Things to AVOID when coming up with a title?

[J.Lovelace]

I think something like "The Tales of..." or just "Tales of..." is very overused in both comics and animation. Also something that has to do with Universe, Academy/School, Life
I'm not saying that's a bad title choice. But personally it just makes my eyes roll each time I see it ^^;

Also I get a little annoyed when a title has a common word and it makes it hard to find online. But I am guilty of that myself so I should get slapped for that haha SLAP
If I remember any more, I'll edit this post XD

Titles are hard to be honest. Can cause a headache indeed. I tend to make titles with just one word lol
I really like puns as title names. They pick my interest at least.

[60Six]

Nah, none taken! I saw a similar comment on another thread and I've been sorta nervous sweating since.
Funny thing is, I actually considered "Blank City" at one point too ages ago, but I actually chose otherwise because at the time I knew of tons of other things called names like "Nightmare City" or "Angel City" so I was actually avoiding that trope that was pretty popular at the time.

And I guess to actually contribute to this topic, and I fully admit I might be biased, but I think most title lines are okay as long as you're avoiding the...classic fantasy cliche words (darkness, light, destiny, chosen, angel/demons to an extent).
It's already been said, but please avoid impossible to pronounce names. Like man, I love Disgaea, but I still don't fully know 100% to this day how to pronounce it and had to double check the spelling just to make this post.

Also, alliteration is always appealing in titles. Not at all necessary, but it always makes for something that rolls off the tongue nicely.

[trivialtales]

Oh man... What if tales, is like, qualified by another word? Like, say trivial, for general reasons, not for any personal reasons involving my comic being called The Trivial Tales of Luna Lesser.

[J.Lovelace]

As long as it's not AMAZING TALES I guess it's fine :'D
As said, it's not bad title choice. I just see it sooooo much online it gets boring for me haha, don't worry about that

[demthorshie]

I try to avoid anything that even sounds remotely cliche and aim for a comic title that isn't seen as often as some of the terms listed above. I pretty much avoid giving my comics titles with the words 'fantasy' 'quest' or 'adventure'. Kind of a pet peeve of mine :s.

[zetina]

TITLES ARE HARD OMFG

Some things you can use for a title is if your story/universe has a hook or unique quality about it. For example the game Rune Factory is named for the fact that by working on your farm, you get runes, hence you're like a factory, haha~ And Kingdom Hearts is named for the goal/mcguffin that ties the whole series together. Of course, that requires naming said feature but eh <'D

Another is making it a sentence, or, like, phrase, ummm... "Did you water your garden?" They would be tough to google tho, probably >.>;;;

At the heart of it though, is the theme of the story. If you can put it into words - in a paragraph - maybe you can find a way to say it in two. I'm afraid I can't think of an example though...

[allansardoma]

Hmmm. For me You should consider the genre of your comic. Your title should fit with its genre or what it is all about. Also, you should think of unique titles or words that are not commonly used 'coz words that are used again and again are just ... you know.. So that's just my opinion so .. you should think of a title that's unique.. and also pick a title that's short. May 2 words or 3 so that Viewers can easily remember it and search for it if they want to.

[AngieVX]

It's your story and your title. Look at famous and iconic books, comics, movies! Some have very simple titles, some have weird and funny titles, some have philosophical and allegorical titles. It's not about AVOIDING and BUILDING WALLS restraining your creativity, it's about finding something that will make YOU passionate! The only thing I can advice is to try to invent a title that is easy to read and write!

[Killercroc]

Wow, people seem to have a lot of fixed ideas about this.

When picking titles the only thing I try to avoid is coming up with something that sounds too ambiguous. That might be why fantasy-titles get the boot a lot of the time. I like names that describe something specific, something that's integral to the story, theme and atmosphere of your work.For instance, when coming up with the title for my comic Silver Vein I was thinking about a specific phenomena that occurs in the story but I also wanted the name to speak about the theme of the story: hate and cold blooded thinking.

This is actually one of the few things that decides for me if it's a good title or not. Does it describe your work well or not? If it comes out a little cliched yet still describes everything about your work perfectly then I say go for it.

