Why A Lot of My Work Has Really Long Titles

To be honest, I’m not quite sure where this started. I have always been drawn to books and stories that have long, drawn out, descriptively specific titles, so I guess that would explain it. But by the time I got around to titling my own pieces, I have often found that I like to create titles that go on for just way too long.

For example, the two pieces that have garnered the most traction for me so far have been:

A 1987 Honda Civic Hatchback and

things my mother told me while standing in front of a mirror, getting dressed

Again, not sure why I decided on long names, but other people seem to like them to because they’re picked up often.

And while the second title tells you exactly what the piece will be like, the first one gives absolutely no hints as to what the piece is about (it’s a silly and solemn take on a modern day Twilight Zone episode).

I think titles do two things: They’re of course your first hook, they bring in your audience of readers and attract people to your story; they also give you insight into who the writer is.

Stories that have short names, think Babe or 1984, shows you that the writer is going to get right to the point. Even a story like Bridgerton tells you that the writer is talking about something specific right from the get go. The story creator doesn’t have time to mess around, they don’t want to dilly dally or make a joke of any kind, they just want to get to the point of what they’re trying to say.

A writer who has a piece with a longer title will be the opposite. They’re not afraid to meander a bit, or to make fun of themselves or the story. Think about A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s a fairly long title of fairly long words, showing that the writer is here for a good time.

I have also often found that longer titles tend to be indicative of works of comedy, whereas shorter titles tend to be more dramatic. Even non-fiction books follow this pattern. I have a book on my shelf called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit but the “Fun and” is crossed out. It’s all about the industry in Hollywood from the perspective of big box-office hit screenwriters who, you guessed it, are comedians. I also have a book called Big Magic all about the creative mind and writer’s process that, in my opinion, takes itself way too seriously.

So, while we have these subconscious thoughts toward titles based on these patterns we’ve seen, I like to use that to my advantage as a writer. A longer title immediately will make you think of a comedy, as Honda Civic is. However, I also have played on that with Mother Told Me because it’s a piece that’s a very dramatic monologue about how parental emotional abuse stays with you.

I guess the reason I’m drawn to longer titles is because I like them. They make me feel like I know the author, like I have a bit of a glimpse into who they are and how they write before we even get to the meat of their story.

And that’s how I’d like to be perceived.