COMM 291 (magazine editing): Writing titles ... odds, ends & edits

Emailed to students who are working with The Sleepy Weasel for independent study credit in special topics (magazine editing) during the weekend:

-- Titles. Several things to start off the weekend with, in no particular order:

[two items omitted]

-- Timeline: I'm going to look over the copy during the weekend and try to get a rough idea of length, and try to get back to you ASAP. Pete - I need from you an idea of how you propose to do headlines and bylines, i.e. how much space they'll take.

-- Titles: Only the mass comm folks and [...] English 111 students have workable titles. We'll have to write titles for all the rest. Hey, it's good practice. Do whatever you do to come up with titles for your own stuff. No set rules for it that I know of, and if there were I wouldn't trust the damn rules anyway.

Why don't you put your suggested titles in CAPS at the top of the edited story? Let me rephrase that: Put your suggested etc. etc. ...

TANGENT: ONE EDITORIAL CONVENTION YOU SEE A LOT IS TYPING NOTES FROM ONE EDITOR TO ANOTHER IN ALLCAPS AS SORT OF A VISUAL REMINDER THAT THE STUFF IN CAPS DOESN'T GET IN PRINT. LIKE THIS. IT WORKS. TRY IT.

Here are some things I do when I'm putting a title on a piece.

1. For poetry, it's customary to set the first line of an untitled poem in the same typeface as the title of other pieces in the same publication. In last year's Weasel it was 14pt Georgia bf (if memory serves); this year it'll be whatever Pete choses for display type. I'm not sure we have any untitled poetry, but that's the standard editorial convention.

2. In short fiction, I go through and see if I can find a quote from the story or catchy phrase that sums up its theme. Same way I'd do if I'd written "If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him..." (quote from Sharyn McCrumb's character) or "War and Peace" (summary phrase), but on second thought only Tolstoy could get away with that one. You can also find a quote that isn't from a character, too, or something catchy and descriptive. Anyway, when I'm doing The Weasel I try to find a title in the writer's own words.

3. For non-fiction (including college papers, which is what most of our untitled stuff is going to be), I'll read through the thing and see if there's a catchy phrase in the nut graf ... or in what would be the nut graf if kids who aren't journalism majors knew how to write one yet.

Most professional writers or J-school students will suggest a title, in my experience, but a lot of the time there'll be a better one in the nut graf or that first good quote following the nut graf (if they follow my "quote-kebab" structure) because most of us aren't necessarily the best judges of our own work. That's what editors are for.

With student writing, the thesis statement is usually too research paper-y and stilted to be of much use, but there's likely to be a memorable phrase somewhere near the end of the paper. If it's a piece of narrative or descriptive writing, there should be a dominant mood or image, e.g. teenagers spooked by a creepy cemetery out in the country or the atmosphere in Grandma's nursing home. If it lacks a nut graf, I'll just find something interesting to bring out. On the attached 50s piece, for example, I might lift out something like "The 50s: Faith in Government and 15-Cent Hamburgers." Which could just as easily be: "The 50s: Cold War, Cokes and Poodle Skirts." Anything to draw readers in. But you can do better than either. I look forward to seeing it.

These are just rough ideas off the top of my head, not Step 1-2-3 procedures. But they should help you get started. Writing heads and titles is kind of an art rather than a science, and you don't have to spend a lot of time on each one. Shouldn't, in fact.

Time to run now. I'll get back to you when I know more.