BEGINNING NOTE THAT COMES BEFORE THE BEGINNING NOTE
This is my second try with this guide. Everything in the first four chapters (or some modification of it) has been published in my first attempt of this tale, but unfortunately that story was taken down. That is why I waited around two months to try again. Although, I'm afraid that if the guide gets removed for a second time I'm not going to risk putting it up again. Sorry.
BEGINNING NOTE
Well, now that we've cleared that up for all the people who had been following the deleted story and are wondering, What the heck? Where did the thingamabober go? I will begin with the real introduction.
This is a guide that's supposed to help beginners to this amazing site that you are currently situated upon. I've noticed most (not all, but most) of these kinds of guides swear like heck, and sort of disown you, and just tell you what you're doing wrong without giving any tips on how to correct it.
But this is how I work—a subject is chosen every chapter, and in that chapter I write tips, advice, and my own learning experiences. This will accumulate to create short lessons to guide you so that you become wonderful and amazing writers.
Any-whoozies, hope this helps!
-Bookworm1756
(PS: Any bolded notes are highlights you might want to remember. Either way there's a recap after each chapter.)
(WARNING: There are jokes in these chapters. Really bad ones. If you want to read this guide, you'll have to put up with them. Sorry.)
Titles
Titles are important. Before the summary, before the info, before reading, before ANYTHING, there is the title. It is what the reader first sees when they are innocently browsing through the list of stories. This is what makes them IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT.
They must DRAW ATTENTION!
They must IMPRESS READERS!
And they ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT BE IMMATURE AND SILLY! (More on this later.)
But there are different titles for different kinds of stories. Example, you are not going to name a short oneshot:
THE LONG SERIES OF EVEN MORE LONG EVENTS.
(…That was a horrible example, I'm sorry.)
I will now give out some advice for a title for each kind of story.
Oneshots: MAJORLY depends on the genre.
1. If it's happy, comedy, parody, and those other awesome joyful things, the title should be humorous. But not TOO silly. THERE IS SUCH THING AS TOO SILLY (even though I'm being silly for making that all capitals).
Example: For a story that's about a silly day with the Seven at the beach, consider…
Summer Days
But not…
The Seven Have a Blast at the Beach!
See, you've done several things there. One, you've already told the readers what happens. They don't know if there's going to be a storm, or a tsunami, or some drama and action. (Percy rides a shark, the sun blows up, etc.) You've given them spoilers. Don't explain the story in the title! That's what the summary is for.
Next, you've already made the title WAY too long! Shorten it up a bit. People want to imagine what happens!
BUT if you're better off long than short, go for long. With your title, you need to sort of lead the readers in the direction you want them to go in, then leave them hanging.
Example: Percabeth in Tartarus. If Rick had left it off at 'And then something tragic happened', fangirls wouldn't have reacted the same as if he left off at 'And then Percabeth fell into Tartarus, oopsie-daisy'.
In Summer Days, you know that it's during the summer because of the word 'days'. Days of the summer. Summer days. Cool. The summary does the rest of the explaining.
(Although, for fun oneshots, don't use just one word. That's TOO short. Too much and too little of everything is bad. You be the judge of if your title is okay or not.)
And finally, too silly! TOO SILLY! You think Summer Days isn't silly at all, but would you prefer just 'Summer'? It's summer. So what? The combination of the two words 'summer' and 'days' result in the main idea, so people know what to think and expect.
If the story is humour, then aim for a more humourous title. Remember, it's all with the genre.
-o-O-o-
2. Now… if the story is a bit more tragic and emotion-y, try a title that is sad and tragic and emotion-y. If it's about Leo closing the doors of death, then you should consider using the last word of the story as a title, or a word that creates a huge impact on the reader. Repeat: For sad and emotional stories, use a phrase or word from near the ending of the story. (You could do just any phrase, but the later the better because when the readers reach the end, they'll see that final line, and think, "Oh, now I get it." And then they'll sob because the story they just read was terrifyingly sad.)
Example:
Gone
Piper sobbed in her hands. "Is he really…?" she asked, as if there was still a small chance that the inevitable had yet to come. She didn't finish, not wanting to say it.
Jason wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he said. "But Leo is gone."
Another example: I have a oneshot called This is What Friends Are For. I'm not saying anything for spoilers, but basically it's Piper and Jason reminding Leo that he isn't alone in the world, and that he has friends. Piper's last words are, "Don't worry about it. This is what friends are for."
BAM! I have my title.
a) It doesn't explain ANYTHING about the story except that it's friendship.
b) Yes, it's long. I am a hypocrite. BUT if the title would be better off long than short and has the same result anyway, do it. Would you have wanted to read the story if the title was just 'Friends'? Not as much.
