What makes a good title?

[mannahpierce]

I have posted my first fanfiction on this site over Christmas. I always struggle with titles and this was no exception. One of the reviewers (thank you so much for reviewing) has suggested that the title is putting people off reading the story. It is a Naruto story set in a sci-fi AU. The title I chose was:

In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

1. Is the title really bad?

2. Should I change it? I have a few readers who are obviously waiting for updates and I do not want to confuse them.

Other questions I have are:

3. Is the Naruto AU/AR category less well frequented?

4. Is a Naruto/Sci-Fi mix always going to appeal to less readers?

5. Does asking people to review help?

6. Do you need to be an established writer on here before lots of people read your fics?

[JayDee]

I don't know the Naruto fandom, but that title doesn't seem offputting to me! I think the only 'titles' I find offputting are things like "I can't think of a title! just read!" because as hard as titles can be, anything seems better than that!

Dunno about the other stuff either. I had a huge - for me - number of hits on one story, though not an established writer, and figured someone must have linked it on a fandom forum or something.

[WarlordEnfilade]

I try to make sure that a title is both relevant to the plot and the fandom of the story, so that it hints at the content of the story.

For example, many of my Halo stories have titles that use fencing terminology because they are about Sangheili Swordsmen. "Twin Blades" is a story about kindred spirits; "Cross Blades" is a story about two characters struggling with one another. My Gargoyles story about Vinnie, "Wagner's Vendetta", is deliberately similar to the Vinnie-centric episode "Vendettas." The idea is, by reading the title you should get an idea of the tone and theme of the story to want to read more.

"In the Cold of Space, You Find the Heat of Suns" is a long title. It also makes me think more of a space-travelling fandom like Firefly than it does of Naruto, unless there's something I'm missing. I would hope that suns (and cold) are metaphors that are explained in this story, so that the title means something.

I rather regret my Transformers story entitled "All Friends and Kingdom Come." If you know the song of the same name, the title makes sense, but the song is obscure and to those who don't know it, this title isn't doing anything to let my readers know what the story might be like. I feel that more people are choosing to skip this story rather than take the time to read it and decipher the title, and if I were writing it today, I'd call it something else. The sequel, "Darkness Visible," manages to combine both a literary allusion to Milton and Paradise Lost, and convey that the story itself is about a stealth fighter, and I like that title much better.

[Danyealle]

Titles are hard for me and always have been, like summaries. I've done tons of them. The only thing that I can tell you is you make something that stands out and gets attention. I've used song titles, such as Kryptonite, to lines from the anime i write it, Supreme Conquest, to chunks of old sayings, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, to odd words that most people don't know. Anything to grab attention. Odd, from my perspective, works for titles. Try to come up with something that no one else has used.

Getting attention for a fiction is something that isn't always easy. From what I've seen, the Naruto section is one that is fairly busy on this site, in the top three of traffic along with Anime and Harry Potter. So you are competing for readers with many other authors in a way you don't have to in some of the older domains like Buffy or Inuyasha or slower domains like YuYu or Yugioh. So you have to do something to get attention. To do that, don't be afraid to use the forum or other sites to promote what you do. There are many other sites out there that devote to one fandom or one pairing in a fandom. Try posting there as well instead of one site. The more sites you post on, the more hits you garner. The biggest hits I get come not from AFF or ff.net, the multi-fandom sites, but the site Dokuga where a specific pairing is allowed. Fans of that pairing only congregate and send my hit count high. AFF helps to get the name out there but don't be afraid to branch out.

I will admit that once you establish yourself as doing good or fair work and putting out consistently does help in the hit count. Once you've been around for a while and develop a bit of a reputation, you do get better hits because you're known and people remember you. But that can be ruined if you drop off the face of the earth for a long period of time or allow your skills to erode and just put out less of a quality of work than you are known for. Try not to fall into those ruts and plug on. If you keep going then you will find that you will get recognized for it. Honestly, though they mean nothing at all in the real world, awards do help. Try to get your stuff submitted for them and encourage others to vote.

Asking for reviews, from my point of view personally, doesn't do anything one way or another. It may encourage some to do so but most won't bother. On the whole, 99% of those that read fiction will never review and nothing you do will change that. Just keep that in mind and don't let it discourage you.

Realistically, AR/AU stories, in most domains, don't do as well as things in canon and never have. Most want canon stories. Though AR/AU have a niche, they, as a rule, don't do as well. But they have their following and those that adore them.

I don't read Naruto fiction, I've never seen the series so I wouldn't be one to ask about that fandom, so my comments are more general from someone who has been around for a few years. Hope they help and don't get discouraged. We were all noobs once.

[_C_]

With titles I generally use something that ties the title to the story. If I can, I like to stick to one-word titles, but there are times where I've used song titles to title a fic if the title fits the situation the fic.

[Jaded_Star]

Think about book and movie titles, what comes to mind? Long ones, short ones? Random titles, or ones that describe in a few words what's going on? I try to keep mine short and catchy. I also try not to do anything to melodramatic, as I feel it'll turn people off. The best advice I can give is think of a title, then let it cool off before you post it, look at it again, and decide if you like it.

