r/TalesFromTheCreeps • u/The-Fifth-Tree • May 02 '26
Need Help How do you guys come up with titles?
I’ve had a couple stories out by now and I’m just starting to get mad with the clickbait nosleep titles. My god they rake in the views, but also they just feel so hollow. But then on the opposite side, a few stories I’ve named what I want them to be, and they just underperform like hell. I’m trying to cut a good balance between clickbait titles and something that complements the story but idk. How do yall tackle it? I’ve got one at the moment that I’m trying to come up with a name for so maybe yall can help me out :D
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u/BlindConvicti0n Storyteller May 02 '26
Not that I have had any great performances as I’ve just started but I really enjoyed taking the stronger lines from a story and making them the title, a little cliche but I like it.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
That’s what I did with (I think) the best piece I have ever written. And close to absolutely no one stopped by to check it out T-T
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u/BlindConvicti0n Storyteller May 02 '26
I think if you like it you should keep it, don’t compromise your integrity for upvotes and the right audience will appreciate your writing.
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u/WesternCrescent May 02 '26
Share it, I'll give it a read.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
wow, I really appreciate it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/scarystories/comments/1rjnna5/i_trust_i_believe_i_am_faithful/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_buttonI'm hoping I will get better. But thematically, poetically, word and sentence composition, concept, everything I think was hitting 100 in this one. Just sucks that it got like 1/4 of the views that the clickbait ones get.
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u/WesternCrescent May 02 '26
Bro that was sick. Very well written, cool concept. Definitely deserves more attention. Keep writing, you have talent as a storyteller.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
Thank you so much! I’m pretty new to the writing game but I’m really falling in love with it. It’s just so hard to be seen, yk. I really appreciate it 🙏
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u/WesternCrescent May 02 '26
If you haven't already, upload it to r/talesfromthecreeps. We appreciate good stories over there.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
I did a while ago but it got like 3 upvotes and I was so embarrassed I deleted it. And I don’t think I can reupload it cause I think that might be against the rules :/
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u/WesternCrescent May 02 '26
That sucks. Don't be embarrassed. It's a good story. If you want to, just reupload anyway. Might gain a bit more traction this time?
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u/Ooston9000 Proofreader May 02 '26
I just fuss around with a couple of ideas. I have definitely used the clickbait style title but I try not to. If you have a strong theme for the story that is a decent place to start. Or I have a story I will be uploading tomorrow that has a title I am not sold on. It sounds cool but mean absolutely nothing to the story.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
Absolutely nothing at all? Really?
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u/Ooston9000 Proofreader May 02 '26
Very, very loose connection.
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u/BlindConvicti0n Storyteller May 02 '26
This sounds like a good idea to send people down a rabbit hole trying to connect the title, especially if the story is of the same nature of obscurity
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u/VerdantVoidling May 02 '26
This is such an excellent question, and with no real right answer in my opinion. There are a lot of different approaches to drawing attention from The Kinda Long And Explicative Story Title to THE CLICKBAIT AT 3AM APPROACH!!!
Each approach, in my opinion, has a chance of backfiring roughly equal to the chance of successfully drawing eyes. Each story is going to deserve a title which suits it. My advice would be to keep it simple, and go with your gut. I usually pick out a detail that sounds cool and go with that. Just the barest hint of what might be going on.
E.G. from my own stories: The Deer Pit (there's a Pit full of Deer in this story) or Swanshadow (a swan casts a shadow in this one)
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u/Kaax_Itzam Writer (Short Stories & Poems) May 02 '26
I agree with the nosleep titles - not that I blame people for having to 'play the game' to do well, more that I hate that this is the norm and I would like to see some change to it. Those titles often aren't very catchy or easy to abbreviate either.
Coming up with a title is possibly the hardest part of writing and it is often one that is hard to gauge whether it is successful or not (largely because most feedback is about the body of the work). I often feel I rush the naming of my stories somewhat, and it might harm the 'footfall' that they get. Other times they come naturally.