-o-O-o-
3. If the story is a series of oneshots, just be plain and simple. 100 Percabeth Oneshots. Grimm's Fairy Tales. Wayside Stories of Wayside School. Et cetera. You can't really give it a short interesting name because there are so many different stories, and you can't name them all. You name each oneshot with chapter titles, which we will talk more about later on in this guide. (But people LOVE Percabeth. If you say there's Percabeth in the title, then BAM WITH A FLASH OF LIGHTNING! People click on the story.)
NOTE: I think this is the only kind of story where explanatory titles are okay and can be used freely.
-o-O-o-
4. Song-fic: Just use the title of the song. No need to dress up and get fancy.
Now, for the poem: Consider a meaningful and powerful line from your poem. A line that has tons of emotion and thought put into it. (Similar to the tragic oneshot.)
Example:
And the World
Wind-blown black hair…
Crooked smile…
Warm embrace…
All those special little things about him and the world.
(Of course, your poem will not be that short. I just need to make a point.)
It doesn't really matter how long or short the title is, as long as it impacts.
(And yes, I suck at poems. No need to comment on my lack of skill in this area.)
Multi-chapter: Well, choose a topic the story is about. Choose an event that happens, and turn it into your title. I'm going to use one of my own stories as an example: Life at the Wilderness School. Piper and Leo are only at the Wilderness School for, like, ten chapters. And there are more than forty chapters.
But you know why I chose that name? It drew attention! All them Leo fangirls are innocently scrollin' through the story section and looking for a good Leo story to read, when BAM! Life at the Wilderness School! They click on it, and that's step one. After that your skills are the only thing that keeps them reading.
Say for example I had chosen to name that story Leo and Piper's Amazing Story of How They Went to School, CHB, and then Off to Save the World.
(Okay, I exaggerated that. But you get the point.)
NO ONE would have bothered continue reading the summary, even if they were hardcore Leo fans. The title is TOO SILLY. (Remember when I mentioned that earlier?) They'll think the writer is young and immature, and then think the story is young and immature and will ridicule Leo horribly.
(Unless, of course, your story is parody. Then the sky is basically not even close to the limit when it comes to silliness!)
And the too-much-information bit I had talked about earlier!
Now, what if the story only takes place around ONE thing? ONE problem. ONE way to fix everything. Then, no-brainer, base the title on that. But that's the simple version. To make things a bit more interesting, you could name it after…
An important object/person with another title (so 'Percy' would be the 'Son of Neptune') [The Lost Hero/The Mark of Athena]
An action that is happening during the book (probably the main problem) [End of Days]
An important idea [The Eternity Code]
An important incident/event [The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]
An important place [The Sea of Monsters]
A cool phrase used in the middle of the story [Last Stand of Dead Men] (Usually for published novels.)
An important name/noun [The Hunger Games]
A quote, maybe from the bible or Shakespeare or something, that summarizes the moral or is just cool-sounding [The Fault in our Stars]
A cool word that has nothing to do with the book [Nevermore]
And remember if you're doing a series to make the names similar!
Examples:
The books of The Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix; they all have one word verbs as titles, the verbs indicating what the main idea is. (Found, Sent, Sabotaged, Torn, Caught, etc.)
And the Lorien Legacies all have numbers in their title. Probably because the seven main protagonists have numbers as names.
Also a few more noticeable mentions…
Caps lock? Don't use it. You know why? (Say it with me if you can.) The readers will think that the writer is young and immature, and then think the story is young and immature. There! (This guide is the only exception because I say so.)
Don't use words like 'awesome', 'epic', or any of their synonyms in the title. Remember young and immature. Use them in the summary.
Another thing you could do: if the summary sort of repeats the same line over and over (see the second example in exercises below), you can make the title that line that repeats.
And bend these rules a bit. If you use a title that goes against what I just said but you think it's fine to use, then by all means go for it!
Exercises!
I will sometimes do this in a chapter. They're basically exercises to practice what we've learned ('cause I've learned a lot by writing this out as well). For this chapter I will give you a summary for a story, and you need to give me a title. (These are all made up stories off the top of my head.)
1) Somewhere over the rainbow… someone lives a happier life. Somewhere over the rainbow… a child is laughing for the first time. Somewhere over the rainbow… someone's dreams are about to come true, while over on this side someone's are only getting darker. Poems of dreams of over the rainbow.
2) High School Senior Annabeth Chase has moved from California to New York in an attempt to leave her old self behind. But she is quickly put in danger when a certain green-eyed classmate gets a hold of her secret. Will she be able to cheat her way out of this? Or will the truth of Annabeth's past be revealed? AU
3) Seven times Frank Zhang was teased for his nationality, and the one time he got the last laugh. Oneshot
RECAP
Titles are important. They must…
a) Draw attention
b) Impress readers
c) Not be silly
Don't give out too much information in the title, but not too little either.
The type of title (humerous, angst, etc.) should correspond with the genre of the story.
And be creative! These are just my own tips, but don't let them keep you back from being free... to do... like... stuff. Yeah.
Keep on writing ;)
-Bookworm