by Whispersecret
Very good observation. Ya that's how I pick my stories to read. I also lean toward stories written by women. They usually have more of a seductive Hugh in their writing vs male authors.
This gives me more fuel for thought when it comes to titles.
And very useful. Thank you for sound advice. I'm wrestling with a story title at the moment and I refuse to settle for what it's currently called. This piece encourages me to follow my instinct and keep thinking until the title has the YES factor.
to find good writing about writing!! this is an exceptionally well-written piece and it has helped me very much. so not dull, witty, and gives really good ideas and suggestions i wouldn't have been able to find by myself. really impressed. this is going on my favs list! sincerely, sensualquills
Reading the suggestion that dialogue is important misses the theme of the article. "HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO READ YOUR STORY." The author of this piece does a nice job touching on the important stuff to accomplsih his goal. I know I have wrestled with a title for days and still never came up with one I felt was very good fo the particular story.
The next best thing to a good title is putting realistic dialogue up front in the first couple of paragraphs. I get turned off by 20 paragraphs of descriptions and first person stream of conscious reporting. If the story doesn't have characters that talk I'm not interested. Sometimes I violate this rule in the second or third chapter, as you need to get the reader updated as to what happened in previous chapters. Still to make a story come alive, the charaters have to interact verbally.
I'm just getting ready to submit my first story, and your suggestions are helpful. I know the title is important, but am having a hard time coming up with something. Now I know not to just give in and pick something generic.