No one is born a novel writer. But do you believe that we all have the capability to be writers? Impossible as it may seem but the answer is yes! If we have the passion for it and if we strive to make it happen, novel writing can be as easy as writing ABC. Writing is actually not a very complicated thing. It is just like drawing, painting, and even cooking. It is an art! Your imagination is all that it takes to get it started. What makes it hard is not writing itself but how people make it hard than it really is.

The first key to writing a novel is the ability to dream and imagine. Think back to when you were a little child and dreamed. Your imagination took you to places you've never been before. It made you do things you never thought you could do. Having superpowers...being in strange places...the conditions are limitless. Writing a novel is actually imagination translated into words. You close your eyes and let your thoughts drift while creating a web of consequential ideas. Afterwhich, you write them down on paper.
The second key to writing is formulating the premise of your novel. Let's say you'd start with a huge asteroid moving about in space. Then suddenly it collided with another asteroid and instantly created an explosion. Some of the explosion's debris fell down into the earth's atmosphere. By accident a person comes in contact with it. These sequence of events could be your initial start in which you let your mind take hold of and run with to produce the succeeding events.
The third key would be creating a stream of spontaneous ideas. Once you have the initial idea, sink down into it and allow yourself to be completely absorbed. Let's say after the person comes in contact with the asteroid debris, he gains supernatural powers! And then he notices some new changes in his being, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically. This is where an avalanche of new ideas start coming in. You will notice that you are no longer directing your story but your story is directing you. That makes writing now so easy. You don't need to analyze anything because the story now starts to play like a movie. All you have to do is put them into words as the story plays in your head.
Next, make sure you are able to retain your daydreaming and concentration as one event goes after another. This state is now called the "alpha state". According to Judith Tramayne-Barth, this is the place between consciousness and sleep. Time stands still when you are in this state. Words keep coming to you until you start to feel pain in your legs and in your waist and then you suddenly flick consciousness and you become flabbergasted because you've not only written one or two pages but five or more without even knowing it!
The next key would be to practice flipping in and out of the "alpha state". You can do this by rereading what you've written and internalizing it as if it was your first time. It might take you time, as much as hours or even days before you are able to go to your "alpha state" again but once you're adept at going into the zone, it would only be a matter of minutes before you start writing a new dialogue.
So, you've finished your story! Now it's time to do the final touch-ups. There is still one last thing that you need to do. Yea, you guessed it. You need to check the entire story again for spelling, punctuations, grammar, correct word usage and coherence. You might even need to revise it a few times before you are able to arrive with the final output. But don't fret, it's not much work really compared to writing the entire novel. What's important is you now have your own novel, written by yourself, using your very own imagination. How much more proud could you get?

© Rachelle Arlin Credo
Source:  ArticlesFactory.com

I have said above that if a secondary character tells the story of the main character, then the spotlight should be kept on the main character.

This shouldn’t be taken to the extreme though.

In other words, you don’t just write the story of the main character without telling your readers a bit about your secondary character.

Unless the reader understands the reason a secondary character is telling the story, it will seem peculiar that the main character isn’t telling it himself. It is, after all, the main character’s story.

So, the following have to be answered…

• Who is this secondary character?

• Why is he telling the story instead of the main character?

• What is his connection with the main character?

Weave in some information about the secondary character so we can gain a better understanding of his role in the story.

(c) Nick Vernon
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Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. 
Source:  ArticlesFactory.com

