J.G. Chayko

Titles are the headline to your stories. The title of your piece is the first thing a reader sees, and it can be an effective way to invite them into your story. The right title will always be remembered. Before I launched my first blog (The Old Lady in My Bones) I spent weeks writing down ideas. There are thousands of blogs in the world, and I wanted a unique name to make it memorable. The right title will stick in a reader’s mind, giving them the power to spread the word and introduce more readers to your work.

I enjoy the challenge of creating titles. I always begin a piece with a working title, and sometimes that title will be the right one from the start; sometimes I can build the story around the name; other times my title will change as the story develops. Before I make a final decision, I will revisit my story and search for key words that provide a small hint to the story’s subject. The title works as a magnet, attracting the reader to your story. Crafting a title is a very personal task. The title connects the writer to their project, and as a reader, I always enjoy the challenge of uncovering the connection between the title and the work. Sometimes the connection is obvious; other times, we can’t glimpse the relationship between the content and the title, but we understand, on some instinctive level, that there is a reason the writer chose to give this name to their story.

Finding the right name for your story or project can sometimes be a frustrating chore, but take the time to work through it, try to have a bit of fun with it, and have faith that sometime throughout your creative process the right title will emerge.