Flash fiction has a limited number of words, and therefore every word is like a nugget of gold. Don’t overlook one of your best opportunities for adding meaning without adding to the word count: Your title!
Let’s exchange ideas on what we think makes a good title, how you can best utilize a title to enhance your story or make it memorable.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts!
People First, software second - Since 1985...
Actually, this is a voting security feature. During public voting, only club members can read posts submitted for that contest. Since anyone reading the story is able to vote (click the Like button), we reserve these capabilities to members who SignIn. Before we implemented this security feature, people were voting multiple times and making the public voting process unfair and out of balance. To fix this, our staff finally decided to allow only members who SignIn to read the stories. Membership is free and easy, and ensures our club is safe, secure, and family-friendly!
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleGood topic, and very timely. I had a little trouble voting for my favorite Wings stories, because so many of the titles included the word “Wing” or “Wings”, but not many clues to differentiate one from the other. I kept opening the same stories to remember the details. I liked the title “There Are Wings and There Are Wings” – that one was unforgettable! I wonder about other titles from past contests… Read more »
Actually, I thought there were surprisingly few stories with ‘wings’ in the title. One of mine, the Leonardo da Vinci one, did. The other didn’t. With my LdV one, I knew as soon as I saw the prompt what I wanted to write about, and the title just felt fitting for the man as well as the story and came before the story itself, which I think Emily will attest ?
I think that the title is important, no matter the length of the story, be it micro fiction or novel. The title is one of the first things you see. Some of the one word titles annoy me because they don’t generally tell you much about the story, and the number of books out there with title like ‘Taken’, ‘Marked’, ‘Fated’ etc is just crazy and, unless you know the author’s name,… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI think Carrie the first thing a title should do it to arouse the interest to what the story may be, so if ”One Word” does the trick, then that is all that is needed, for then we can go to the ”Preface. If you let the ”One Word Title” annoy you, then you will probably miss out on reading a good story ?. So one word or more is it really… Read more »
I didn’t say I don’t or wouldn’t read them; I’ve read at least 6 called ‘Taken’, at least 4 ‘Hunted’ etc. If someone a few years down the line asks me if I’ve read ‘Taken’, I have that ‘which one’ moment and all the plots roll into one. So for me, I like a title that is a little more memorable.
Title Versus Picture! Just think for a second before you say, that’s not the question Eric. Before we read the story, we try to see/guess the connection between the two. But the title to my mind is the one that will Intrigue the reader. The question then is, how much of the story do we give away ? in the title?
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHmm. To me titles are of course important but I’m more of a visual person. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” then why is the cover there then? To judge it! I’ve always been like that. To me book covers are very important. They don’t have to be necessarily gorgeous since beauty is subjective, but just to showcase personality and be unique. Of course if i’ve heard a book is great… Read more »
My title often changes several times as I work on a story. Eric makes a good point, we want to ensure the title is interesting and will draw a reader in but we don’t want to give too much away. It’s a fine line.
Here in Australia I have been producing a monthly print magazine for poetry and prose for 18 years and each month hold a mini-competition for short stories up 100 words, poetry up to 10 lines using a special word prompt each month. I am always surprised at how many entrants simply use the prompt word as the title – often 50% and many others use the word combined with others. I like… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI guess a title can be a flash of inspiration, just like a novel, an essay, a poem or anything else one writes. Sometimes, the title comes naturally and immeditely, while at other times, one has to reflect, read the product again and again and find the crucial, pivotal point that moves the narrative. The title for my latest story, ‘Staring at the Sun’ came to me when I wrote that all… Read more »
What a great story of serendipity, Greene. I do think that was a brilliant title. I always remembered the exact story when glancing through the titles. If the title had been something like “To Fly”, which would have also fit, I wouldn’t have remembered the story nearly so well.
Believe it or not, this may sound overly simplistic, but go with the first one that comes to mind. This has worked well for me. Don’t let overthinking, or putting unnecessary pressure on yourself take away from the piece you have written. I seem to be in the minority that comes up with a title before the story itself… But, I tend to think that is a clear sign that the story… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI take a very different approach, Melissa. I usually create a “working title”, a sort of place holder, but I never settle on the actual title until the story has simmered for a while, telling me its secrets, sharing its depth. I frequently spend more time on the title than on the story itself! With flash fiction and especially micro-fiction, the title is so very important, to me it deserves a great… Read more »
This is what I like learning about. Everyone takes a different path in their creative processes. I agree the title is extremely important . I just come up with the title first and build a story off of that. It’s how I’ve always done it, I have found success in that. Again, it’s just a route that works for me, personally. ?
