Story Keeper
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There's a wild wind blowin', down the corner of my street[Mo0:1]
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Post by Story Keeper on Jan 3, 2011 16:45:30 GMT -8
Do they just pop up with your head along with the story?
Do you have to think for hours to get a remote idea of one?
Do you write up a list of possible ones and then choose?
Tell me what you do. Personally, if it's a casual piece of writing which isn't being done for a specific reason (like an essay about a poem), I prefer to finish the story and then come up with a list of titles which (sort of) summarise the story.
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MeghanJH
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Post by MeghanJH on Jan 4, 2011 15:23:52 GMT -8
I typically come up with a list of titles, and when I finish the story I pick which one I think fits it best. The majority of title ideas I get come up during the writing process and I just write them down and keep them.
If I can't think of a good title I let a few of my friends read part of my story or a summary of it and see what title ideas they come up with. One of my friends D is really good at coming up with titles for me, and in exchange for him coming up with titles for me I help him with the research for his werewolf stories.
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Post by Lady of Himring on Jan 4, 2011 16:24:03 GMT -8
After I'm done writting whatever is that I'm writting. I read it, the title usually springs up there.
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tldr
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Resident alcoholic[Mo0:0]
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Post by tldr on Jan 11, 2011 21:13:11 GMT -8
I pretty much go with the first thing that pops in my head that appears to have something to do with whatever I wrote without sounding to pompous.
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J.Day
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Post by J.Day on Jan 13, 2011 12:07:24 GMT -8
^ Yeah, same here. I try to think of some overarching theme or image that comes up throughout the work and then I try to figure out a title from there.
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Post by Lord Lovrina on Jan 13, 2011 20:34:42 GMT -8
I pretty much go with the first thing that pops in my head that appears to have something to do with whatever I wrote without sounding to pompous. Same here. I like giving titles that related to the plot without giving too much away. Sometimes I can make good titles, but most of the time my titles suck really bad.
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Truth is Harsher
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I am content with what I am.[mu:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAP9AF6DCu4&feature=feedf][Mo0:0]
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Post by Truth is Harsher on Jan 14, 2011 5:25:42 GMT -8
I like using a quote or a line from my story as the title since I'm not very good at coming up with any.
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Post by nchaos on Jan 17, 2011 14:41:15 GMT -8
I like using a quote or a line from my story as the title since I'm not very good at coming up with any.
I always liked that idea, I've never implemented it though. Honestly, I suck at titling anything; writing, art, songs, just about everything has boring names. Sometimes I'll look for a word that's relevant to the story or describes it in some way, but usually I end up bouncing ideas off my best friend until one of us come up with a good one.
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Post by aquadragon94 on Jan 20, 2011 16:03:42 GMT -8
It depends on the story I'm writing, honestly. For some of my stupider stories I come up with something that has little or no relevance to the actual content of the piece at all, and for other stories, I usually come up with a title before I start actually writing the piece. That saves me a bit of time since I'm not agonizing over the title.
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limelightqueen
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Post by limelightqueen on Jan 22, 2011 16:31:34 GMT -8
Almost always I put it off until at least three-quarters of the way through the first draft. I've actually only figured out titles for three of my stories and I have nineteen works in progress on my computer. Those titles came to me rather organically. One of them was the story of a girl trying to escape her small town life. Out of nowhere I got the idea to call the town Haven and then the title "Getting out of Haven" became obvious. The other two are part of the same series. The first one is three friends in Catholic school and their struggles to figure out who they are outside of the doctrine they've been taught. The title "Cross Your Heart" was again, obvious. And then when I started planning out the sequel which takes ten years later with their reconnection while all their lives have more or less ground to a halt was obvious again "Hope to Die."
I also have one where I came up with the title "A Gentlemen's Game" before I came up with the story. But then as the story is progressing the title isn't fitting quite right. Since the main character is the one stuck in the middle of two rich men's fight for, what else? money, I've considered calling it "The Pawn" but since the story switches perspectives a lot maybe "The Pawns" would be better. And then there's the fact that the story is more of a war than a game.
