WRITING TIPS
What’s in a Name? Weighing the Importance of a Clear, Powerful Title
Stephen King’s The Stand would fail if titled Quit Sitting
Ah, titles. The best titles grab our attention and draw us into a read. If we write amazing content but tack on bland titles, unfamiliar eyes will ignore and keep scrolling — titles matter in the same way that names do. If my parents had decided Hagar was a better Biblical name-fit than Sarah, my life would look vastly different.
Bad titles are like phenomenal gifts wrapped in bunchy newspaper and an entire roll of masking tape — not many will hurry to rip open and discover what’s underneath.
The best novels draw us in with titles that promise mystery and suspense. Thrill and romance. Epic adventure. At times, these are one or two-word titles. The Stand — a two word title — informs the reader. We begin our reading journey knowing some battle will wage, and the story will unfold epically. In the case of ambiguous titles, cover images and back flap summaries give us the information we need.
When writing titles for copy or on an internet platform, however, the rules change a bit. Titles here are more like headlines — regardless of whether they are the finishing bows on articles, humor, fiction, or creative non-fiction. The title and title image are the only visuals for readers scrolling through hundreds of stories to read.
Once I trained my brain to think of published platform work as “headlined” rather than titled, I found titles far simpler to create. Utilizing a balance of common, power, and emotion words helps too.
There are also free headline analyzer sites to help you sharpen titles. In my experience, a headline that registers in the high 60s or above is usable.
Full disclosure — I don’t use these sites unless I’m unsure. Too much analytical attention takes the fun out of writing for me. I don’t use Excel spreadsheets to chart my social life, and I am far too left-brained to write solely based on marketability. For some writers — especially tech writers — analytics do help, though.
“Cool, Sarah,” you may say. “Can you give examples of what to do and not to do, please?”
Absolutely! If I’m writing a humor piece about how my cat hijacked my date and title it “Cat Hijinks,” I haven’t given a potential reader enough information about my story.
There are countless cat stories — how would a reader know the nuances of mine make it great? The title could cover a cat that unrolls my toilet paper, which may elicit a small chuckle, but nothing compelling.
However, if I title the cat piece “How My Cat Almost Blinded My Date,” I inform the reader. They know the story involves a disastrous date and cat antics — and possibly, humor. In other words, they have some certainty of what material they’re receiving.
Another great rule of thumb is to limit wordiness. Medium’s title-subtitle preview combo character limit is 100, so your witty 500 character title will truncate in display form and possibly appear less appealing. However, there are certainly exceptions to the rule. Roz Warren recently published an incredible title piece flouting this rule. It made me snort-laugh.
This platform recently announced that flagrant clickbait titles would no longer be curated. Millions frustrated by “You Won’t Believe the Shocking Ways My Life Rocks!” headlines breathed a collective sigh of relief. The rules are a bit murky, but that’s what keeps us on our toes!
While other sites encourage vague but compelling headlines that generate clicks, clickbait can serve as a cheat. In your title, offer a glimpse of what the reader can expect. You can go into further detail in the subtitle, but your title should point toward the content.
Fiction and poetry here are slight exceptions to the rules. The title doesn’t have to be quite as explanatory. Here are a couple examples of curated fiction from myself and Stephen M Tomic to illustrate.
These rough waters contain millions of boats, and navigating them can be tricky. Take a stand against error and quit sitting! And, always read over both Medium’s general guidelines and individual publication guidelines before submitting. Your editors will thank you and love you forever.
