5 Tips On Writing A Good Title
“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
Right?
Well, to a certain extent. What if roses were instead known as stink-thorn flowers? They might smell similar, but would you want to smell them? Most likely not.
The idea is that how we refer to things matters. Big time. Therefore, how are you going to choose a title for a paper, an article, a proposal, a marketing strategy, a novel, or just about anything else?
What will capture your reader’s attention, effectively deliver your message, and represent the mood of the whole piece? Let’s find out.
Crafting A Good Title:
The following are five ideas to make your titular undertakings as appealing as possible:
1. Create A Working Title
You didn’t complete your writing in a single draft, correct? So don’t worry if you don’t like the title; you can always modify it afterward. By the time you’ve finished writing the body of the paper, the title should be obvious.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was originally named Something That Happened. Fortunately, he was talked out of it by an editor, but even excellent authors can struggle to come up with great names for their writing on the first try.
Would we have read Of Mice and Men if the title had been Something That Happened? Maybe?
You might manage to come up with a title less generic, but that was only a beginning and a placeholder. So, come up with a title and get to work!
2. Make Sure It Is The Appropriate Length
Essentially, your title should be catchy. In general, this implies that the title should be brief, punchy, and catch the reader’s eye.
Keeping this in mind, it must also deliver the appropriate quantity of information. People can lose interest in reading a work if its title is very long, but what if the compressed version lacks information?
Although it may appear overly scholarly or pretentious, you may think about employing a colon. The most important thing is to ensure that the material per each side of the colon is necessary and relevant and that the title sounds nicer for it.
Would Terminator II: Judgement Day be as great if Judgment Day didn’t exist? Nope.
3. Make A Bold Move
Your objective ought to be to boldly label something that no one has ever done before. Okay, you don’t have to launch the reader into hyperdrive, but your title should stand out.
It must be distinctive enough to draw the attention of readers while being uncomplicated. One technique to demonstrate boldness is to title the work something completely unrelated to the subject matter.
What if this article was titled “5 Tips On Writing A Terrible Title?”
The readers would’ve been fascinated. After all, it‘s absurd to spend time showing someone how to do stuff incorrectly. They’d think it was a prank and be intrigued to see what happened next.
Once they’re hooked, they’ll keep reading as long as the material is good.
4. Don’t Be Afraid To Use Alliteration In The Title
When presenting writings to an audience of any size, you want to appear cool but not too so — Johnny Depp cool sounds about right, but Bill Murray cool could be too much.
Alliteration is an excellent method to spice up a title without being intrusive.
Believability is important, but so is panache in your writing. There are several strategies for striking this equilibrium, and one of the most efficient is via the use of alliteration.
To help beginners understand it better — alliteration refers to the repetition of the initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables.
Consider the following movie names that contain alliteration:
- King Kong
- Donnie Darko
- Mad Max: Fury Road (Alliteration and a colon!)
- Dr. Doolittle
Of course, this isn’t limited to movies. There are several titles as well as names in our world that are fantastic alliterations:
- Coca-Cola
- Krispy Kreme
- Marilyn Monroe
- Bob Barker
- Bed Bath & Beyond
The takeaway is that, while none of these organizations, movies, or personalities were successful primarily due to their alliteration, it surely helped.
Even if you have a beautiful title, your content still needs to be good.
5. Brainstorm
Since when does a person really want thunder and lightning to go off in their head while they brainstorm? Certainly not me. Those are scary words.
Perhaps the most important benefit of brainstorming with others is that it can help us think outside of the box and come up with new ideas. They may assist us in refining our ideas and ensuring that our writings are making sense, being cool but not too cool, and not straying too far into left field.
Therefore, never underestimate the value of feedback or input from others, but remember to take it with a grain of salt — after all, it is your title, so you should understand what feels good and what does not.
Therefore, the next time you’re working on a title, keep in mind, that to begin with a working title, keep it short, be bold, utilize alliteration, brainstorm, and, most importantly, have fun!!
Remember that writing is meant to be enjoyable?