[Guest Dollymop]

Personally I like titles that make you think. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lovely Bones, The Awakening. They don't give away the entire story and I love how clever and insightful they are. But I think they could be considered too vague by some and I think that unless they are used in association with the right fic and in a way that will attract readers, they can be overwhelming and cause readers to overlook a story.

With fanfics, I like titles that make you immediately think about the book or movie or whatever the story is associated with. A line, a name, a word that is associated with the characters or story line. For my Sweeney Todd fanfics, I used to use lyrics from the songs when they fitted with the events. Yes, perhaps it was a cop out but it certainly told the readers exactly what the story was going to be about when the title was: "I could eat you up, I really could." Lol, yes I actually called a story that...

Also single word titles can be great when used in association with the overlying theme. 'Control', 'Lust', 'Paranoia', 'Deception'. Et cetera, et cetera xD

Anyways, good luck. Hope you find your perfect title

[Guest jj19]

Well to use some of my stories as examples.

Sisters of Chaos, A play on the Sisters of Battle (Space warrior nuns with guns who fight heresy), as it informs this deals with Sisters and chaos, all you need to know is in the title.

Shining Spring-Well, this one is weak. I could not think of a title and it was a request for a fandom I did not know well.

Naomi's Suffering-Does not say much except that it is not going to be pretty (which it isn't)

Rites of Battle-A sister of battle fights her first battle as a trial by fire. So it really works well as a play on Sisters of Battle with the Initiation rites that they endure.

MAKBEFF-A "looted" version of Macbeth, as done by orks (think orks who are viking soccer hooligans with scraptech). Not a perfect title but it does show the orkiness of subject and informs that it relates to Macbeth.

Various 40k Microfics-Under this "Story" I have all the microfics I have written

Sister Varity's Storytime, Tale of the Emperor-Which it is, decent at best

The adventures of Slicktau-A crappy title

Sister Varity's Storytime, Good Night Guardsman-A "sequel" to the first one has a funny title for me

The lil' ripper that could-A cute and sad story about a little ripper who is trying to succeed. So I think it works well

Xenos Relations-One of my favorite titles, as it is simple and fits well. This story does involve a "relations" between a human and an eldar (space elf) and like the title, the story gets the dirtier depending how much your mind is in the gutter

Sorry if I went on too long, but I wanted to show through example. (Also, I am open to suggestions for changes, sometimes a title "clicks" quickly, but for others I struggle and just slap a halfway decent one on there so I can put it up.

[Guest Alora.Sky]

I'm a person who usually comes up with a catchy title, and build a story around it. I like making up creative little titles that make you go, "Oh, I wonder what this story is about?" One of my favorite formats in making a title usually starts Adjective-Object then I add something more. I like to make the title obscure, and then I wonder what it could symbolize within the story.

Examples like:

» Within the Darkened Sun

» Broken Windows

» Balled of Decayed Dreams

» Fear of Forgotten Memory

It worked well for me in the past, when I was writing Fanfiction and SciFi.

[Guest dwitefry]

I just thought I'd reply as I have a different point of view on titles - that being that they're the sprinkles on the icing on a cake I already want to eat.

Reading through stories this evening (it's evening here) I realise I choose the section or subject (anime or say original, then Death Note or Sci Fi) then read the 'about' blurb (for my metaphor that would be the cake) and then it's story tags (HJ, M/M etc etc) (that would be the icing) then notice the title (sprinkles) later. Often titles do make me wrinkle my nose if I feel they're a little too pretentious for their subject - i.e. long, literary titles for say Avatar the Last Airbender are fine due to the amount of research and depth in the series but I find it a little silly for Invader Zim. Though that it totally subjective. Or if they're a bad play on words. But I can eat my cake without sprinkles.

Just another opinion on the matter

MeX

[Cuzosu]

Titles...are a pain to get just right. I like to make mine meaningful, with multiple layers of meaning if I can. If I can't find a title that I feel fits the story, I don't post it until I've worked out the title problems.

Also, I've noticed that, especially for people who read fan fiction, there's a tendency of avoiding stories with longer titles or summaries that don't make sense.

Soaked is one of my Final Fantasy VII stories, a gift to a friend on another site, and I thought about naming it after one of the prompts she gave me for it. But A Rainy Night In Midgar sounds less interesting, to me, than Soaked does. (Maybe because I'm a perv? )

Themes that run throughout a story are also a great way to figure out story names. Soaked's sequel, Hide and Peek, has a sex-and-games theme, for example, so I gave it a name that hints at that.

I've also seen some stories which have names that are a play on old fables/fairy tales, and as long as the story is well written, it works.

[GeorgeGlass]

I've found that the title is often the hardest part of a story to write. Rarely have I been able to come up with just a few words that adequately reflect the content or spirit of the story.

