Flash Fiction Challenge: Come Up With A Title
This one is so damn easy.
And yet, so damn hard.
See, coming up with the new and proper titles for stories is a difficult act, sometimes — you either have the title going in (which makes it easy), or you need to think of a title for a story, and that’s when (for me, at least) it gets hella hard. Thinking of a title for a pre-existing story is the one time when I really get vaporlock in my writing. I just sit there, stammering. “THE… THING ABOUT THE STUFF. THE… THE NIGHT THE EVENT HAPPENED. THE HAPPENING. THE STUFFENING. THE SWORD OF THE NIGHT OF THE REVENGE OF THE RABBIT OH GOD THIS BOOK DOESN’T HAVE SWORDS OR RABBITS AND BARELY ANY REVENGE AT ALL.”
I’m not good at titles.
Ray Bradbury was famous for making up a list of titles and then writing stories to match those titles. And that’s a little bit of what we’re going to do here, today.
All I want you to do is come up with a title.
One title.
No more.
Then take that title and plop it into the comments below.
Next week, you will all have a chance to scout out the completed list of titles in the comments and write a story geared toward one of those made-up titles (one you did not yourself invent).
That’s it. That’s all. Easy, and yet, difficult.
GET THEE TO THE TITLEMOBILE
September 18, 2015 @ 7:48 AM
Of those in Shadow
September 18, 2015 @ 7:50 AM
The Apocalypse – Part 2
September 18, 2015 @ 7:51 AM
A Circle Around Us
September 18, 2015 @ 7:53 AM
Walled Inside
September 18, 2015 @ 7:54 AM
Leave Her Breathless. (This could either be some juicy erotica, or a fast-paced psycho-thriller. Or body horror about a suffocating disease.)
September 18, 2015 @ 7:57 AM
With Blood and Dust
September 26, 2015 @ 2:24 AM
I’m gonna try this one.
September 18, 2015 @ 7:57 AM
United States of Africa
September 18, 2015 @ 7:57 AM
The Memory of Water
September 18, 2015 @ 8:21 AM
I like it. A few story ideas immediately popped into my mind.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:14 AM
Yes, I like it too.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:52 AM
Me too! It sounds beautiful, and it doesn’t lock you into any genre etc. Definitely a possibility for next week’s challenge…
September 18, 2015 @ 1:19 PM
Sounds like California…
September 18, 2015 @ 10:48 PM
Inspiring!
September 18, 2015 @ 10:54 PM
Not a big deal but this is the title of an episode of the BBC series rosemary and thyme.
September 20, 2015 @ 2:28 AM
Hi j.k. — is it just the episode title?
September 27, 2015 @ 12:19 PM
I’m actually currently reading a book with this title – written by Emmi Itaranta. It is a beautiful title. 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 7:58 AM
the orphan and the dragon.
September 27, 2015 @ 1:20 PM
I think I’ll try my hand at this one. If I finish it in time, and even if I don’t, I’ll link to it here 🙂
September 28, 2015 @ 1:18 AM
Thanks Rachel. I look forward to seeing what you come up with 😀
September 18, 2015 @ 8:01 AM
“Trophy Persona”
“Game of Faces”
“Deck of Selves”
September 18, 2015 @ 8:01 AM
“in the game of faces you either win or look ugly.”
September 18, 2015 @ 8:14 AM
I misread it as “Game of Faeces” 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 9:26 AM
Check out the huge vocabulary! 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 11:34 AM
“In the game of faeces, ya wins or ya poos.”
September 18, 2015 @ 9:26 AM
I was thinking more along the lines of “in the game of faces, you could be anyone… And anyone could kill you…”
Or something equally paranoia-inducing.
September 18, 2015 @ 8:01 AM
After Mars
September 18, 2015 @ 8:05 AM
“The Beast of Both Worlds”
October 1, 2015 @ 4:24 PM
Hi Rick. Loved the title, so came up with a short story. You can find it at http://tomghadams.uk/
September 18, 2015 @ 8:05 AM
The Lebin Selective
September 19, 2015 @ 6:56 PM
This one is intriguing. I’m thinking Sci-Fi
September 18, 2015 @ 8:06 AM
The Illusion of Control
September 18, 2015 @ 8:10 AM
The Hairstylist’s Maserati
September 18, 2015 @ 8:12 AM
Coming up with a title isn’t so hard. It’s coming up with a title someone else hasn’t already thought of that is the kicker. How ’bout…
Burning the Wendigo
September 18, 2015 @ 1:20 PM
I thought you wrote Burning the Winnebago.
I need more coffee
September 19, 2015 @ 3:49 PM
I like that better. Go with that.
September 18, 2015 @ 8:15 AM
The Fae Accord
September 18, 2015 @ 7:55 PM
I like the sound of this one…
September 18, 2015 @ 9:27 PM
Seconded. That’s an inspiring title.
