Twenty Titles for the Writer

Question 1

Copy out of your draft

Answer 1

a sentence that could serve as a title

Question 2

Write a sentence

Answer 2

that’s not in the draft to use as a title

Question 3

Write a title that is a question beginning with

Answer 3

• What, Who, When, or Where
• How or Why
• Is/Are, Do/Does, or Will

Question 4

Pick out of the essay

Answer 4

some concrete image—something the reader can hear, see, taste, smell, or feel—to use as a title

Question 5

Pick another

Answer 5

concrete image out of the essay. Look for an image that is a bit unusual or surprising.

Question 6

Write a title beginning with

Answer 6

• an -ing verb (like “Creating a Good Title”)

- On (like “On the Titles of Essays”)

Question 7

Write a title

Answer 7

that is a lie about the essay. (You probably won’t use this one, but it might stimulate your thinking.)

Question 8

Write a

Answer 8

• one-word title—the most obvious one possible
• less obvious one-word title
• two-word title
• three-word title
• four-word title
• five-word title

Question 9

Think

Answer 9

of a familiar saying, or the title of a book, song, or movie, that might fit your essay

Question 10

Take

Answer 10

the title you just wrote and twist it by changing a word or creating a pun on it

Question 11

Do

Answer 11

the same with another saying or title of a book, song, or movie

Question 12

Find

Answer 12

two titles you’ve written so far that you might use together in a double title. Join them together with a colon [ : ].