sis/dad/mom/cuz/etc, they continually cram the concept of the illicit relationship down the reader's throats.

While I do mention their relationships, I try not to overdo it, because it grates.

I have a long scene of the siblings' day after their first 'drunken orgy' where the sister lays down some explicit boundaries that he cannot cross without explicit permission.

In the three-thousand word scene, they refer to their relationship status three four times, which I feel is low for the category.

“The only fly in that ointment was that I didn’t manage to get fucked solely due to the fact that the only cock in the room belonged to my brother.”

Jo noticed and grinned, “Is my baby brother embarrassed that he slept with two girls?”

“The things you learn about your younger siblings,” she stage-muttered.

“You know what the problem is,” she said flatly. “I’m your sister.”

 

[designatedvictim]

Yeah, I know that it is true, and hate that it is true because I abhor the Porno Titles. I know avoiding them costs me views and readers but... its the principle of the thing.
My latest submission is "The Last Time I Felt Like This" which I love as a title... but probably hurts me here.

You know, I started this thread as a general concept discussion, rather than just trying to name my WIP. (Sorry, KG, not picking on you.)

Still, one of the comments I put forth in my initial message has made an appearance.

An emergent title from the current body of the story.

Rie stood there, like she was posing for some figure study. Hands dramatically on her hips, facing away from us, only partially lit by the nearby houses, large portions of her body hidden in ever-deepening shadows. Her dark outline cut from the lighter sky beyond her.

She was clearly nude, but tastefully – teasingly – lit.

This was most definitely a Kodak Moment. I wished that I had a camera to preserve it.

Something along the lines of My Sister's Figure Study or Figure Study with my Sister (because both brother and sister are looking at and appreciating the roommate's outdoor nude pose) would have (what I feel) is an evocative title and also tick the 'with Sister'-type of checkbox.

It dispenses with the geographic reference entirely, as seems to be the Group Mind recommendation.

This title would read to me as implying an artsy- or art-model-type of setting and it's not at all, though.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yes, I wrote that rather facetiously to mean 'boy/girl' and 'girl/girl.'

On further consideration, I shouldn't have because head canon, to me, is usually that lower-case letters implies underage, which this most certainly isn't.

The MMC (viewpoint character) just graduated college and the sister and her roommate are five years older than him.

So, I probably should have written it as M/W and W/W, as I meant to convey.

Although, if pressed, I'd probably cop to using Boy/Girl and Girl/Girl.

They're all adults, although the MMC is at that larval-adult stage of his development.

In other news, discussing this piece had lead me to decide that I've made some huge mistakes with it.

He's visiting the sister in Phoenix, which (now that I've consulted some maps) is much closer to the Grand Canyon than I envisioned. Traditionally, a burgeoning brother/sister thing would take advantage of that proximity for them to do a week-long motor-tour of the Canyon and have their sexuality blossom over several nights of increasingly explicit sex starting with sweet-sweet love under the open sky and likely culminating in some rude pounding in a canyon overlook by the last night.

I don't think I really want to take it in that direction, though.

All these comments relating to 'hot' and 'heat' just reinforce my existing opinion (mention in other posts in the past) that I can't name stories well at all.

For erotica purposes its big sister little brother and boy girl doesn't have to be called out.

As for the title use the Kiss principle. It doesn't have to be a literary masterpiece it has to stand out to the I/T crowd.

Want to be discerning and clever and get x views or want to deliver what the readers look for and get far more views.

Your choice, but you're over thinking it

These are the titles/tags to four brother/sister stories I published the last few years and each one of them placed in a contest.

None of them are all that great, but the results were.

The first one the title is ambiguous but the tagline isn't and that's as important, sometimes more, than the title.









Now, here's a story that doesn't have sister or brother in the title, a self-indulgent homage type story that I think is a lot more involved than the average bro/sis story here but look at the decline in numbers compare to the others

 

[designatedvictim]

For erotica purposes its big sister little brother and boy girl doesn't have to be called out.

As for the title use the Kiss principle. It doesn't have to be a literary masterpiece it has to stand out to the I/T crowd.

Want to be discerning and clever and get x views or want to deliver what the readers look for and get far more views.

Your choice, but you're over thinking it

These are the titles/tags to four brother/sister stories I published the last few years and each one of them placed in a contest.

None of them are all that great, but the results were.

I agree, but I also have to say that I agree with KG that I, too, abhor purely Porno Titles.

Thanks.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Me and Boo and The Girl In The Flat Bed Ford.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Silkstockingslover is far and away the number one author on this site.

Go look up some of her titles, they are embarrassingly porno, some don't even make sense.

But her numbers prove what we often forget here

This is a porn site.

Tried to read a couple of those.


Tried.


Backed out after half a page or so.



Tempted to 1 Star, but didn't.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Hazing Arizona?

