Forum: Author Hangout

Coincidental Title Similarity

Geek of Ages

It would appear that Ernest Bywater and I are both in process of a story about a runaway, both titled "Runaway"—though mine with the article "the" beforehand, and his with an exclamation point following.

I'm amused, because I know I started writing mine before hearing of his, and I assume he was the same. But we still ended up with similar titles, though it seems to be drastically different premises.

I know these sorts of coincidences happen all the time in publishing and film and other arts, where a couple of people independently all suddenly seem to create things that bear strange similarities to each other. I've just never to my knowledge been part of that before.

Coincidences are fun!

Replies: Capt. Zapp REP robberhands

Capt. Zapp 🚫

@Geek of Ages

There are 10 stories titled Runaway or The Runaway and 13 other stories with Runaway in the title.

Replies: Geek of Ages

Geek of Ages
Updated:

@Capt. Zapp

Sure, but they aren't in the process of being posted right around now 😄

Replies: Capt. Zapp

Capt. Zapp 🚫
Updated:

@Geek of Ages

Sure, but they aren't in the process of being posted right around now 😄

That's true. I remember there being several others that have been removed too.

It's okay though, I'm loving yours and will probably read EB's as well.

REP 🚫
Updated:

@Geek of Ages

I know what you mean. I was in the final stages of writing my story Sauce for the Gander when Mark Cane & Tasty Little Pop Tart posted their story using the exact same title. Very different plots.

richardshagrin 🚫

There are 30 stories with "Aftermath" in the title and at least 7 with just Aftermath as the entire thing.

JohnBobMead 🚫

Sometimes there's only one title that will do justice to your work, you have to use it even if it isn't unique. Thankfully, book, movie, music titles aren't normally trademarked. It's confusing to the reader, if you aren't sure of the author, but that's where book description sites and "looking for a story" forums come in useful.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

What's the old saying - 'When it's time to railroad everyone will build one.'

I started my story Runaway back in late 2015, but didn't finish it until this month, I had about 85% written and was stuck on which way to go with a couple of scenes right at the end, because I had a number of options.

The real oddity in this is when i wrote it I had a thought about different directions i could take the story, and one of the spin off concepts was started after this, but finished and posted much earlier - Survivor.

That just shows things don't always run smoothly in the story writing world.

robberhands 🚫

@Geek of Ages

Coincidences are fun!

I found it rather annoying that other stories were titled the same as mine. So before I named my new story, I googled the title I chose. One story showed up, but it's a children's book. I can live with that.

Replies: JohnBobMead

JohnBobMead 🚫

@robberhands

If you have a good title for your work that is unique to the genre, by all means use it! Unique titles are best, after all; that is, if they relate to the contents of the story; titles that don't relate to the story would make marketing difficult, it seems to me. Of course, as I just replied to you on another thread, I could be wrong.

Replies: robberhands Vincent Berg

robberhands 🚫

@JohnBobMead

I could be wrong

If you can't be wrong you wouldn't be a human. So it's superfluous to mention it, unless you're not human indeed.

Replies: Joe Long

Joe Long 🚫

@robberhands

If you can't be wrong you wouldn't be a human.

It's a matter of whether we're willing to admit it.

Replies: robberhands

robberhands 🚫

@Joe Long

It's a matter of whether we're willing to admit it.

I have to agree, although your willingness to admit it doesn't have the slightest influence on the fact that you are a human.

Replies: Ross at Play

Ross at Play 🚫

@robberhands

I have to agree, although your willingness to admit it doesn't have the slightest influence on the fact that you are a human.

We'll know we're in real trouble the day politicians start admitting they are wrong.
That's when we'll know they are really droids attempting to fool us into believing they are human.

Vincent Berg 🚫

@JohnBobMead

If you have a good title for your work that is unique to the genre, by all means use it! Unique titles are best, after all; that is, if they relate to the contents of the story; titles that don't relate to the story would make marketing difficult, it seems to me. Of course, as I just replied to you on another thread, I could be wrong.

It's popular, especially on SOL, to name stories after the first name of the character's love interest. However, while it's a powerful (both for authors AND readers) it makes finding stories nigh impossible at times!

Vincent Berg 🚫

There's a whole art to story and book titles, fueled largely the the modern SAO (Search Engine Optimization). Generally, you want something short and punchy, which triggers a readers curiosity. But, more importantly, you want your story to be found.

When I first published Stranded, and tried to find it online, there were tens of thousands (30,000) different books with the title of "Stranded". What's more, the one word title gave no idea what genre the story was, so readers couldn't even search though the extensive lists. I since modified it to Stranded in a Foreign Land, which is better, but not perfect.

When I wrote the sequel, I decided to avoid the issue by going with a LONG title, and went with The Lad Who Poked the Devil in the Eye. It was easier to find (no one else had ever used the title), but it hardly rolls off of the tongue.

If you're interested, there are several freeware SEO keyword optimations, just focus them on printed books (i.e. search Amazon rather than Google results).

Geek of Ages

I personally don't care about SEO at all. I'm writing here for fun and to exercise my writing muscles outside of my "real" writing.

I did contemplate several other titles for mine, though with how long I've taken to get where I am in the story, I think "Runaway" was probably the right choice, even though the eponymous runaway settles down pretty quickly.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Geek of Ages

I personally don't care about SEO at all. I'm writing here for fun and to exercise my writing muscles outside of my "real" writing.

I never meant that anyone here immerse themselves in the minutiae of SEO keywords, but it wouldn't hurt to search for potential titles on Amazon's book list (i.e. google search "title":"Amazon books") just to see how many thousands of times it's already been used by other struggling authors.

Whatever you write, you want it to stand on its own, not slip through the cracks, never to be seen again. (Though searching on SOL is much easier!

Reply to topic

Forum: Author Hangout

Coincidental Title Similarity

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...