September 18, 2015 @ 8:24 AM
I strangely have no trouble coming up with titles as long as I don’t have the story to go with them. I get vapor lock if I’m trying to title the story I just wrote, though. So here’s one (I keep a list)
Does God Order Pizza?
September 18, 2015 @ 8:26 AM
Carrying Rage
September 18, 2015 @ 8:35 AM
“The Night It Came”
September 18, 2015 @ 8:38 AM
Chasing Shadows
September 18, 2015 @ 8:40 AM
“Robot Souls, Cheap”
September 18, 2015 @ 8:59 AM
This reminds me of a story I just read on Daily Science Fiction. 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 7:57 PM
In the opening scene of The Seven Samurai there’s a sign in the background advertising a sword smith who can sharpen souls.
September 19, 2015 @ 4:55 PM
Intriguing. They don’t exist, or do they, or will they?? How will we know? How do you price them?
September 19, 2015 @ 6:57 PM
cheap, I hear.
September 18, 2015 @ 8:40 AM
It’s Hard to Kiss with a Stiff Upper Lip.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:10 AM
Haha! This blog needs a “like” button!
September 18, 2015 @ 10:15 AM
*like*
September 18, 2015 @ 8:41 AM
The Forbidden Orchids of the Screaming Abyss
September 18, 2015 @ 12:44 PM
Like-ity, like, like, like.
September 19, 2015 @ 5:39 AM
Thanks:)
September 19, 2015 @ 10:58 PM
I like it!
September 18, 2015 @ 8:42 AM
Unicorn Freedom
September 18, 2015 @ 8:44 AM
“Did Anaïs Nin Eat Cannoli?”
September 18, 2015 @ 10:14 AM
Ha!!
September 18, 2015 @ 8:46 AM
The Underground King
September 18, 2015 @ 9:19 AM
I love that one!
September 18, 2015 @ 8:51 AM
The Crack in Lucy’s Eye
September 18, 2015 @ 9:55 AM
I like this one. Maybe a horror story?
September 18, 2015 @ 10:17 AM
Ooo, I like this one.
September 18, 2015 @ 8:55 AM
Five Days to Lunch.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:39 AM
Awesome.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:13 AM
Smile When You Kill Me
September 22, 2015 @ 8:50 AM
I had an idea for a collection of short stories and this title would be perfect for one of the as yet unwritten pieces.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:15 AM
Pretense to Pillory
September 19, 2015 @ 6:58 PM
So, this got me laughing Monty Python style….but it could also be serious.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:17 AM
Pumpkin Patch & Little Bit
September 18, 2015 @ 9:17 AM
The Magic Store
September 18, 2015 @ 9:17 AM
Mr. Moon in Jerusalem
September 18, 2015 @ 9:24 AM
Dancing Queen
September 18, 2015 @ 9:27 AM
When the Sun Shines at Night
September 18, 2015 @ 9:34 AM
Solipsists of the World Unite
September 18, 2015 @ 9:39 AM
That sounds like it should be a story from one of Heinlein’s universes.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:36 AM
Solo Conspiracy.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:39 AM
Crossing paths with stars
September 18, 2015 @ 9:40 AM
The South Shall Burn Again.
September 18, 2015 @ 11:29 AM
Oh I really like this one. Makes me think of like, a futuristic Civil War, history repeating itself, etc.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:42 AM
Title: “The Good Die First”
September 18, 2015 @ 9:44 AM
Thirty Minutes or It’s Free
September 18, 2015 @ 9:44 AM
The Devil in Her Bra
September 18, 2015 @ 9:45 AM
The Skull on the TV
September 18, 2015 @ 9:46 AM
The Muffled Silence
September 18, 2015 @ 9:57 AM
I like this one, too.
September 18, 2015 @ 10:09 AM
Thank you… it’s late here and I’ve been out at a birthday party… just checked on what we had to do; and like Ray Bradbury, I usually have a few titles playing around in my head. This one just kinda popped into my mind. 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 9:50 AM
Alternate Ending.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:51 AM
Stone Cold Suzie
September 18, 2015 @ 9:55 AM
Someone just has to write THE SWORD OF THE NIGHT OF THE REVENGE OF THE RABBIT, because that title is far too awesome to not be connected to something.
September 18, 2015 @ 9:56 AM
The Man Who Never Wore Black
(btw, I’m so glad someone has the EXACT same issue with titles as I do. If it doesn’t come packaged with the story I know I’m in for some work.)
September 18, 2015 @ 10:02 AM
Slipping Realities
September 18, 2015 @ 10:12 AM
I like writing these kinds of stories, they really bring out the Twilight Zone ways in our minds… creepy stuff.
September 18, 2015 @ 10:18 AM
This has some interesting sci-fi possibilities. 🙂
September 18, 2015 @ 11:37 AM
I first read that as “Sipping Realities.”
September 18, 2015 @ 7:59 PM
Also good.