Untitled No More!

It can be hard to find just the right title. Believe me, I know. Some pieces just can't ever be titled to satisfaction. Perhaps that's why a search for "untitled" yeilded 710 matches, many with "HELP!" or "got an idea?" thrown in there. Well, that is what this article is all about. I do have an idea and that is this exercise.

Come up with a title that works for your story in each of the catagories. It doesn't have to be your favorite title of all the titles you've ever read, it just has to go with your story. Chances are, somewhere on the list you'll find something that works for you, or you'll have an idea of what doesn't and you start over. Hey, no one said this was easy.

Here is the list!

a title with one word
a title with two words
a title with three words
a title with four words
a title with five words
a title with six words
a title with a character’s name
a title with a reference to setting
a title that is a question
a title that is a line of dialogue
a title that is philosophical
a title that is mysterious/obtuse
a title that is humerous
a title that is bad
a title that uses an image
a title that uses double entendre
others (if you have other ideas, email me and I'll include them)

This gives you up to 16 titles to choose from. You don't have to use them all if you don't want. If you get stuck on one, move on, chances are if it's that much of a struggle you won't use it anyway. (Give it some thought, but not two weeks of thought.) Sometimes the correct title will just jump out at you. Other times it will mean a process of elimination of the 16 down to one. But however you do it, you will find a title. Don't discount any of them, either. Sometimes a humerous title is great for a dramatic piece, and sometimes the bad title is the best title of all. Look at them all when you're done and say, hey, I can title this piece after all.

By the way, this is not my own invention. One of my teachers Julie told me this, and I have no idea where she got it. It is probably a trick passed down from person to person. And now I pass it on to you. I don't claim to own it, but I do claim to use it often.

For an example of this kind of list, look at "Collaborative Titles Exercise"   by paigeomalley . This is one I did with bookelf about a story we co-wrote, and we both contributed titles in each catagory and then turned gray the ones we didn't want. You'll find three colored titles and 28 gray ones there. We later took a poll of the two of us to pick the ultimate title. Process of elimination worked for us, and we ended up with a title we both loved. And if it worked for us, I betcha it'll work for you.