Start With A Title and End With A Title

When you start with a title, you are giving your writing focus.  When you end with a title, you are summing up what your article is about.  Do they match?

It is common to come up with a title for a story idea, but as you write a new story emerges.  This is part of the creative writing experience and is perfectly acceptable.  Whatever title you end up with, ensure that your story is about that title.

Titles should explain what the article is about.  Many times, especially in Genealogy, the title is two-fold and uses the title, sub-title format.  Examples:  The Lost Family:  How DNA Changed Our Family Forever or Revelation:  A Story of Family Secrets.

Titles should be short.  Subtitles can be longer.  You don’t need a subtitle if a title suffices.

Title examples:  My Best Christmas Ever.  How We Ended Up in Canada.  My Most Distressing Family Story.  Our Musical Family.  An Unconventional Marriage.

Notice how these titles are descriptive but some are also interesting enough that you want to read it just to see how “distressing” that family story is, or how “unconventional” that marriage was.  A provocative title is good as it draws the reader in.