Carefully Crafting Headlines and Barfing Up Titles

There’s a distinct difference between writing headlines for advertising or marketing copy and writing titles for fiction. Here is that difference:

Writing headlines is an interesting, challenging process where I get to try different techniques
to craft an engaging line to elicit a specific response.

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Writing titles sucks.

Oh, I know they’re both in my job description. As a freelance copywriter, I often write multiple headlines in a day. (Here’s an old post on what it is a copywriter really does, just in case you’ve forgotten.) And as a fiction writer, every piece I write needs a title.

So why the big difference?

I Listen to Podcasts. Wanna Know 6 of ’Em?

We’re all friends here, so you can admit it:

You’ve always wondered what I’m listening to while I’m folding laundry.

Give Me Your Shorts and Win NGEP!

You WILL give me names.

You had such a great time with my last NGEP contest that I couldn’t in good conscience postpone this one another day.

(Yes. You did have lots of fun. Don’t argue with me.)

Last time, I pretty broadly asked you to recommend your favorite writers. I got everything from Richard Brautigan (whom I’ve since read) to Christopher McDougall (whom I’m reading right now) to Lev Grossman (whose The Magicians is sitting on my to-be-read shelf at home).

Good show, folks, but this time around, I’m looking for something more specific:

Recommend your favorite short stories to win more
Nathanael Green Endorsement Points!

Not a Review of The Grey

Reviews aren’t my forte, especially not of movies. So this isn’t a review.

Instead, it’s a challenge for those of you who’ve got the stomach for it. And an education for anyone trying to tell a story that will wrench your audience’s emotions.

Go see The Grey.