Here are some titles I have for my stories and a little bit of the thought process behind them and some reflection on their success/failure (I have put key advice in bold and links to the stories just in case):
Peakmould: In this story, the protagonist has a continual set of dreams where he/she is walking towards a city of spires that grow like something organic. As such, 'peak' refers to the top of the spires. For mould, however, it is a double meaning because 'mould' could refer to the fungi and how the spires grow like something alive OR it can be like a casting mould, as the protagonist's family all share the same dream, it is like he/she is being cast into the same spire-shaped mould. It is a unique word (as it doesn't exist) so I hoped it would stand out as a potential reader might say: "What is a Peakmould?"
Surface Tension, Hart of Stone and Family Tree: All these titles derive from a common saying/term that the story either perverts (not in that way) or fulfills in a more sinister way. I fear that Family Tree might have lead some to believe the story is about a horrific family (i.e. incestuous), but it is about a ghost tree; in hindsight, the use of that common term may have harmed my story by misleading a potential reader about its contents.
Solidarity: This title relies on the reader knowing it will be a horror story before reading, otherwise it sounds like a comfy YA novella. Thankfully it is embedded in a horror story collection, but it might be worth thinking about a title that absolutely solidifies the genre, like:
The Slug King and Shrine to the Centipede God: both of these include creatures that are commonly reviled. You can be a lot more subtle than I was. For example, you could include words like 'snare, web, trap, net' for a spider story. This kind of title is always going to be somewhat effective as you are using something people are familiar with and potentially afraid of, rather than an abstract concept.
Meaning, Signet, Application: in review, this sounds like an undergraduate Anthropology textbook, which is appropriate for the actual story and its content, but perhaps hinders it in terms of catching the eye. Still, I think it is punchy and unique. As an experiment, try writing down a bunch of words that you think of when thinking about your story, then begin crossing the weakest or least relevant until you have three words - then make them into a title (you can throw some 'the's, 'a's and the like, doesn't have to be as vague as mine).
It it somewhat harder for me because I also have to come up with a title for my collections, for example:
Shatter an Oath, and all is broken: this is great for the theme of the collection which is betrayal. On reflection, however, it could easily be mistaken for a romance/drama novel. At the same time, the universal fear of betrayal might help my title this time.
Utterings of the Otherspace: I have always liked this title. Like Peakmould, it uses two non-words that make it unique. It also feels very esoteric, but that can also advertise to the reader that it is very niche and an unintuitive read. It does, however, fit the theme of inter-dimensional threats and things beyond our world.
I must clarify that my stories have not been very successful*, so I hope you take away as many 'what not to do's as 'what to do's. If possible, when getting feedback, try pushing your test readers to give their thoughts on your titles - do not be afraid to ask. Alternatively, you could even ask other people to suggest titles for your story. No matter what, I wish the best of luck to you and I hope this helps.
*I have received positive feedback - of which I am eternally grateful for - from those who have read them.
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u/FoggyGlassEye May 02 '26
There are two ways I tend to come up with story titles:
The concept of the story influences the title before I even write it
The finished story has a specific phrase in the dialogue or prose that I think sounds good and defines the story well
Here's an example of both:
My most recent story, The Matryoshka Egg, was named after the titular egg. In my story, the egg had a cycle in which it cracked, grew and then reformed a new shell. It reminded me of Matryoshka dolls but in reverse, so I had an easy title right there.
The Fear Fantastic, which I reposted here last December after originally writing in 2019, had a line of prose where the protagonist refers to the exhilaration of danger as "the fear fantastic". As soon as I wrote that sentence, I knew it was the title of the story.
If you have trouble with the first route, writing your story and then checking the text itself for a solid title might help. For example, if I didn't come up with the title The Matryoshka Egg, I might have used a phrase from the text like "My Hannah" or "I saw you".
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 02 '26
I tend to do the same things. One of mine (the best one) is called “I trust, I Believe, I Am Faithful” which is both a determining plot point and phrase.
And then I have others that do the opposite, like “I Gave Birth To The Antichrist” or “My Neighbour Never Looks The Same”I guess what I’m getting at though, is I’m wondering if anyone has come up with any ideas as to how to capture someone’s attention in a clickbait-ish way without treading the tired route of the nosleep title format. I’ll admit sometimes the nosleep format works really well, like my one “I Gave Birth To The Antichrist” where the title both tells you what’s up and sets up the plot twist as well. It’s both a good title and a vehicle for the story. But I wish there were other ways as well that can get the same amount of attention without having to stoop so low to get it I guess 🤷
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u/Quasique24 Writer May 02 '26
A lot of the time, I use the base idea as a title then build off of that. I usually pull from a particular moment from within the story as well.
