I don’t care for algorithm-based machine analyzers. The best “analyzer” is the human heart. (The noggin cannot always be trusted.)

Excellent article! I emphatically agree with you about the importance of titles. When we ask the Universe for a story we should also ask for the title.

When creating a title for a story, for me the important thing is to write the title for the story rather than for any potential audience. Creating a story is like picking a name for a flesh and bones child of yours. In the process of picking a name for our daughter, her mother and I tried out hundreds and hundreds of names. We subjected each name to our human “analyzer” to gauge vibratory resonance.

Finally, a name suddenly ‘came to me’ that is not included in any baby name book. When ‘analyzing’ the name the vibratory resonance was off the charts. I thought I came up with the perfect name. I thought I was being very creative. I thought I came up with the most unique name on the planet (and it is).

In hindsight I learned that it really was not me who came up with the name. It was just my ego that wanted to take credit. In spirit form, my daughter came to me before she was born to tell me what name she wanted. (True story.) It took 17 years for me to realize that — and learn what her name really meant.

Now I’m convinced that most of us pick our own names — provided we can somehow ‘get through’ to our parents. Some parents are open empty vessels through which a name can come through and other parents are closed and stuck in their noggins.

If the stories we write are like children then I am guessing that most of those stories would love to be able to pick their own title (name). That can happen if we writers are open to it. As with children, we love and nourish our stories and most importantly we listen to them. The best place to look for perfect titles is in the story itself.