I totally agree with you Melissa – your method has served you well. It seems that you imagine a scenario in your very descriptive titles, then fill in the details via the story. It’s exciting how we all follow different paths, to arrive at similar places! Here’s to our wonderful Differences!
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleYou hit the nail on the head, Juma! I do imagine scenarios. I love hearing from others and what works for them. The end result is amazing written works.
Everyone on this lovely sight is so talented. ❤️
There have been many times when I made my titles work overtime, so to speak, especially with the 100 word stories. One such instance was my story “An Old Man Remembers the Blitz”. I wanted the time and place to be specific – London, World War II, but I didn’t want to waste any words of the story to establish that. Background and factual references also would have been out of place… Read more »
One-word titles may or may not work well in the hundreds of thousands of books on Amazon or at a big book store, but some of them work extremely well in our Voice.club collection. Eric’s “Longed” was a title that had me intrigued for quite a while. I kept rereading his very excellent story to see if I could figure out where the title had come from. The prompt for that story… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHere’s another one-word title that I remember very well from quite a while ago in these contests – “Baptism”. The story was beautifully written, sensitive and caring, full of the deepest kind of love. The title told us so much about the character and his feelings for his wife. I’ve just never forgotten that story, largely because of the title.
I remember the first story I submitted to voice-club that the judges kindly voted a runner up. I was forced to change my original title as the software wouldn’t accept an apostrophe. The judges commented that they really liked the title so perhaps sometimes things are just meant to be!
Hello Linda – which story was that? Just to let everyone know, our software doesn’t allow special characters on entry titles, but if you drop us a line via Contact, we can add apostrophes or commas when it’s published. We’ve done that in several recent entries, per request by the writer or when it was obviously needed. One such example was Carrie O’Leary’s “I, Henry”, which had to be submitted as “I… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you, that’s useful to know. My story was ‘From Darkness She Will Rise’, the original title was ‘She’s not dead, only resting’. I much prefer the new title so it was a good outcome for me!
You’re right, Linda – your new title is much better than the original! In fact, that title is one of the best ones ever. I remember loving the name of your story when you first posted it. What a great Halloween moment that was. ?
Aww thank you Juma. Yes, that first title was definitely not one of my best! I like to think I’ve improved since then!
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleMy creative process with titles goes something like this: I take pictures of mundane and innate things. I give a title to the picture, next I write a story around it. I have screenplays written from these very pictures, the kind of pictures nobody else would be bothered to take. ? I will explain to people that there is not a one size fits all approach to writing, and title making .… Read more »
That is so interesting, Melissa! You must be an avid photographer. I loved your black and white, or grey tone picture of the deserted tables and chairs. It was such a stark picture of Covid. I hope you will post more of your pictures!
Thanks, Juma! I am just a novice but I do like to take uncommon pictures. ?
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleFor me, a good title contains the unusual. A good title will draw me in. It will give me questions. It will get me wondering about the story. I have seen so many brilliant titles on voice.club. This is such a wonderful topic to discuss.
We need to be accurate but persuasive. Obvious must be avoided at all times. Titles are like children’s names: they will return to you with mighty power but only if you dare to pick the best ones. ?
Interesting topic! Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts of how you think and work when it comes to putting a title on your story. I agree with Voice.club that it is important. I tend to function in the same way as Greene, Linda and Juma. When I start out, I always put a working title above the text just to get started. If I would wait to start writing until I… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleFor me, the title is my first impression. It always hooks my interest to read the content of the story. Something short and unique – a title that creates an impact and makes it memorable to me as a reader.
A good title – to me, at least – primarily revolves around the premise of the story. Preferably, it should walk the line between obscurity and discernment; while being direct and straightforward has its perks, a title with mystery has greater intrigue, and can likely entice a reader more. A plain-spoken example would probably be… The Chronicles of Narnia… which in its rare case, is perfect – since its basis of adventure… Read more »
I believe that titles should hook the reader. They should intrigue us in a mysterious way into reading the fiction.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with Google