The Title Writing Prompt Challenge has evolved.

Meaning, like WordPress, I changed the rules on the fly.

I originally described in THIS post that we’d have readers suggest ten titles, then have a three-day voting period, and then we’ll each write a story with our interpretation of the title that receives the most votes. Then, I changed the rules by removing the reader’s inputs and going with randomly-generated titles (HERE).

Then, I changed the rules again. Because only a few titles get votes, and because I hate wasting titles, I reduced the number of available titles to five (5) plus a bonus title from the previous round.

The good news is that — hopefully — they’re higher quality titles, curated by yours truly.

But wait! . . . there’s more.

. . . but first . . . a photo.

One of the writers suggested it should be the losing candidate of each round who gets to pick the title for the following round.

No doubt, that would be me every time, so I’m assuming he was just throwing me a bone. We’re still discussing it. Personally, I like the idea of having as much reader involvement as possible (despite me eliminating the reader’s options of suggesting titles).

Let me reiterate the rules for this challenge as they pertain to title selections and voting.

• I’ll pull titles from one of three sources that provide random titles.
• I’ll choose five titles.
• Readers will have a week to vote for their favorite title.
• The title with the second-highest number of votes will appear as a bonus title in the following round.

As mentioned, most titles are interchangeable between genres and it’s up to the writer to adapt the story they want to pen. The reason for the last rule is that gives what might be a good title another chance.

I said it before, but I’ll repeat it … I’m choosing titles from a large list, and my criterium is to keep them fairly general. For instance, The Spoon might make it as a title, but The Silver-plated Spoon with the Rose Design and Missing Tip would likely not get picked.

I think vague and non-descript titles offer writers greater latitude and inspiration.

“Enough with the blabber! Give us the titles!”

OK, OK . . . Contestants for Round 4 of the Title Challenge are:

Titles for Round 4:
Forgotten Thought (placed 2nd in Round 3 title voting)
Cold Heart
Dead Letters
The Time Gate
Out of Place
Whispers

So, here’s the poll. Note that the titles will be presented in random order. Meaning, that each time you visit the post, the titles might be in a different order. My suggestion is to vote for something that strikes your curiosity chord.

Voting ends at Noon, Saturday, June 4^th

So, about the above photo . . . that’s from the Old Kona Airport park on The Big Island.

Here are a couple of processed versions of the original . . .

Anyway, that’s that . . . and, if you’re not bored to tears, remember to vote for your title preference.

While you’re at it, you can also read and cast your vote for one of the Round 3 Stories HERE. The voting window closes on June 12^th.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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