Or change the sister's name to Arizona, too (double entendre is always fun) and call it Razing Arizona

 

[Statius]

I'm just wondering how people pick their titles and if they remain the same while developing the story.

I have a 21K-word WIP that I started a week ago that has gone through several title already.

Arizona Visit
Arizona Memories
Arizona Bound

(Three guesses on where the story takes place. Anyone?)

The premise is a very recent college grad goes to visit his sister and her roommate in the American Southwest for a month before he starts his first after-graduation job.

The first title is simply declarative.

The second (because I realize that my existing titles give little away and don't help sell the story) was meant to evoke the passage of time and imply good memories.

The third is one that I like, but around here, it might mislead you into thinking it's BDSM. (It's not. It's T/I, although the jury's still out on whether it goes full-I.)

That makes it feel like bait & switch, but I like it.

I know some people can pick a title at the start and run with it to the end.

Some people have their titles evolve during the writing process (as mine are wont to do).

Other people have the final title emerge from some aspect of the finished story, a phrase, a figure of speech used by a character or something describing some event, that emerges from the page and says 'Here I am! The title you've been looking for!'

I'm just wondering how much work people put into titles.

Maine?

 

[Writer61]

Maine?

The Maine Event ...

 

[lovecraft68]

Tried to read a couple of those.


Tried.


Backed out after half a page or so.



Tempted to 1 Star, but didn't.

To each their own, but her numbers are so obscene that it seems to indicate this is what a lot of people are here for.

 

[designatedvictim]

Me and Boo and The Girl In The Flat Bed Ford.

If i recall correctly, that Ford was in Winslow.

 

[designatedvictim]

Or change the sister's name to Arizona, too (double entendre is always fun) and call it Razing Arizona

That's... actually a pretty good thought.

I think I'm gonna stick with the current Jo, for Jolene.

While I love the use of Arizona as a name, calling her 'Az' for the whole story might be pushing things.

Might just keep that in my back pocket for the future, though.

 

[YmaOHyd]

That's... actually a pretty good thought.

I think I'm gonna stick with the current Jo, for Jolene.

Please tell me her beauty is beyond compare / with flaming locks of auburn hair / with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green.

 

[MrPixel]

While I love the use of Arizona as a name, calling her 'Az' for the whole story might be pushing things.

Zona! I can fully imagine a young thing going by "Zona" would be a firecracker. "Zo" for the pillow name.

 

[Erozetta]

I'm just wondering how people pick their titles and if they remain the same while developing the story.

I have a 21K-word WIP that I started a week ago that has gone through several title already.

Arizona Visit
Arizona Memories
Arizona Bound

(Three guesses on where the story takes place. Anyone?)

The premise is a very recent college grad goes to visit his sister and her roommate in the American Southwest for a month before he starts his first after-graduation job.

The first title is simply declarative.

The second (because I realize that my existing titles give little away and don't help sell the story) was meant to evoke the passage of time and imply good memories.

The third is one that I like, but around here, it might mislead you into thinking it's BDSM. (It's not. It's T/I, although the jury's still out on whether it goes full-I.)

That makes it feel like bait & switch, but I like it.

I know some people can pick a title at the start and run with it to the end.

Some people have their titles evolve during the writing process (as mine are wont to do).

Other people have the final title emerge from some aspect of the finished story, a phrase, a figure of speech used by a character or something describing some event, that emerges from the page and says 'Here I am! The title you've been looking for!'

I'm just wondering how much work people put into titles.

It's either the title of a song I was listening to while writing it, something a friend suggested, or it was a word or phrase that just kinda struck me while trying to come up with a name.

 

[designatedvictim]

Please tell me her beauty is beyond compare / with flaming locks of auburn hair / with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green.

I never intended the connection but her hair does have red highlights.

I haven't specified anyone's eye color, though.

 

[designatedvictim]

Zona! I can fully imagine a young thing going by "Zona" would be a firecracker. "Zo" for the pillow name.

I had a few thoughts along those lines, myself. Wasn't sure if they'd seem too contrived.

It seems not!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

If i recall correctly, that Ford was in Winslow.

Which is in ... ???

 

[RejectReality]

I rarely start something without a title from the get-go. A fair amount of my stuff originates from the title. I have documents just filled with wordplay titles waiting for a story to go with them.

The exception is when I write a series of shorts for another site that eventually get posted here. I tend not to chapter number them there, and instead give them individual titles. Trying to figure out what to call the collected series of shorts ( which would languish here due to length if posted as they are there ) is often a problem.

The one I was most recently working on is just such a case. Have no idea what I'm going to call it once my muse decides to cooperate again and lets me finish the last two shorts in the series. There, I cheekily titled them all using a convention I'd purposely avoided. They all use "cum" as replacement for letters in other words in the titles. I decided that burning up basically any possibility in one series of shorts would assure that I never use it again. LOL 11 currently, and will be 13 when I'm done.