Home
>
Writing
>
Is Your Title Compelling?

Is Your Title Compelling?

Short Story Writing Tips:

Your title is your selling tool. It's the first thing readers will scan and contemplate whether to read your story.

What your title's job is, it has to lure the readers into your story ? it has to be so compelling that they won't even have a chance to ask themselves, 'Will this story interest me?'

Their eyes will glide over the title and into the story before they realize it. The action will be instant.

What's a compelling title? It's one that instantly grabs our attention because it's?

Intriguing
Interesting
Catchy
Provocative
Amusing

Your title may not be all these things but it will have to be at least one. There should be something about it that grabs your readers.

So how do you write compelling titles?

Start by learning from the masters.

Learn from those whose articles and stories are published in newspapers, magazines and, in particular, pay close attention how the writers of Readers Digest go about it. They have been luring readers into their written material for years. They know their stuff.

Here are a few examples of titles taken from Readers Digest?.

Did I really need to know that?
Who is Jack Kevorkian, Really?
Against the flames
Who Killed Margaret Wilson?

Do you have any newspapers or magazines handy, or even better, a Readers Digest magazine? If you do, note down a few titles, then analyze why those particular titles grabbed you.

If you don't have any magazines handy, take a look at: www.amazon.com (in the books section.) See what titles are listed there. Or look at your bookshelf.

Compare them to your title.

Is your title compelling?

If you find that it could be better, here's an effective way that will ensure you find the best title for your story?

Read through your story and on a piece of paper jot down sentences and/or words that appealed to you as you read. Jot down as many as you come across ? Don't worry about editing them for now. Just note down all that grabbed you.

Then look at your characters. Is there something special about them, a word you could use in a title that will grab readers' attention?

Now with the list you have gathered, think about what you are saying in your story. Start crossing out the words and sentences that aren't directly relevant to it.

Select a few words and look through a thesaurus for a nicer sounding synonym.

Choose the most appropriate group of words for the title.

Remember? your title has to be one or a combination of the below?

Intriguing
Interesting
Catchy
Provocative< /p>
Amusing

About The Author

Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers' funny stories. Visit www.amazon.com

non-toxic cleaning company Bannockburn ...

In The News:

Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 with a PROLED XDR OLED display, but the non-touch M6 model costs $900 less at $1,999.

Black Friday deals are already drawing scammers who use fake delivery notices and gift card payment requests to steal your personal financial information.

Apple's iPhone Duo reportedly outlasted the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 by over three hours in battery tests, but its weight and repair costs raise concerns.

Florida Polytechnic University's Jetson ONE eVTOL police vehicle named Astro still awaits FAA authorization before officers can fly operational patrols.

OpenAI's new locked chats feature lets you protect ChatGPT conversations with a PIN, Face ID or Touch ID, but there are key privacy limitations.

A phishing email disguised as an Evite fooled a man even after he emailed his friend to verify it, revealing how compromised Gmail accounts aid scams.

Microsoft's AI diagnostic system identified 83% of complex medical cases in a study, more than doubling the 36% accuracy of generalist doctors.

Account takeover threats go beyond stolen passwords as criminals exploit session cookies, SIM swaps and MFA fatigue to bypass your login security.

SpaceX is reportedly pursuing access to 80,000 cell sites to turn Starlink into a major wireless carrier rivaling Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Tech advocacy groups warn that foreign nationals at AI companies like OpenAI and Google pose a national security threat amid a lack of federal oversight.

Singapore researchers built the world's first touchscreen woven into clothing, surviving 50 machine washes while displaying images and responding to touch.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

A startup founder woke to $449 in unexpected OpenAI and Anthropic charges after stolen API keys were exploited during the "Black October" cyber wave.

Educational Testing Service hackers stole millions of California student records, but families who moved out of state years ago may also be affected.

Apple's iPhone Duo screens are cracking near the hinge just days after its $1,999 launch, and iFixit's CT scans may reveal what's going wrong.

Travel expert Katy Nastro says 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles vanished from her account after someone redeemed them without permission.

Google AI Overviews can't be permanently turned off, but adding -AI to your searches and using the built-in Web filter can help bypass AI summaries.

Attaxion researchers found 30 fake Texas campaign merchandise stores traced to just two sellers hawking gear for competing Republicans and Democrats.

GM plans to debut eyes-off driving in the Cadillac Escalade IQ by 2028, but safety testing reveals how long distracted drivers take to regain control.

Data brokers assign labels predicting your health, finances and religion based on browsing and purchases, then sell those profiles to businesses.

Elon Musk says he'll give one SpaceX share to every kid in America in 2027, but key details about eligibility and distribution remain unclear.

ClearSpace UK's robotic spacecraft with giant claws will chase down dead satellites at 17,000 mph, with a 2029 launch from Scotland planned.

A fake Social Security statement phishing email uses the SSA logo and a convincing layout, but the sender's domain instantly exposes the scam.

A clean credit report doesn't mean your identity is safe. Six ways criminals can steal from you without triggering a credit monitoring alert.

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired professor, was arrested after blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk for months.