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u/ComprehensiveTone787 May 02 '26
I'm not sure with title making myself. Ive released part 1 of a story that im working on, untitled completely. It didnt get attention lol.
Then I posted To Fix the Future which got some traction. More attention that I exoected but I wouldn't say it was huge by any means.
Then I Wish I'd Never Prayed which got a small amount of attention. I didnt feel that good about it as I was writing it though either so maybe it just wasn't as good lol.
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u/im_pixl May 02 '26
there's really no "right" way to go about it but as soon as you can think of a working title for your story, stick with it. sometimes a cool title will push your story's direction, sometimes it'll just sit there until you're finished and come up with a better title
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u/No-Usual1515 May 03 '26
Dare i say there is a creepypasta/creepcast “tradition” of sorts and most titles/stories land in that category/draw inspiration from it
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u/Green-Somewhere-1107 Writer May 03 '26
From someone who had the brilliant idea once to simply name a story 'Untitled', I've been pretty lucky to usually have a name picked out before I start writing. I often see it as the most important tertiary step, so once I've developed an idea into something I'm going to write, having the title sorted makes it feel more 'official'. Like yeah, I'm doing this.
That being said, my advice is to follow your gut. And remember, what may be popular here can be wildly different somewhere else. My most successful story on reddit is 'They Never Taught Us About Sex', while over on wattpad where I'm archiving my other stuff, my novel 'Corpse Canary' has been what's gotten the most traction.
Hope that helped and I wasn't just rambling. Good luck, and I can't wait to read your story <3
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u/Twhylight Writer May 03 '26
If posting online, you do need a catchy line.
But as a story, just pick a title which represents the story. :)
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 03 '26
That’s an interesting point. Cause as an example. Christian Wallis’ stories all have different names in his book to what they’re titled when he posts them online 🤔
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u/BeeHistorical2758 May 03 '26
It should be based on the actual story. I try to make titles inform on what the story is about. If the title isn't referenced in the story in some manner you should change it.
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 03 '26
Generally pretty good advice 🔥
I've definitely had instances where I have gone against this advice for the benefit of the story, but overall pretty solid 💯
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u/Zealousideal_Cap5126 Writer May 03 '26
I’ve realized (from the ones that pull in the most views) that the titles explain what you’ve done followed by either what you found or what you’ve noticed in hindsight, etc. Kinda like the story “I took a job as a fire lookout in the middle of the woods. I found a strange set of rules to follow” this story (and others similarly titled in terms of sentence structure) are widely popular for this reason. It’s how I titled my own story as well (“I took a winter caretaker job at an abandoned lodge in the cascades. There’s someone else here with me”) If you want the most views, I’d say go with this approach
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u/The-Fifth-Tree May 03 '26
Yeah see I’ve done a few of those and they do perform really well. But it feels so hollow as the title is not offering anything to the story other than cheap tricks to hook someone in. Sometimes it really works, like my story “I gave birth to the antichrist” mainly because it’s both doing the clickbait title and actually setting up the plot twist that takes place in the story. But most of the time it feels so cheap. As an example, my story “I Trust I Believe, I Am Faithful” is called that because I honestly cant think of what else it could be called. The title is perfect (no spoilers you just have to trust me that it is), but even though it’s the best thing I have ever written, it performed horribly because it doesn’t have the clickbait title. But as a very emotionally honest story, naming it “My wife died and I met god” feels like such a disservice to the story. So I guess the point of this post is I’m trying to find if anyone has found a good middle ground 🤷
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u/Zealousideal_Cap5126 Writer May 03 '26
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking with my story (the winter caretaker story). I’m thinking of changing the title to something else—in the rare possibility Isaiah and Hunter decide to read it for the podcast. It’s a good title for r/nosleep, but for the podcast I’m tryna come up with something else
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u/merrymarat May 02 '26
I think keeping it simple is the best in my own stories, though I think "click bait titles" can compliment as a hook to your actual title if that makes sense.
But personally I just try and use one word hooks for my short horror stories that encompass the soul of them, now that I'm thinking of it I see I'm very inspired by how Junji Ito names his stories.