[Vikiro_Hop]

Titles and naming stuff in general is very weird. Aside from cliches, there are a bunch of rules and exceptions to those rules and none of it makes very much sense. Long titles can be needlessly complicated, but it might stick out and fans would find a way to shorten it anyway. Cliched words might turn people away, but an author might use that to make it humorous etc.

Here is what has served me well so far.

-No racial slurs
-No Steven Segal references.
-Don't mention pirates. (unless it involves pirates.)

[VermillionWorks]

I'll say do not use a misspelled word as your title to make the word more edgy or because it's the special name of something in the story, all it does it makes it look like you can't spell...and it's not worth the headache of people pestering you about it anyway. XP

I've also said this before but I find it a tad easier to decide on a title once I've got the bulk of the story worked out; try to see what the main themes of your story are. A character? A special object? An emotion?

[Kura]

This is something I picked up when manga magazine/ inkblazers was around, but I have a habit of instinctively avoiding webcomics that have a Japanese word in the title or have a completely Japanese title. A LOT of the comics there were manga inspired in the absolute worst ways, with either story lines near exact to popular shonen series (just some names and titles changed) left to right panelling but NOT left to right word bubbles, which made reading REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY HARD. Or it was full of romaji every other word (and almost always used badly, awkwardly or incorrectly)

It drove me crazy.

I also find I'll overlook series that have titles that are too long. Unless the whole reason for having a long ass title is for the titles to be taken as a joke. (You can tell the difference)

In general, you want something that can easily be associated with your comic. Fits your series, it simple or unique enough to remember, has a nice ring to it, doesn't sound too much like other series (You want your comic to stand out, not meld in and disappear among similar or other generic titles/themes)

[Ringarune]

I'm not the best at coming up with titles myself, but I guess I have 2 things to try and avoid. 1) Well, this one isn't technically avoiding anything, but I would recommend choosing a title with good searchability, meaning not much else in a search engine pops up when you type in your title 2) make sure your title isn't the same as anyone else's work

[indagold]

well first and foremost make sure the title isn't used for something else. Second of all I don't know how much you can fail with a title, just create something that isn't mundane. Also make sure it isn't too long or if it's short make sure it isn't bland.

[sorrelma]

my tip as someone who never follows their own advice is don't use super long titles
my recent comics have been montage at the end of the world(never fits anywhere, even the abbreviation is long, isn't very original or descriptive anyway, but i still like it fml) hello, reykjavik and rapture(shortened to reykjavik recently but now it will never show up in a search engine lol) and a book for monsters(talk abt cliche buzzwords omg) they're all pretty formulaic
long titles can be cool if you can effectively shorten them or like.. if the acronym spells something ?
but mostly they just don't fit on the pages and can get tough to remember

[Michelle]

I don't like titles with creative spelling or weird punctuation, because that generally ensures I will never be able to look your comic up. So please, no weird titles like "Re:Member the Darknyss" :u also anything that sounds like a crazy JRPG title with 10 words thrown together randomly. I will definitely not remember that stuff.

Admittedly my titles are pretty much to-the-point. My comic Centralia 2050 takes place in a city called Centralia in the year 2050 . But I like the way it sounds XD people usually just call it "Centralia" which is fine too.

[Starfestival]

I literally used whatever word sounded the coolest to me.

[Strontium]

It's in my comic too...Heroes OF Thantopolis. But I did name the comic after the original Thantopolis story called "Journey to Thantopolis"

[defineprog]

To me the easiest and often most effective titles for a comic is just....the name of the main protagonist (assuming you have a central hero), or something that sums up the theme of your comic rather than who or what's in it. Or you can go the path of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and do both of those things.

[ikushina]

I tend to avoid comics like "my boring life", "fuck my life", "random derp comic x33"..
Some people might wanna rip my head off for this, but i'm also getting tired of seeing titles like "my trans/nonbinary/intersex lyfe". it's cool that you are whatever the hell you are but if your comic doesn't even focus on that and if it's just filled with boring 2011 9gag humor then just no.