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

[Briann Crocker-Thomas]

Honestly. I feel it's okay to have a "title prototype" that can change if it doesn't fully sit well with the story then you can change it and make it what it needs to be

[Tiffany Dowell]

I suppose that it depends. Where you are writing matters, I guess. Where I write, the organization of my portfolio neccessitates a title. However, often, as a story is written, things change. Just stay open to changing it as your story evolves.

[LilyH]

When creating a story, you get a vast amount of ideas running through your mind. You think of the plots and twists, the beginning and end, and the characters and who they are. As the writer goes on and finishes the story, it’s easier to find a title matching the story or the plot twist in the story.

[janderson32]

Story before title for me, always. Sometimes things end up changing when writing and you don't necessarily know every detail until the story is complete! Any little detail could potentially contribute to the final title.

[Niels Andersen]

Like many here, it is story first for me as well. As a writer of political/spy thrillers, typically I have an idea about the penultimate conflict and think about the path to get there and back. In essence, I start from the peak of the crescendo and work backwards, then work the "clean-up" details to close out story loops after that. It's fun to think of all the things that can happen from the initiating event that kicks off the story to provide that tension and follow the staccato interactions that happen to the characters building up to that crescendo. It's a similar story development to Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series.

[JennyorAlice]

I start writing the story first. The title will eventually come to me while I'm writing.

[echoesofmj]

For me, it all begins with an idea. And then everything just falls into place. If the title doesn't come naturally to me, then I know that the story is not ready to be written yet.