Teaching article
A story title should create the right expectation
Choose a title that gives a reader a meaningful clue without explaining every event.
Put three possible titles beside an original story opening. Discuss what each leads a reader to expect, and whether the actual story supports that promise; the loudest or strangest title need not be the most useful.
Identify the story's central problem. Draft two different title ideas. Ask which clue each title gives a reader.
Choose an invitation the story can fulfil
Test whether the title fits the actual piece and creates a useful expectation. A striking title can still mislead the reader.
A lost-map adventure might use 'The Missing Route' instead of listing every location visited.
A title need not reveal the ending. Does the title connect to the actual story?
Offer an oral title and a drawn cover.
Resources
- Six-Panel Comic Challenge — Use the panels when a visual story sequence supports the task.
Further reading
Read next
- Write a book blurb that leaves a reason to read
- Feedback a young writer can use in the next draft
- Retelling a story without rebuilding it sentence by sentence
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