​1. Read Like it's Going Out of Fashion
You've heard it a million times before. You can't love writing without first loving to read. Read a lot. Read everything. Analyse writing and writers. Study what works, what doesn't, wonder why and learn from it.
Realize too that the published writing you see has probably been worked and reworked over and over to appear effortless. Don't assume professional writers get it down perfect every time. They don't. Their work has been analyzed, edited and beaten into shape by themselves and other editors.
2. Study Your Own Writing
Study every word, every sentence, every phrase. Are you maximizing the effect of your words? Could you say the same thing a different way?
Don't just blindly accept your words as perfect. Professionals know there is always another way of stating something, setting a scene, explaining an emotion. Too many novice writers fall in love with their words, refusing to accept there might be a better way to get to what is true.
3. Learn to Love Criticism
When we start out, criticism hurts - big time. We've bared our soul. We've agonized over our words and are proud of what we've said. Off-hand comments about our work can feel like a body slam, even an attack on our capabilities, our character, our integrity.
But that's not what is going on. People love to criticize - it's human nature. Even the best writers are criticized. The point is to learn from criticism and rise above it. Listen to what is being said, make changes if necessary but do it for yourself. You are the final arbiter - but don't be blind or sulky about it. Take it on board.
4. Read Aloud to Others
Reading out loud can highlight the strengths and weaknesses in your writing. Especially in the areas of rhythm, wordiness, and dialogue. It's a great test.
Read to friends and family, yes, but also read to other writers. Let them make comments. Enjoy the process.
Try this. Read a short piece to a group of friends/writers. Make note of how your writing sounds to them. Listen to suggestions. Make changes, read it aloud again. Keep doing this until everyone involved thinks the writing - every word, every phrase - is perfect.
5. Try Different Styles
It's too easy to get stuck in one area of expertise. If you're a fiction buff, try writing magazine articles or screenplays. If you're a journalist, try free-form fiction. If you're a literary type, try writing advertising copy. Don't limit yourself. All types of writing are good in their own way and experimenting with them can teach you little tricks that help you become a more mature, fully rounded writer.
Novice writers tend to think they shouldn't experiment, that somehow it might taint their art. Nothing could be further from the truth.
6. Take Courses, Read More Books on Writing
The process of being taught, of exposing yourself to the ideas of others, cannot be underestimated. Even if you disagree with what is being said, it all helps stretch you and give you a deeper understanding of what is good and right for your writing.
When you take lessons in writing, study hard, do the exercises, listen to the feedback, act on it and write some more. Your writing will improve the more you do it. Don't sit and fret over your writing. Just do it.
7. Seek Out Good Advice
I quite often hear novice writers complain that they're learning nothing new about writing from the various authorities they consult. They sound disillusioned, as if there's more pertinent information out there if only they could find it.
Odd. considering I've never met a seasoned writer didn't love to debate the absolute basics of word-play, grammar, sentence structure and all the other little things that novices seem to grow weary of hearing.
Remember. You can never hear good advice too many times.
8. Give Back
Share your knowledge. Teach what you have learned about writing to others. Too often novice writers can feel there's some sort of clique of professionals who don't want to talk to them or associate with them.
We writers, whatever our abilities, must learn to see ourselves as a community with similar aims - to actively enhance all our writing - to raise the bar and to act for the betterment of all writers.
9. Constantly Want More From Yourself
Stretch yourself continuously. Find new ways of expressing yourself.
Writing is sometimes a strange past-time. A writing project that begins like an adventure can quickly become an obsession that ends up feeling like some self-inflicted curse!
But all writing experience is good, whether it's fun or not. Not all of your writing is going to be fun and fulfilling. Some of it may be a hard slog or a nuisance. This is okay.
If you want to succeed in writing, it should become your life, your passion, even your reason to be. It's a fine and noble way of life. If you want it, embrace it, and your writing will benefit enormously. Go for it!
Best of luck and - whatever you do - keep writing.
(c) Rob Parnell
WRITING ACADEMY

By now you should have an idea that your theme has to reach its conclusion just as your story does. But our theme has to do more than reach its conclusion – it has to be reinforced in the end and by doing this, it will strengthen all that we have said in our story.
So if we took a theme…
‘Persist and in the end you will succeed’
And I showed my character working hard to achieve his goals, persisting, even if at times those goals seemed unreachable, then I would’ve showed that all his hard work did pay off in the end. By having him succeed, it would reinforce the theme that had been running throughout the story.
Let me further illustrate this point by giving you a more detailed example.
The theme is…
‘Persistence pays off’
The story is about a writer, who has been writing short stories for years, but has not succeeded in getting published yet.
In your story you will show his persistence with…
• How he makes time to write, even when his day is already full by his full time job and other responsibilities
• How his every thought is consumed by his writing
• Showing him sending story after story to publishers
• How he doesn’t let the fact that his family believe he’s wasting his time, distract him from his purpose
Simultaneously I will place him in win and lose situations - Losing when his stories are rejected - Winning when he receives encouraging notes from publishers.
And in those instances where he is winning, I will show gradually that resistance is starting to pay off, till I reach the end of my story where I will have one of his stories accepted for publication and thus bring my theme of ‘Persistence pays off’ to its conclusion.
By showing the reader how persistence is paying off, I would have reinforced the theme in my ending.
Is your theme reinforced in the end of your story?
(c) Nick Vernon
Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. 
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
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Time is the writer's enemy.

