  Romance/Love
This week: Choosing the Right Title for your Story Edited by: LoneKrampuswolf  
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| Titles are another important part of the short story. If you enter writing competitions, a good title might catch the attention of the judges and also make your short story stick in their minds. Titles are also a good place to start with your story and might kick start your imagination. |
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A good title should grab the reader and make them wonder what the story is about. A bad title will probably cause the reader to skip the story altogether. This holds true when submitting your stories for publication. Editors are busy people and will pass on the story, often without reading the first sentence, if your title doesn't capture their interest.
The title of your story will tell the editor a lot about your creativity. If your title is strong, an editor will be more likely to look at your story with a positive attitude.
So how do you come up with a good title? Below is a small list of tips to help you come up with an attention grabbing title.
1. Keep it short, no more than four or five words. Even two or three word titles are generally more than enough. If you can come up with a single word that conveys something about your story, even better.
2. Avoid boring titles. Don't name your story something like 'The Monster' or 'The Sea' as these are dull and boring, and too generalized. Instead, try for something that evokes emotion. 'The Darkness within' would be a good title for a scary story and 'Poseidon's Rage' works better for a story based on the ocean.
3. Make sure your title fits your genre. Don't name a whodunit with a title that could be confused with a romance story.
4. Make your title easy to remember. This is another reason to keep the title short. Use your creativity to come up with something catchy that relates to the theme, the action, or the characters of the story. A memorable title allows your readers to recommend your story to others.
5. Research the title you come up with. Although titles are not copyrighted, you don't want your story confused with another story of the same name. They can be similar without being exact.
So, how do you spark your creativity to come up with the perfect title for your story? The following are a handful of ways to awaken your muse.
a.) A short line of dialogue or a memorable sentence from your story can sometimes be the right choice.
b.) A common phrase or expression can often be found that sums up the theme of your story. Or use a play on words, where only one element of the phrase is changed.
c.) Borrow a line from an established work. Look at Shakespeare, the Bible or other well known book, song or movie.
d.) Use one your main characters' names. Think along the lines of 'Tom Sawyer' or Stephen King's 'Christine'.
e.) Compose a list of the best possible titles. Include ones that are unusual or not immediately related to the story. Titles should hint at the mystery but not reveal everything all at once.
f.) Use word association to link together elements of the story.
g.) Allow the action to determine the name.
If things get too hard, a name of a character or characters, a place or a thing may suffice, if it does not sound too dull and boring. As long as the title you choose captivates the interest of the readers, it is a good title and has served its purpose.
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Excerpt of: Otherwise Engaged
{i]Claire was about to push the start button on the washing machine when she realized she’d forgotten to empty Mike’s pockets. She’d been distracted all morning; unable to do anything with her usual efficiency. Sighing, she fumbled through the items in the drum to retrieve his jeans.
“Serve him right if I hadn’t remembered,” she muttered, straightening out the ten pound note she’d retrieved from his back pocket. “Why is it me who always has to remember things? Mind like a sieve that one.”
Still, he made up for it in other ways. Claire had been living with Mike for five years now and was still just as enamored by him as she’d been at the start.
~ ~ ~
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Excerpt of: Lady of the Storm
With this beauty I struggle,
A mistress of the wild thunderstorm,
The temptress called the Lady of Ire.
She is the bringer of the dark sky rage,
The mother of the haunting Tempest.
With this beauty I struggle,
A mistress of the wild thunderstorm,
With hail and lightning in her hands.
The temptress called the Lady of Ire,
She is the one who forms my dreams.
~ ~ ~
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Excerpt of: Never Let Your Left Hand Know
Never let your left hand know what your right is doing.
Very good advice, to any lady who’s persuing
A fine and handsome gent who is interested and cooing
For the damsel’s lovely hand; who pops the question while canoeing.
I’d say, critical in married life, ‘cause he’s the left, you’re the right.
Let him think your standing clueless; let him think he sees the light.
While all the while you do the bidding; all the while you know the truth.
~ ~ ~
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Excerpt of: Breathe Again
“I hate him!”
Rebecca heard herself say as she stood shaking in their bedroom. The words reverberated through her mind over and over like a rhythmic chant.
She looked around the room. It seemed that touches of their life together surrounded her. It had all been a lie, a silly dream that she had dwelled in...alone.
On a shelf next to their wedding photograph stood the crystal goblets they had drank from at the reception. Their names etched with beautifully curved lines. Her feet seemed to move of their own accord toward them. When she reached them, she picked up one and held it in her shaking hand. Turning she threw the crystal as hard as she could. It hit one of the bedposts and shattered into a thousand little sparkling fragments. Just like her my life, she thought miserably.
Tears ran unbidden down her face. How could he do this to her? It seemed a million different emotions were coursing through her all at once rage, fury, sadness, betrayal, and pity.
~ ~ ~
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Excerpt of: Crash Landing
At four in the morning, the engine problems began. First came the change in the sound. The dull hum of the motor turned irregular. Then the propellers sputtered. We dropped. An explosion on the right side -- we felt it -- an airplane quake that rattled teeth and bones. We smelled smoke as the wing caught fire. We saw flames through the window. That's when we all began to pray.
A baby wailed. His mother gave him her breast. We started tossing about like a plastic bottle in rough surf. People were screaming. Others cried. I clasped the seat rests like they were life preservers. The oxygen masks erupted down and hung like dead bodies. We grabbed at them and breathed. The plane growled, coughed, sputtered. We prepared to die.
But God was on our side that day as we headed downward. The plane plunged. Our stomachs twisted. The man in the seat across from me vomited. The smell hit us just as smoke filled the cabin and we hit the first tree. We hurtled through its limbs. Another branch reached out to grab us. Then another. We kept going, scratching through -- metal against bark. Jungle follage slowed our rushing descent. The noise deafened. The screams and sobs could not compete. Then came that last span of freefall, the final crash, and silence -- at least from outside.
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Romance/Love: February 26, 2013 Issue [#5541]
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