How Do You Title Your Literary Works?

10 posts

How do you title your literary works?

Grab a quote from the text
13
15%
Think of an interesting metaphor
13
15%
Make it short and mysterious
18
20%
Use a placeholder for now
6
7%
Change it 100000 times
9
10%
Ponder it during eleven consecutive showers
9
10%
Panic and slap something on at the last minute
11
13%
Other (comment below)
9
10%
 
Total votes : 88


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Gender Female
Points 70156
Reviews 705
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Hello everyone! Well, social week is over, and it is now March :D As we prepare for some really exciting events next month, like National Poetry Writing Month (NaPo), we thought that it would be a good time to reflect on literary works and how they are titled. Vote in this poll and let us know how you come up with your titles for your poems, novels, short stories, songs, and other works! Also, if you have any tips or tricks for coming up with good titles, please comment them below. Thank you so much to @Wolfi for this month's poll idea!

You can choose two options for this poll, so tell us your top two!


Do you have an epic idea for next month's poll? Send me a PM with your ideas! :D
Who's to say that my light is better than your darkness? Who's to say death is better than your darkness? Who am I to say?

Was AilahEvelynMae
and is now EllieMae :)




Random avatar
Gender Female
Points 2741
Reviews 88
Luckily, my titles come quite easily to me. For my novel ideas, they come to me when I first come up with the concept. With poems, I typically choose a title afterwards that I feel either captures the essence of the poem or is a line/word from the poem!




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Gender Genderfluid
Points 7400
Reviews 38
If only I could choose ALL of them! The truth is, I either use some sort of metaphor or a quote from the piece, but I only get there after numerous showers, changes, and more than a few mysterious options >.>
he/she/they


winter can usually be found wherever Leya is = another fun fact ~Leya
Winter you just have a whole cinematic universe in your head ~Wist
winter is the only person who would survive the machine uprising ~Europa




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Gender Female
Points 4396
Reviews 73
I have a weird process wherein I do all of them sometimes it sticks and sometimes I just decide that I'll do the title at the end (and if it's a novel there's a non-existent chance I finish so it just remains nameless T-T)
just take a breath, love
fill your lungs up ~




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Gender Female
Points 2367
Reviews 46
My titling process is very odd. There are many different ways of titling I indulge in.
A. I write a one or two-word title based on the vibes
B. I write a one or two-word title that shows directly what/who I wrote it about/what it's based on.
C. The title is a line that I add that makes it all make sense.
D. The title is a repeated word.
E. The title is the last or first word of the poem.
F. The title is what seems like the most important word in the poem.
F. Yes, sometimes the title is a quote.




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Gender Female
Points 18016
Reviews 133
I usually choose a single word that fits the overarching theme ~~ Like, a poem about motherhood being titled "matriarch" or "umbilical" / sometimes I pick the title before and write a poem with that word in mind.




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Gender Female
Points 13275
Reviews 196
I take the overall metaphor for the poem and then make it a whole sentence that requires commas and/or parenthesis. My inspo is old Fall Out Boy titles
I won't go down by myself, but I'll go down with my friends
I'm taking back the life you stole
Came a time when every star fall brought you to tears again

-My Chemical Romance




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Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
I like to make my titles Silly. This is because I can't take myself seriously.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled




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Gender Female
Points 89
Reviews 58
When something comes into my mind, usually a phrase or a few short words, I use that as motivation an inspiration on my flash fiction or short stories... It's also the only thing that keeps me on track with my topics lol
"You're not blowing them up! You're cremating them with flavor!" ~ Taost : 2026




Random avatar
Gender None specified
Points 200
Reviews 0
Titles are one thing I honestly don’t think I’ve ever struggled with. I could swear most of my best ideas come to me with titles preattached. Sure some have made me happier than others, but I’ve never been at a loss that I can remember



You know how hard it is to feel like an extreme falcon-headed combat machine when somebody calls you "chicken man"?
— Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid