"Get Your Title Right!" with Becky

a session on how to find the best titles

Hi pals. I come with something a bit different today—a brand new craft session, freshly wrapped.

Today I gave a short talk on the subject of titles. I don’t typically give craft talks through Lit Mag News, but I thought titles are such an important part of the writing and submissions process, so why not. It was fun! Perhaps I will do more craft-related sessions in the future. (Let me know if you’d like more of these.)

Here, I talked about the importance of titles as the first encounter a reader, editor or agent has with your work. A great title can provoke a mystery, raising questions that lead a reader want to learn more. It can also establish the tone of a piece. Is your work quirky and playful? Is it serious or lyrical?

A strong title can highlight elements you want to emphasize—an image, an object, a motif. It can draw the reader’s attention to themes or commonalities among a set of stories, essays or poems, unifying disparate narratives into a cohesive whole. It can introduce a pivotal moment, an important character, a turning point, a setting, not to mention your own authorial voice.

Crucially, the process of brainstorming titles can help you, the writer, resolve difficult craft problems and even strengthen your work. What in your piece is vital? What is non-negotiable? What is uniquely yours?

I talked about all of this, then participants brainstormed some titles of their own, and we did a fun exercise trying to guess the titles of a few short published works.

The video is below for anyone who wanted to attend but couldn’t, or who’s interested in learning more.

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To everyone who participated, thank you for showing up and for inspiring me, as always.

Happy viewing!