There is always this dilemma with titles. To begin with, I am never self-satisfied with a chosen title. And once I have chosen it, sticking by it is another task.
Thinking of it now, I feel how difficult can it be? I always start with one topic leading to another and then going as far as scribbling pages after pages on something totally irrelevant.
And I wonder does everyone go through that? Or is it just me?
Take this particular piece of writing, for example.
I sat down with a cup of hot ginger tea pondering over a germinating thought.
I wanted to discuss why is it that I stray from the original titles all the time, and within no time, I had scratched and scrawled everything else but just that. I wrote, stroked, did some more frantic scribbling, and all it had to do with was – ‘Why titles are important and the ways to write interesting titles’.
Most times, I then change the title to something new based on the write-up and some other times, I save that as a draft and start constructing on the original title.
And this happens all the time. Yes, then I push the blame on causes like easy-distraction, low-concentration, and going-with-the-flow kind of thing.
So, what really works when you’re struggling to write a befitting title?
1 Think about a title and build a story around it
or
2 Write a story and then craft a suitable title
Really! There’s no other way, people. If you thought, I’d share some foolproof secret ingredient, trust me, I’m lost for it too.
I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you share some of your ideas of title-straying and how you sort out the dilemma with titles.
Happy writing till we meet next.
Until then, carpe diem! 🙂
~~~~~
© Asha Seth
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I’ve faced this problem as well…
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And what do you do then?
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I face the same problem too! I always have 2 -3 and then choose the best
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Wow, thats a good idea. Tina. 😉
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This is happening to me everyday as well, but it’s quite exciting though. I am pushing myself the most I’ve ever done through all this time that I’ve been blogging, I know you must also be having that new excitement everyday which is keeping all us participants going. I am glad I found your blog because of this challenge, you are fun.
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Hehe! Thank you. You make it sound all the more exciting. Writing id a new excitement, a new adventure, every time I sit down to write. 🤓 I hope to see you around often. And will check your blog soon.
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Same here dear 😃
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🙂
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“Dilemma with Titles” it self is an apt title, hope you are getting recovered 🙂
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Yes, to some extent, I am, Vinay. 😛 Thank you.
How have you been?
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Ahh this is so very me…. I have started following bottom up approach now 😉 scribble everything else first and then name it.. Didn’t help too root out the problem but yes does help to an extent..
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Tried that once after reading your response here. Guess, it might take a while to get used to this approach.
I am thankful to you nonetheless, Supriya. 🙂
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I’ve never had problems with titles, but that’s not to say your problem is unimportant. We all have different foibles and different methods, it’s just that my method so often forces me to name everything. I can’t really “tackle the beast” if I can’t name it, but if I can title a story or blog post, then it comes to me so much easier.
It also helps that I have an abundance of poetry, words trivia, puns & ideas all for titling. My favourite trick is to take a common phrase or saying and twist it around. Even if I can’t think of one, let’s say I was writing a post about “Blood”, I would google “Blood phrases and quotes”, or even use http://www.phrases.org.uk/ and use their Google Custom Search. I could title the post something like “Thicker than Water”
Using this method is awesome fun, because you can quickly get the gist of my idea, but also, the audience gets to go “Hey, I’ve heard that before . . .” and feel clever.
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Wow! This is some amazing bit of information you’ve shared. Many readers will benefit form this. I have never Googled results for a tentative title but I guess one should. And yeah, thats some clever bit of idea to twist your words a little for some queer effect, in a good way, of course.
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Titles for me are easy, I usually write a post first and then come up with some sort of poorly judged pun or slightly interesting (maybe) phrase…having said that most of the stuff I do is book reviews so I’m alright. I feel your pain though, it is easy to under appreciate blog titles…i will have a new found respect for all your titles from now on.
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I am always amazed at how you work your way around the sleek titles. I always find it difficult to aptly title a post and then, there is always this underlying thought what if it doesn’t interest readers. But I always stick by something not too overdone types. If there is a way that could prove that titles attract readers, I do not know and would be least interested as I clearly dont seem to get the hang of it.
Rest, I guess, comes by experience.
How you doin, J?
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Nice..even i face the same problem. I do become restless after writing an article, because giving an apt title is challenging…Often my friends and colleagues sort out this problem for me…
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Yes, I have not tried that. Getting friends to shoulder some burden, I mean. 😛
Thanks for the fantastic idea, Sunil.
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I also used to have these problems with titles. But what I do these days is just write what I have to write and then select something ( a phrase or a word) from the body of the writing as the title.
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Hey Manu! Wait a minute, did you say – select something ( a phrase or a word) from the body of the writing as the title. That’s nice. I am going to employ that idea.
I haven’t gotten around yours in quite some time and yet again, I haven’t been receiving your posts in my reader. Downright annoying!
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Dont blame the reader this time. I haven’t blogged in a while… 🙂
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Quite an interesting post, you have put up. On more than a few occassions I also have to stop writing the post, go back read it all over again, delete a few paragraphs and come back on track.
I could completely relate to this post 😀
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Yeah, that’s quite some company I have then. Thanks dear. 😛
Delete a few paragraphs – I do that all the time too. Sometimes, the whole post, if its too much.
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