Writing Tips

brainstorming a title!

a few of y'all have already dm'd me & told me this has been really helpful so far, & im sooooo glad. i aim to please!

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Relate:

Okay, so to be completely honest, coming up with a title is literally the most difficult part of writing a story.

Probably because the title is usually the first thing people see when they look at your story (unless you have a dope cover, but more on that later). It's what draws them to check it out and see the description, and therefore add to their libraries. Everyone on Wattpad craves to come up with a clever, cute title to match their story.

So here's a tip from yours truly: keep it short.

One thing that really bothers me with titles is when the author basically gives away the entire story in it. Like, the title to a book might be, "I Fell In Love With My Step Brother And The Police Found Out"-- um, I'm sorry, but do I even need to read the book now?

I try to keep a two-word limit on my book titles (not including Shawn Mendes Imagines ofc,, too bad the boy has two names). But seriously, two or three words is probably the best way to go, since you want the whole title to fit nicely on the cover.

Not only keeping it short, but also something that RELATES to the story. If the story is a romantic comedy about Shawn falling in love with the pizza girl, an appropriate title might be "Delivery Tips"-- A bad example of a hypothetical title is "Regrets & Tragedy."

Don't be misleading with your title. The reason I think it's best to come up with a title AFTER you draft is because by the time you finish drafting, you're imagining your story and thinking of special things to add. One of those special things that ties into the story might just be what you choose for the title.

Get Some Help:

If you need help coming up with one, maybe start a group chat with your friends and see if they'll help you out with choosing one. That's what I usually do, and my friends come up with most of the titles for my imagines (and Seeking Haven, hats off to them).

If for some reason you can't or don't want to do that, you can google words that might relate to the story. For example, if it's the pizza story, search words that relate to pizza. You might be able to scrape some together to create a clever title. Google truly saves lives, I know.

Worst comes to worst, you can always dm me. I'd be glad to help you out with coming up with a title.

Finally, once you've got a title, it's time to get yourself a cover.

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next update will ofc be about covers.. surprise surprise.