First Impression of a Story based on the title alone

GDLiZy

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hory-portier

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I will stand on the opposite side in this case.
I am strongly against simple titles that actually directly describe events inside the novel. The title "Romance of Three Kingdoms" instantly made ma sure that this absolutely can't be about romance. I would prefer to avoid going with the title into what Japanese are doing now and many novels are also getting into, where they decided that the readers are so lazy that they don't read synopsis anymore, and so they started putting description in the place of title, by creating all those long names.

I prefer instead the names that are cleaver or deep. It could be the name of something in the novel that shows up only later in the story or could be metaphor. There are also some universal titles like The chronicles of XXX or diary of YYY.

Readers are lazy but not stupid. Even if some might actually be stupid, there is no reason to think of all of our readers as some idiots. I definitely don't write for idiots and like to add some philosophical digressions in my novel. Some titles make me wonder about it's meaning even after I finished reading the whole thing, because it could be understood in more than one way. I like that.
 

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In a more articulate sense -- "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a romance. Of nations!

But seriously.
 
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I thought Nancy Drew would be an artist, not a detective.

Otherwise, the title will be Nancy Solve Cases.

I also thought Hunger Games is a fun gourmet novel
 
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For me the artwork sometimes is the first impression which sticks and not always positive. One particular story that updates often, I just cannot/will not be reading; even if the cover art is apropos, it's a huge turnoff.

*cough* Goldthirst Company *cough*
 

JayDirex

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I will stand on the opposite side in this case.
I am strongly against simple titles that actually directly describe events inside the novel. The title "Romance of Three Kingdoms" instantly made ma sure that this absolutely can't be about romance. I would prefer to avoid going with the title into what Japanese are doing now and many novels are also getting into, where they decided that the readers are so lazy that they don't read synopsis anymore, and so they started putting description in the place of title, by creating all those long names.

I prefer instead the names that are cleaver or deep. It could be the name of something in the novel that shows up only later in the story or could be metaphor. There are also some universal titles like The chronicles of XXX or diary of YYY.

Readers are lazy but not stupid. Even if some might actually be stupid, there is no reason to think of all of our readers as some idiots. I definitely don't write for idiots and like to add some philosophical digressions in my novel. Some titles make me wonder about it's meaning even after I finished reading the whole thing, because it could be understood in more than one way. I like that.

Lol hory-portier, your principled stance is reasoned and commendable. I like it and agree. But titles are fickle, and one complete novel I wrote I went full Japanese because it was the best title for the novel: Why Do Bad Girls Love Dan? 🤣😉🐶 (and it was the "in" thing to do at the time).
 

AkalE

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I will stand on the opposite side in this case.
I am strongly against simple titles that actually directly describe events inside the novel. The title "Romance of Three Kingdoms" instantly made ma sure that this absolutely can't be about romance. I would prefer to avoid going with the title into what Japanese are doing now and many novels are also getting into, where they decided that the readers are so lazy that they don't read synopsis anymore, and so they started putting description in the place of title, by creating all those long names.

I prefer instead the names that are cleaver or deep. It could be the name of something in the novel that shows up only later in the story or could be metaphor. There are also some universal titles like The chronicles of XXX or diary of YYY.

Readers are lazy but not stupid. Even if some might actually be stupid, there is no reason to think of all of our readers as some idiots. I definitely don't write for idiots and like to add some philosophical digressions in my novel. Some titles make me wonder about it's meaning even after I finished reading the whole thing, because it could be understood in more than one way. I like that.

100% agreed.
From what I've seen this is true even for most successful webfictions.

The Wandering Inn isn't really about a traveling inn.
Worm isn't about worms.

Even Eastern fiction, like Coiling Dragon, Second Coming of Gluttony and Legendary Moonlight Sculpture....

It especially is off putting for me when I see ridiculously long titles like, "I got home and the door was open and there was three armed talking cat!".
It just looks too amateurish even for webnovels.
 

amethystore

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It especially is off putting for me when I see ridiculously long titles like, "I got home and the door was open and there was three armed talking cat!".
It just looks too amateurish even for webnovels.
But it did work in some parts of the world ... 😼

Though, I agree with that ... it's just tad bit too long make me uncomfortable.

Especially when some friend asked me, "hey, whatcha readin'?"
And I just like "it's a book titled 'Oh no, I reincarnated into asshole that dreamed about cat-eared senpai and my mother become a son-con...'"
Then he just "... O-okay"

That's just really awkward moment ...
 

Goswick

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It especially is off putting for me when I see ridiculously long titles like, "I got home and the door was open and there was three armed talking cat!".
It just looks too amateurish even for webnovels.

That sort of "long title" thing strikes me as an attempt to write a synopsis for a title instead of just making a good title. It kind of spoils the fun for me, but there are some stories that have these kinds of titles and still show great promise.

Still, it certainly kills my motivation to pick up a story in a lot of cases, I have to admit.
 

Saileri

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Since I first dipped into western books before discovering asian ones, I'm more fond of really short titles. Be it either some name, location, world, event. Getting to the title drop or event that creates it is a nice feeling.

I like mysterious titles that don't reveal the main point instantly, but it's not like I have descriptive titles. It's weird since my first project is titled "The 4th XXX" and my 2nd one "I own a XXX in another world", but a mystery title just didn't fit the story. Pardon the XXX's, can't have you stealing my ideas ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) jk ofc.

I never assume the title means something literal.
 

TotallyHuman

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I thought the dear and the cauldron was about witches and fairytales-esque scenarios.
And deers
 

TotallyHuman

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I will stand on the opposite side in this case.
I am strongly against simple titles that actually directly describe events inside the novel. The title "Romance of Three Kingdoms" instantly made ma sure that this absolutely can't be about romance. I would prefer to avoid going with the title into what Japanese are doing now and many novels are also getting into, where they decided that the readers are so lazy that they don't read synopsis anymore, and so they started putting description in the place of title, by creating all those long names.

I prefer instead the names that are cleaver or deep. It could be the name of something in the novel that shows up only later in the story or could be metaphor. There are also some universal titles like The chronicles of XXX or diary of YYY.

Readers are lazy but not stupid. Even if some might actually be stupid, there is no reason to think of all of our readers as some idiots. I definitely don't write for idiots and like to add some philosophical digressions in my novel. Some titles make me wonder about it's meaning even after I finished reading the whole thing, because it could be understood in more than one way. I like that.
But I mean, light novels are light novels? Such a title can set the mood and the expectations for the readers.
 
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