Finding it - and using it effectively - is the quest of all writers, whatever their level of expertise.

Many people have said to me that writing a novel in 30 days is a great goal but that it assumes that you can write around 2000 to 3000 words a day.

Fine in theory.

But how long it takes to write that much varies with the individual.

3000 words may take some writers all day - and if that's the case then it can be impractical to write for eight hours, seven days a week until you've written a first draft.

As you probably imagine, I, too, have lots of commitments to juggle in order to find time to write fiction - so how did I manage to write the first draft of a new novel in just under two months recently?

I tried an experiment - one that I think might help you.

Instead of writing flat out until the novel was finished, I knew I would have to allocate just a little time every day. Ten minutes here, half an hour there - and longer bursts if the time managed to appear.

I set myself a target of between just 500 and 1000 words a day.

Each morning I would wake up knowing that, whatever happened, I would have to write at least something towards that day's target.

And I never agonized - or even thought about - what I was going to write during the 'novel writing session.'

I found this allowed me to go about the rest of the day's activities without too much guilt -and meant that I had to do all my thinking about the story while I was writing, which I think is a very good discipline to nurture.

Mainly because 'thinking about writing' is not usually very productive unless you're actually writing...

I used a very rough template - basically a series of twenty dot points that I knew my plot would have to cover.

I also decided that my chapters could be as short as a liked.

And that, if I ran out of ideas or things to say, I would move on to the next dot point without beating myself up about it.

I found that at the beginning, writing 1000 words took about two hours sometimes - usually from ten to midday.

But as I progressed through the novel I managed the 1000 words in about three quarters of an hour - as long as I never went back to edit, re-read or change anything. Of course I was aware that I was most times writing very roughly, probably creating ungrammatical sentences and making lots of typos.

I didn't let that bother me.

The point of the exercise was to get the first draft down, quickly.

I let the characters tell me the story and lead me wherever they wanted to go.

The relationships changed from how I'd originally imagined them - and things happened I wasn't expecting but I decided all that was okay.

In fact, I decided that was the point of writing quickly - to give the characters room to be real and make believable choices, thereby making the story stronger.

At the end of the two months, and 60000 words later, I was amazed at the result - and very proud of what I'd done.

Now, I know how I work.

I know that when I return for the second draft, the 60000 words will become 80000, perhaps more.

But the beauty of all those later drafts to come is that, by and large, the novel is done - it's realized - because the first draft is down - the story, though very rough around the edges, is essentially complete.

This is a great psychological hurdle to have overcome - and will be for you if you want to try it.

You can use all of the other tips and techniques I recommend in The Easy Way to Write a Novel but allow yourself time - to work within a more practical framework that suits you and your lifestyle, whatever that may consist of.

And what if you get blocked?

What if you just can't get ANY words out some days?

Don't beat yourself up.

Stay calm.

Believe that the ideas will come - and just write anything that comes to mind, even if it's not relevant to the story.

It doesn't matter - you can always edit stuff out later.

The main trick is to teach yourself to write without question, to write without criticizing your own talent or ability.

Let the writing process become an invisible conduit between your mind and the page.

Because that's your ultimate aim - you get what's in your mind down on paper and not let the writing itself get in the way of that, as it can and so often does!

Some days you might not feel like writing - do it anyway.

Some days you might not have the time - find it anyway.

Some days, believe me, you'll feel you're wasting your time and your story is ridiculous, pointless - but you MUST carry on, as have all writers who've made their mark in the past.

Self doubt is the writer's curse, but you must learn to overcome it. And there's only one way to do that:

Keep going, keep doing,

Keep Writing!

