Story Naming Cliches · 3:19pm Apr 23rd, 2014
So I'm sorta done with the story naming conventions and cliches on this goddamn site. I'm sure you've noticed them. It really bugs me. There's a bunch of annoyingly overused elements. Starting a title with the words "A", "Of", or "An"; any kind of fire-themed or darkness-themed word, and generally just being overly dramatic in general. Those are just examples, but I think you likely know what I mean. I really wish I didn't have to judge a fic by its cover, but when I'm browsing, guess what? That's why there's a cover- to judge by. I don't have time to read every fic, so I have to separate the wheat from the chaff pretty quickly. And if your story has a title that sounds like it was written by a middle-schooler, chances are I, and most other users, won't even give it the time of day. So keep that in mind.
Conversely, a good title grabs my attention pretty quickly. In fact, since I tend to not judge by the cover art (it's hardly a representation of your writing skills), the title is the first and most important thing I see. And if it's clever and unique, it usually gets me curious enough to open up the story and read the full description. Sure, I look at the rating and statistics, and I read the short description, but since I'm probably searching by tag anyway, I'll likely be expecting the subject matter. A title is a burst of expression, a window into the mind of the author. If it's good, the author is good. Now, good authors can have bad titles, too- it's like squares and rectangles. But bad authors almost never have good titles on their stories.
Anyway, the point is, take the time to figure out a good title. If a 10 year old could come up with it, scrap it and try again.
