Genre-based Story Titles

[J_Chemist]

Hello All, I come with discussion topic.

Story Titles. They're meant to be both inviting, cool, witty, and describe the story inside in the absolute most concise manner possible. However, I have come to also noticed that some titles are very "genre based". By this I mean story titles tend to be structured a certain way depending on their genre, or at least that is how I perceive it, and it's something I wonder if that is something other people notice as well.

Some examples:

• Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara
  • Clearly depicts a video game of some sort, fitting as it is a LITRPG that takes place in a literal game world. So it sets us up already to be prepared for that.
• Three by Jay Posey
  • The singular word puts weight on it. We know it's a person based off the cover art of the novel and with the genre being dystopian post-apocalypse, it might even be a moniker of some kind. The importance of this individual, however, is unknown. But the fact that the title is centered on them means we're about to find out.
• My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected by Wataru Watari
  • As we know in the title, this is probably a RomCom (definitely, actually, it says it). The title is long and is almost a full sentence. Most light novels and RomComs of the current era are just like this in some way. The title here tells us there's probably going to be an MC who's about to face some struggles in his High School love life.
    

I pick these books because they show fitting examples of titles matching the "rules of the genre". GameLit titles utilize game names that the story may follow or tend to reference digital worlds of some fashion. Fantasy novels refer more to the world itself, people we'll be following/chasing, or reference a grand quest/adventure of some kind. RomComs tend to be long sentences that tend to tell you the story premise straight out. And there are many others.

I bring this up because I would like to expand on three topics here as while trying to brainstorm a title for a second potential novel, I found myself trying to follow the "rules". You are welcome to answer all three, one, or none.

1. Do you also find the titles to be genre based? If so, what other titles of stories have you found to follow these rules? What are those rules? If not, do you think stories should?
   
   
2. How important is it that a title of a story grabs you? Do you find the title to be the first thing that draws you in, or is it another detail that gets your attention? I do find the title to be something that sparks my very initial interest, but what hooks me usually is the synopsis or the first chapter (usually the prologue). The title I personally don't put a whole lot of stock into since it generally is just the name that I use to reference it.
   
   
3. When picking a title for your own story, how do you go about it? Do you find rules of the genre to follow and guide you? Do you pull something out of the air and "if it fits, it sits"? Do you reference something within the novel like a World, a location, or a person? Or are you the type that just uses what sounds cool and wing it from there?

Consider it curiosity that I ask these questions, as I am currently suffering and want a mental break. Thanks and have a wonderful day!

 

[Zinless]

Do you also find the titles to be genre based? If so, what other titles of stories have you found to follow these rules? What are those rules? If not, do you think stories should?

I have the most basic story title so I have no say in this. (Reincarnated Into Two Bodies, that's it.)

I guess my title would fall into the 'synopsis' title trope? You know, the ones that literally says what the story is about:

-Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon
-I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
-Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Party Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to an Infinite Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge

How important is it that a title of a story grabs you? Do you find the title to be the first thing that draws you in, or is it another detail that gets your attention? I do find the title to be something that sparks my very initial interest, but what hooks me usually is the synopsis or the first chapter (usually the prologue). The title I personally don't put a whole lot of stock into since it generally is just the name that I use to reference it.

I agree with this. I mostly pay attention to the synopsis more than the title (except when the author turned the synopsis into the title.)

When picking a title for your own story, how do you go about it? Do you find rules of the genre to follow and guide you? Do you pull something out of the air and "if it fits, it sits"? Do you reference something within the novel like a World, a location, or a person? Or are you the type that just uses what sounds cool and wing it from there?

I wing it.

 

[LilRora]

1. Definitely, although it's a blend that's hard to make heads and tails of without contradicting yourself. I would say the most distinct divide is between tragedies (thrillers, horrors as well) and comedies - the former typically have short titles, while the latter tend to have longer. Generally, the more serious a story is, the shorter the title, but it's obviously not that simple.

The few well known examples that I can mention are Oshi No Ko, Bleach, or Vinland Saga from the serious ones, and That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime or Saintess Summons Skeletons from the more casual ones. Opposite or unclear cases are not rare though, for example Salvos, So I'm a Spider, So What?, or Chainsaw Man.

2. It is important, but it's only one of the few things that matter the most. For me it's a combination of the title, cover, and synopsis (as it is for most people, I assume), but I generally use the title as a way to check if the story is bad, not if the story is good.

3. I usually think what kind of title would match the style of my story, and try to come up with something that would somehow allude to the story, not be too vague, but I don't like direct titles that basically state facts. Also, I'm not sure what's the difference between "if it fits, I sits" and winging it, but I probably do both.

 

[J_Chemist]

"if it fits, I sits" and winging it, but I probably do both.

• "If it fits, I sits" means coming up with a title that sounds good enough and fits the premise. When you conceptualize it, it fits the bill enough that you don't really need to change it. This is a title that works.
  
  
• Winging it would be more along the lines of spitting something out without much regard of whether it's good or not but sticking with it anyways because you don't care enough to change it. This is a title that may or may not work, but it's whatever.

 

[LilRora]

• "If it fits, I sits" means coming up with a title that sounds good enough and fits the premise. When you conceptualize it, it fits the bill enough that you don't really need to change it. This is a title that works.
  
  
• Winging it would be more along the lines of spitting something out without much regard of whether it's good or not but sticking with it anyways because you don't care enough to change it. This is a title that may or may not work, but it's whatever.

Then I do both. Usually the first one, but I often wing the titles of stories I'm just starting, and in many cases change the title when I rewrite one and have better idea where I want to take the story.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Play with it until you find what sounds right.

 

[Shard]

I'm personally annoyed with the whole 'title is synopsis' type that is so common these days. Personally, I just go with something that seems to fit the setting and reasonably give an idea of the content. Example: The First Kitsune of Atryna is about the first kitsune to exist in the world ruled by the goddess Atryna, nice, simple, to the point, gives an idea of what to expect without giving away everything. A lot of it is finding something that sounds good, as well. There are many cases where a title works well except for sounding horrible, so you have to change it so it flows better, which might make it not fit so well, so you gotta tweak that too. It can be challenging, which may be why many people just give up and/or do a synopsis for a title.

 

[CubicleHermit]

I think it's more common to describe the premise than a synopsis - more "here's what happened to set up the situation" than "here's what's going to happen."

If a plot is boring enough for the title to fit not just the premise but a summary of the whole storyline, then that's pretty bad.

 

[melchi]

A lot of light novels get picked or rejected based on the title.

Like you mentioned, sword art online:

Swordplay is a big part, and online is a big part. If someone likes both of those things a title like that delivers on the promise.

I think it is important to stick with the core idea that novel is built around though. Blue Core is a really good example. For the most part I really liked that story but it sorta seemed like it wasn't really obvious what kind of book it wanted to be. At times it was a magical crafting story. At times it was a smut story. At times it was a political intrigue story. At times it was a war story.

The author mentioned in the epilogue that trying to branch out so much was a mistake and he wasn't happy with the work. Interestingly, the same author also is writing paranoid mage which IMO is one of the best web novels on this site right now.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

That One Time I Got Reincarnated as a Spoon with an Eating System in a Culinary World

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I just chose a concept that was important to the main character and stuck it as the title: "Charisma," and since that is an obvious stat that would infer that my story is a LitRPG and relies on social shiitake mushrooms and not action. I think I definitely hold to the trend, because while it does have its humorous moments, it's a horror psychological grimdark etc. through and through.

 

[M.G.Driver]

I base my title on the words I use when describing the novel to my friends and other authors. Whatever keyword I use to convey the overall gist of the novel gets put into the title.