(C) Rob Parnell

For a struggling author, there's nothing worse than reading a great book.
Finding an author who is patently superior to yourself can be a most humbling and depressing experience.
What more confirmation do you need that you'll probably never reach the heights - or, it seems, even be able to put a decent sentence together without embarrassment.
One such superior author is Denis Lehane.
I just spent the last week reading Mystic River - a work of fiction so profoundly brilliant I decided at one point I was never going to write another word.
Why should I bother when this guy has got the whole writing thing down pat...
I mean, not only is the characterization consistently awesome, the plot is multi-layered, complex yet simple in all the right ways. It's also superbly written with an understanding the English language that seems effortless and divinely inspired by equal measure.
I've read interviews with Lehane and he's no slouch when it comes to writing. He's studied it profusely, endlessly debated its merits with writer friends and made a determined effort to be the best he can be - something he is clearly achieving.
All well and good. Just as it should be. But where does that leave the rest of us?
What's clear to me is that brilliance at writing is not a fluke.
It takes a heap of work and a keen, vigilant intelligence to be able to write well. Something that the majority of wannabe writers are blissfully unaware of - or refuse to accept.
Just as well sometimes. Ignorance is strength. Naivete a boon.
I guess that's the thing. If we knew how hard something was going to be before we started, we'd never start anything.
Come to think of it I know lots of people who never do anything because they guess (rightly) it's going to be really hard!
We actually need to believe some things will be easy - or that we can rise to the challenge, otherwise nothing would ever get done.
Everything would end up in the infamous "too hard basket" as they say in Australia.
Having been suitably chastised by reading Lehane - who seems to be saying to me: Give it up, lad, I've got this covered, I went in search of more novels - from the bargain bin of course.
Glad I did.
I found a couple of authors I'd never heard of. Both of whom had written about eight novels apiece and, according to their blurb, wrote full time.
Though the writing was not on Lehane's par, it was at least encouraging. Because, reading them I immediately felt happy. 
I had that nice reassuring sense of: I can do better than this. 
This is the way I want to feel when I read other people's novels!
Because it gives me a reason to write myself!
I won't name these other authors - because I don't want to seem mean spirited. Besides, they're doing well as far as I can tell. They write full time. They have agents, pets, and loving families.
They, I assume, live idyllic lives getting paid to write novels that people are actually buying and reading. And despite living this enviable lifestyle they have the added advantage of being completely anonymous in the eyes of the public.
They don't need to worry about being recognized or mobbed in the street - and they can live with the calm satisfaction of knowing they got the dream.
Plus, if they thought about it, they should know that they're inspiring new authors everywhere - to emulate their success and know that it's entirely possible to make a good living as a writer without necessarily being a household name.
And without necessarily being the greatest writer in the world.
Wonderful.
I feel another novel coming along already!
(c) Rob Parnell
WRITING ACADEMY

The other day, a writer friend of mine told me her publisher recommended she read a certain book to get the flavor of what they liked to publish. Eager to know, my author friend rushed to find the book and devour it... only to feel disappointed - and confused. She wondered what it was about this book the publisher liked. The story wasn't great. The writing was average. Some of the pacing seemed awkward. Then it hit her. It was the ATTITUDE of the protagonist that gave the book its appeal. The hero was feisty, quick to anger, even spiteful and yet somehow lovable.

It's no secret that I believe the key to good story telling is 'character'. It should come before everything else - before plotting, before story, even before putting pen to paper. If your characters aren't real to you, their stories will never work.

And while I've spent much time elsewhere talking about the importance of creating believable characters, I don't think I've given over as much time on their 'attitudes' as perhaps I could have done.

So let's do some exploring, shall we?

Think of some classic fictional characters. What's the first thing that comes to mind? Their physical appearance? Rarely. It's usually their demeanor, isn't it? Their unique way of interacting with the world - yes, their attitude towards what they do.

James Paterson's Alex Cross is a great character because he's all heart. He loves his family and truly values friendship - and takes his psychopath's activities very personally!

Patricia Cornwall's Kaye Scarpetta doesn't respond well to being patronized or underestimated. She's also way too protective of her niece. Notice too that she gets much more critical of her partner's habits as the series progresses.

The Da Vinci Code's Robert Langdon is intrigued by mystery and secret symbols. Interestingly, despite being a simple college professor he seems to possess almost superhuman powers of endurance. In Angels and Demons, for instance, he actually falls out of a plane without a parachute over Rome... and survives with barely a scratch!

I think Harry Potter's appeal has much to do his ordinariness. He never believes he's capable of what he has to face. Everybody and his dog knows he's supposedly destined for greatness but he doesn't ever seem quite ready for it.

The next time you're inventing (major and minor) characters, don't just imagine their physical attributes, try to give them depth by wondering what they would be passionate about or, conversely, have little interest in. What would annoy them - or thrill them?

Give them short term and lifelong agendas, things they are committed to achieving or seeing come to pass. These are the things that will help with your plotting. Once you know what one of your characters would definitely NOT do, your stories will begin to take on a life of their own.

Remember, never impose a story on a character. The best stories come out of the main character's conflicting agendas.