Edited July 24, 2013 by GeorgeGlass

[Kurahieiritr]

For my personal taste, I always write the full story before I bother with giving any type of title. It is rare for me to put up an incomplete tale due to my fits and starts writing style. However, I also have readers who have followed me for a while, so expect me to do a massive upload a couple times a year. Due to my personal quirks and how involved I am in the writing of the stories from different POV character views, I use titles that always invoke an emotional/contents variety knee jerk response for readers. Evocative titles work very well for increasing your reader base many times.

Always align your titles to give hints about the real content of the story, or you will risk losing readers. Long titles do tend to turn off a fair chunk of reader traffic unless you are very well established with a hard core reader following. Many readers want short and insightful titles when scrolling down the lists for the fandom they are contemplating for an evening's relaxing read. This can be doubly true of a large archive like Harry Potter or Naruto which is rife with stories to tap. Due to working with a full Series of stories in a single fandom, I try to reflect the fandom story's contents to draw in readers. This tactic works very well for most writers.

These questions should help you to give your story the right title. What is the meat and potatoes of your specific story? What kind of emotional theme are you crafting for your main characters to cope with and/or overcome? Write out each dominant theme in 4 or fewer words whenever possible. See how many of your themes can be conjoined because of your micro descriptions of the stories main theme points. Contemplate how to give the kick needed based upon the themes you have devised, and smash a Word from each strong theme together if possible.

Here are examples of some names I used in writing for my fandom.

Driven Heart, the Prequel: obviously I am talking about cars and emotions. From the title alone, a reader knows this is going to be a choppy, emotional roller-coaster for someone who loves street racing. It was my fan base group's overwhelming request, and it is about confusion for a bisexual who is fighting tooth and nail to keep from falling in love with someone of their own gender.

A Rivalry Revealed: also very descriptive of the content's theme for the first, and original story I wrote on a whim that has become a series. You know someone is causing someone else trouble because of their conflicting emotions, or there would be no need to reveal anything. Such titles tend to be very self explanatory of the content. A genuine street racing rivalry exists in the actual anime/manga, so I used it as the bottom line theme for the cannon feeling story. You know that a lot is on the line, and the reader expects to see the cannon feeling elements of this story as our Bisex lead get's his emotions revealed to his crush.

Alternate Tracks is also very explanatory of the story contents. Since this is a Slash series, the content of the title tells readers they are going to read about moving into an alternate life style. Tracks conjures the notion of a bumpy, less driven road which gives the emotion clues about contents inside the tale. Readers of the fandom know there will be a bumpy ride and a lot of mixed emotions to read about within the story.

All For Love: Yet again, I give the readers a strong hint about the story's overall emotional and literal content. The Title makes a reader think about how far someone would go for the person that they love. The sky is the limit by implication. They know there are going to be new problems for the now established couple. They also expect to see that couple fighting tooth and nail to stay together.

As The Smoke Clears: this is a bit longer than the others, yet it also gives a distinctive impression about the story contents. Readers who have kept up with this series of angsty, darkly controversial stories know that relief is coming for the characters, although there will be rough patches because of the "Smoke" portion of the title. Smoke veils things from the eyes, so the readers know there are things that have yet to be resolved. They expect to be in for a surprise as the Smoke dissipates. Also, the implication is given that the smoke, or problem, is actively getting resolved. This title also touches upon street racing because tires smoke when cars take off from a stand still at the starting line. Burning rubber is the real term, but burned rubber leaves a cloud of smoke that does need to clear away before spectators can see the sum of the race. Secondary implication is that the metaphoric race is well underway, and the winners and losers are headed toward the finish line at full speed.

From these title examples, I think you can see where this post is going. Evoke emotions with your titles. The one you have for your Naruto story does not give me any real emotional or internal story content feeling to be honest.

In the Cold of Space, You Find the Heat of Suns is a very long title, plus all I can get from it is that this story takes place in outer space. Here are the knee jerk questions your title gave me so you can think about word impact and the underlying themes involved. Once you consider word impact as metaphor it should become easier to find good titles that will draw readers. I will leave you with the questions a reader is most likely to get from the title you have now.

Are you metaphorically trying to say that the characters are moving from a cold and emotionless life (Cold of Space is a metaphor for being ostracized and hated) inside the Ninja village, (Naruto comes to mind) and moving toward an accepting relationship? (the suns heat implies romance metaphorically)

Do you mean literal outer space adventures that specific Naruto characters are going to be participating in for some reason?

What are they supposed to accomplish while in outer space?

Wow, why is the name so long?

[BronxWench]

Long titles can work. One of my all time favorite works is Philip Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which actually bore no resemblance to the still enjoyable movie, Blade Runner. Mr. Dick's title did not give too many clues as to the content, but it was certainly intriguing enough to make me pick up the book so very many years ago. Samuel R Delany's Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand was another brilliant work with a hefty but evocative title.

My titles tend to be short, but that's because I am dreadful at titles. I don't think there are hard and fast rules on title length, nor should there be. It really is a matter of individual taste when you come down to it.