Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Openings: TITLES

Bland, uninteresting, vague or generic titles.

The Dream

The Funeral

John's Story

One Good Turn

Seeing Red

Remembering

The Party

Before the Party

After the Party

Happy Ever After

Counting Your Chickens

Spring

The Trip


You should understand that an editor or a judge gets hundreds of stories with boring, uninteresting, draggy, uninspiring titles, titles which give very little sense of the story.

And if we don't think the writer has tried very hard to create a good title, why should we think they will have tried hard to create a worthwhile story?


WHAT ABOUT?



The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

Meredith Toop Evans & His Butty Ernie the Egg

My Dead Brother Comes to America

The Bastard William Williams

The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin

The White Hunter's First Man

The Things They Carried

HP, Cedric and the Flying Saucer in Camden High Street

The Best Girlfriend You Never Had

Tomatoes, Flamingos, Lemmings & Other Interesting Facts

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The Last Love Letter of Berwyn Phillip Price

The Ruining of Bridget O'Malley

Seven Hills, a Postman, Silly Money




and so on...


A good title doesn't make a bad story good, nor an ordinary story noticeably better, but at least, if it intrigues it keep that editor or judge awake a little longer.

Now if a title also has sparkle, and/or gives a good idea of the story's content, or indicates a certain mood or attitude, that's a huge plus.





alx

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