For example, it's not enough to have some anonymous killer trailed by any old ordinary detective. The killer must be fully realized - there must be very good reasons (if only in his own mind) why he does what he does. Similarly, for good fiction, the detective should be motivated by much more than just 'doing his job' to make a story like this compelling.

Once we know the killer hates women and perhaps himself, and that the detective is terrified of losing his wife to him, then we begin to care about the outcome.

I think one of the reasons Hollywood movies work so well is that the big stars come with a ready made attitude. We all know what to expect from actors like Robert Downey Jr, Brad Pitt and Scarlett Johansson. No matter what characters they play, we sense their attitudes, their strength and depth, even though we know they're only acting!

So, the message is that during character development, try to imagine being inside the head of your character. Don't just give them attributes, histories and agendas, go the extra mile and give 'em attitude!

(c) Rob Parnell
WRITING ACADEMY

For a theme to work and the story, which will revolve around the theme, it has to contain three things…
1. Character
2. Conflict
3. Resolution
What’s the reason for this?
If your theme doesn’t contain these three essential elements, then you won’t be writing a proper short story. It might turn out to be an essay instead.
Because without…
1) Characters
You can’t achieve emotional depth. Readers become engrossed in stories because of the characters in them. They either become the character (sympathize), or read about an interesting person (empathize).
Emotional depth is achieved when readers use their imagination and senses and/or experiences to live the story through the characters.
2) Conflict
Your story will be boring. Why? Without conflict, something to stir things up, nothing happens. And a story, in which nothing happens, is one not worth writing about.
Your characters don’t lead carefree lives. Well, not in the instance you are writing about them. In that part of their lives they are faced with a problem. They want something and can’t get it because of the conflict, which is preventing them to do so.
And it’s that conflict and the struggle the characters has to undergo that keeps us readers interested and in suspense. Will the character succeed or won’t he? And when is this all going to happen? And how is it all going to happen?
3)Resolution
Something that starts has to finish, one way or another.
Once you have created great characters, which the reader will come to care about, and you have placed them in conflict, that conflict at the end of your story has to be resolved. The characters will achieve their goals or they won’t.
That doesn’t matter.
You can end your story as you please and as it suits your story – but you have to end it. Ending the story means resolving the conflict.
Does your theme contain character, conflict, resolution?
(c) Nick Vernon
Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. 
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
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​You probably won't be surprised to learn I read a lot of unpublished manuscripts. I also read a lot of published work. Are there some glaring differences between the two? You betcha.The fact is most beginning writers write too much. That's okay for the first draft but when it comes to editing, you need to give that delete key a thorough work out!
Good writing is about pacing. It's about taking the reader on a journey and keeping in step with them along the way.
If you get the pacing wrong, the reader will stumble and begin to lose interest because it will seem you are more interested in writing the words than telling the story or relaying the information.
Here are some tips on how to cut down on unnecessary verbiage!
The Art of Description
With the advent of global communication and visual media, we all know what most things and even most places look like. It's no longer necessary to spend more than a couple of sentences establishing what things are, where scenes are set and what the weather is like, if that's important for mood.
Many readers nowadays will actually skip descriptive passages because they find them dull and interrupt the flow of the text. So don't beat yourself up over getting all the details across - that's what the reader's imagination is for!
Qualify That
Sometimes we write scenes etc., we're not sure the reader will understand - so we add extra words to explain ourselves, resulting in more confusion than clarity. For instance, look at this:
"With the divorce weighing on his mind, and his fears about losing his job, John was having difficulty deciding what to do with himself. Could he face going out, knowing that Pete would probably spend the evening ribbing him over his his inability to get along with his boss and his problems with his estranged wife?"
Clearly this is clumsy and confusing to read. Much better to remove the qualifiers and simplify:
"The divorce was on his mind. Did he want to go out? John wasn't sure. Pete would probably just want to rib him."
In the above version, even though the propositions are only loosely defined - the reader still gets it. You don't always need to explain every little nuance to get a point across.
Quite the opposite in fact.
Room to Breathe?
When you write you make a contract with your reader - whom you must regard as your equal. Not someone who is slow to understand and needs to be carefully led, shown everything and generally talked down to.
It's perfectly okay to leave out obvious - and therefore redundant - details. You don't always have to explain exactly who said what, what happened where, why and for how long.
New writers clog up their stories with unnecessary backstory, linking scenes, plot justifications and long complicated explanations of things the reader already regards as clear.
If you write with honesty and intelligence, your reader knows what and who you mean - when you over explain, you insult the reader. Don't do it.
Direction
Quite often writing suffers because the reader doesn't know where you're going. They wonder why you're focussing on certain characters and details - especially when you haven't first hinted at the 'point' of your story.
When you open a piece, you need a big 'sign' that tells the reader you're going THIS WAY - so that the reader knows what to expect along the way. You need to define your objectives - your purpose - in some way on the first page.
For instance, if you're writing a murder mystery, don't spend the first chapter following the protagonist around doing her laundry. Get on with the story and as soon as you can, show us the body!
Play By The Rules
Especially in genre fiction, you have to adhere to certain rules, because that's what the reader wants. Horror stories need to be at least a little horrific - right from the start.
Romance requires that you have lovers at odds with each other by page two. Science fiction and Fantasy require the elements of their genres too.
Publishers often say that, though many writers are good, they often write themselves outside of any given genre in their desire to be different or original - thereby, alas, disqualifying themselves from publication!
Of course it's important to be original - but if you can do that within the confines your reader expects, your chances of success skyrocket.
Focus
What you're looking for is sharp writing that relays the facts. When you go back and edit for sense, go for simplicity rather than exposition. If you waffle on about the intricacies of conflicting thought processes or meander through long descriptions of the countryside, you lose all sense of tension.
Pick up any popular novel. The best ones have no words that are about writing. They're all about story.
Speech tags
Okay. Speech tags - you know all the 'he said, she cried, they exclaimed blah de blah' - I'll keep this advice simple and precise. Unless you're writing children's fiction, lose them. As many as you can. It's the way of the modern writer.
Use other, more subtle ways of suggesting who is saying what. It's easily done, it just requires a little thought.
You can refer to character's actions just before or after dialogue, or use different styles to suggest different people.
Just as an experiment, try editing out all of the speech tags from your next MS. I think you'll be surprised and... master this technique and readers will love you for it!
Adverbs
Yep - we all know we're not supposed to use them, especially after a speech tag. They are redundant and add nothing to the story. Repeat to yourself three times before bedtime: I will edit out every word that ends in 'ly'! 
​​​​​​​The general rule, by the way, is that at least 20% of your MS is probably surplus to requirements! And that goes for all of us!
(c) Rob Parnell
WRITING ACADEMY

