What to be thought first, a story or a title?

[Kammeuchechukwu Mark Okereke]

I think for the majority of the time, the story creates the title. The title most times comes from a word uttered in the story or a character from the story or even the summary of the story. So I think it is fair to assume, the story comes first.

[DATo]

Oddly, I have never considered this before, but to answer your question: in my case I almost always come up with the title after the story is written. The last thing I am concerned with at the time of writing the story is what its title will be.

In a similar vein, I am often amused by people who start a small business and the first thing they concern themselves with is designing and purchasing business cards. Business cards should be WAY down on the priority list of "considerations". The same applies to people I see on YouTube who are discussing books. Often they dwell on the beauty of the covers of the book and then spend a fraction of the time dealing with what is BETWEEN the covers.

[hayisa]

There's no wrong or right way about this. Sometimes, you can literally build an entire plot just from a title. However, titles should be thought out well and because of that, people are often conflicted on what title to choose. For beginners, I recommend thinking of the plot first then the title. But personally, I always come up with the title beforehand.

[SamanthaGarcia]

Do you remember when you were in school and used to write all your notes, stories, and essays by hand? Well, based on that, the pressure to have a good title was so severe, I would write a basic title and then write the story or the essay, and then right before handing it in, I would write my new title based on what I ended up writing. This way of deciding the title followed me all the way through high school and eventually college. Presently, I look at the chance to come up with a cool title as a task I must reserve for later, and only now do I realize why I did it. One, writing the title is occasionally as stressful as writing a story. Secondly, overthinking gets in the way of good work and by postponing it until after I actually write, the title has the chance of being both engaging and cool. So in short, titles should be written at the very end to even give it a fighting chance of being just as interesting as the writing.

[Nedim]

For me, a title should come first before the story. Writing the title first would help you channel down your thoughts on what the storyline should look like. It's like having a specific destination before leaving your house.

[TusharJoshi]

Whatever makes the plot move forward. I feel that the title keeps on changing as per the needs of the story. Choosing a title beforehand can work for people who get motivated to write after ensuring that the title is in place.

[kipper_]

I feel that the title keeps on changing as per the needs of the story.

This has been pretty much my own experience, as well. I usually give mine a silly title for giggles, one that doesn't contain much relevance to the story at all. As the pieces come together, the title writes itself. However, there are times when something really profound or solidifying pops to mind, and abandoning it would feel too cruel.

[Comfort Ansah]

For me after the first few lines of writing, several titles pop up

[Brittany Tatman]

Everyone's writing experience varies. Only once have I kept the title I gave a story at the very beginning, and at that time I used it to inform what I wrote. Since then, it always changes. It's not intentional, and no strategic reason for it. As the characters grow and gain new identities, so does the book itself.

[Loniya Chabili Mubanga]

Personally, I start with the story. When I'm 1000 words in, the title just comes to me and it helps me guide the direction of the rest of the book.

[Sameeha Ismail]

A story. As Shakespear say, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." You can cook up a title any old time. But without the story it will be useless.

[Aroona Kashif]

I believe a title to be flexible as you’re writing a story. A flash of inspiration for a title shouldn’t limit what you write just to make it fit under the title.

[Adéla Kapicová]

For me, a story is more important than a title, and there can´t be the title without the full story. When I tried to write a book, I didn´t feel like thinking about the title before finishing it, because what if the proper title is hidden at the end of the book?

[Silvia Sianto]

Titles are important, but it may not be possible to select the right one until one knows how the story turns out. I do often get an idea for a story which can often be summed up in a pithy way - so that is very likely to end up being the title! I am currently writing a book called "Weird Space", which was inspired by something I heard on the radio about the "weird space between youth and middle age".

[Ludovica Peruzzi]

I've had both happen to me. Sometimes you have a story idea and the title just comes naturally (or not) and then other times you think "This would make for a sick title" and build a story from there. I don't think there's one right way to go about this, honestly.