But I always save my work as the main character's first name except for two cases where there are multiple main characters so they are called "Tales" (deconstructions of fairy tales) and "Sisters" (about four sisters)
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Truth is Harsher
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Post by Truth is Harsher on Feb 5, 2011 20:58:34 GMT -8
I like using a quote or a line from my story as the title since I'm not very good at coming up with any.
I always liked that idea, I've never implemented it though. Honestly, I suck at titling anything; writing, art, songs, just about everything has boring names. Sometimes I'll look for a word that's relevant to the story or describes it in some way, but usually I end up bouncing ideas off my best friend until one of us come up with a good one.
I usually just look for the line or quote that can best summarize it all up. Except I get cheesy titles sometimes, I found that the second best thing to this is to ask a friend what they think. It works really well for me cause then they tell me what's cheesy or sounds good to them. One of my friends even gave me a good title.
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Post by daringdani on Feb 6, 2011 19:44:02 GMT -8
I usually have my friend's read it, then see what they think is a good title, since I fail at thinking of them. All the titles I think of by myself are absolutely boring. =/
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PuzzleChick
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Post by PuzzleChick on Feb 26, 2011 15:44:53 GMT -8
I usually pick a basic one or two word title at the beginning as a placeholder, and then after I've got a good idea of what the story will be about and the themes and such, then I check out the Adopt a Title thread over at NaNoWriMo and make a list of any that catch my eye, toy with them, change words around and just generally tinker with them until one jumps out and grabs me.
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shiko
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Post by shiko on Feb 26, 2011 15:53:40 GMT -8
I do write down a list but now I ask other people what they think.
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xander
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Post by xander on Feb 26, 2011 16:51:14 GMT -8
I'm an odd duck.
Think up a story -> Make a title for story (usually by list of titles that are suitable, unless one pops into my head) -> THEN write the story.
If by the end of the story the title doesn't fit still, I'll make a new one. Before I start writing, I ALWAYS have to have a title first. I can never write without one.
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Post by Lil' Raskol LobLaw on Feb 27, 2011 20:24:00 GMT -8
I come up with different titles in various ways.
Usually, I use the opening line, or an important theme within the book.
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Pripyat Rarity
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Post by Pripyat Rarity on Aug 31, 2011 3:10:57 GMT -8
My titles suck. -.- Most of my stories and poems have really boring/crappy titles.
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WolfGod
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Post by WolfGod on Sept 5, 2011 21:46:26 GMT -8
Most of the time I come up with a title and then write something to fit it afterward. Usually how that works is that I start with the initial title and start doing word association and conjuring up images. From there I start picturing characters to match these images. Then I start thinking of things for them to do based on the word association I came up with. Depending on the title, this also influences how the work turns out.
For example, when I decided to do National Novel Writing Month this year, I started with the idea of doing a Steampunk novel and gave it a title: Copper Dogs. Okay, so what the hell is a copper dog? It sounded kind of like a euphemism for some kind of ne'er-do-well or petty criminal. And that made me think of Reservoir Dogs. So I started imagining that the Copper Dogs are a street gang. Since it's steampunk, I thought maybe they'd get their name from using ghetto rigs of more expensive, refined technology, typically put together from scrap metal such as copper. This also gets me thinking that I should make the story more character driven than idea driven. The themes revolve around the protagonist's trials and tribulations and growth as a person.
In short, I just sort of go from start small and work my way out. Start with a title, then use that to build a hook, then use that to build up a cast, then use that to build up a plot... you get the idea. I do the same with songs. Most of the stuff I'm writing for Bone Daddy and the Skeleton Crew right now started off as a title and I built a song from there.
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Post by KeyOfTheTwilight on Sept 22, 2011 1:46:10 GMT -8
When I write my stories I listen to music. So I get my titles from them. But whatever fits the story I'm writing.
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Mononobe Witch
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Post by Mononobe Witch on Oct 9, 2011 16:25:35 GMT -8
Sometimes, a title name just pops up in my head. But other times, I choose something related to the theme of my story.
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