Your title is your selling tool. It’s the first thing readers will scan and contemplate whether to read your story.
What your title’s job is, it has to lure the readers into your story – it has to be so compelling that they won’t even have a chance to ask themselves, ‘Will this story interest me?’
Their eyes will glide over the title and into the story before they realize it. The action will be instant.
What’s a compelling title? It’s one that instantly grabs our attention because it’s…
 Intriguing
 Interesting
 Catchy
 Provocative
 Amusing
Your title may not be all these things but it will have to be at least one. There should be something about it that grabs your readers.
So how do you write compelling titles?
Start by learning from the masters.
Learn from those whose articles and stories are published in newspapers, magazines and, in particular, pay close attention how the writers of Readers Digest go about it. They have been luring readers into their written material for years. They know their stuff.
Here are a few examples of titles taken from Readers Digest….
• Did I really need to know that?
• Who is Jack Kevorkian, Really?
• Against the flames
• Who Killed Margaret Wilson?
Do you have any newspapers or magazines handy, or even better, a Readers Digest magazine? If you do, note down a few titles, then analyze why those particular titles grabbed you.
If you don’t have any magazines handy, take a look at: www.amazon.com (in the books section.) See what titles are listed there. Or look at your bookshelf.
Compare them to your title.
Is your title compelling?
If you find that it could be better, here’s an effective way that will ensure you find the best title for your story…
Read through your story and on a piece of paper jot down sentences and/or words that appealed to you as you read. Jot down as many as you come across – Don’t worry about editing them for now. Just note down all that grabbed you.
Then look at your characters. Is there something special about them, a word you could use in a title that will grab readers’ attention?
Now with the list you have gathered, think about what you are saying in your story. Start crossing out the words and sentences that aren’t directly relevant to it.
Select a few words and look through a thesaurus for a nicer sounding synonym.
Choose the most appropriate group of words for the title.
Remember… your title has to be one or a combination of the below…
 Intriguing
 Interesting
 Catchy
 Provocative
 Amusing
(c) Nick Vernon
Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. 
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com