Untitled

By Matt Atkinson

I will admit that I am too much of a twit to devote time to writing an article about serious differences between our respective countries and societies. Instead I would like to write about a much more interesting subject: Freeway article headlines.

My interest was sparked by a title from Issue 25: Michael Jackson: Idol or Pedophile?. The article was written by my now-editor, Jennie Bamforth, and raised all sorts of questions and concerns about the sexual preferences and private goings on of the King of Pop. I don’t really care about that. But my Lord, what a title!

I was, frankly, skeptical as to whether there would be anything else that could compete with such a grand heading. How very wrong I was. A quick scan of Freeway’s website set my ‘awesome’ sensors onto red alert. High-caliber headlines and titles of all modes and terms grabbed my attention. It was then that I realised that there was clearly an art to naming an article.

Take, for example the comprehensive The Culture Of Young People Grows By Means Of The Voluntary Service; I was awed by the length of this title. Most enterprising young journalists tend to keep their headlines to a five or six word minimum. Not Mariarita Mariani. The young Swede has used not ten, but twelve words. A dozen. 12. I think that speaks for itself.

Another heading to catch my eye was the ominous Beware of the Fairy Tales! This is not a particularly bombastic title, nor does it use gimmicky language. But the very audacity of the statement is what I am interested in here. Even before one has read the article, we have another fear to add to our subconscious: Fairy Tales. Something we all grew up with and are familiar with, the cornerstone of European folk heritage - transformed in the space of a sentence into something to be feared and avoided. Petra Grundström is more of a literary surgeon than a writer.

One of my unconditional favourite titles dates back to Freeway’s infancy. Yes, back in those dark and gloomy days of 1997, when most of today’s writers were learning how to string together a few sentences, the magnificent quartet of Linda Larsson, Jessica Andersson, Hanna Rydström and Stefan Lundmark were writing an article they dubbed Help Save The Future, which can only be considered a call to arms for a generation. The teenagers of the late 90s were brought forth from their unassuming slumber to save something that hadn’t even happened yet. By all accounts this should be impossible. The sentence shouldn’t make sense. It is preposterous - I mean … how can one save the future? It isn‘t an animal in distress or a football speeding towards a goal, and the technical difficulties involved would be tremendous. But as far as I can tell, the future is happening right now. We are living it, and I’d like to think we owe a little to the wondrous titlemanship of those pioneering Freeway writers.

I noticed a few trends during my research. For instance, many of the most successful titles are questions. School Democracy - Does it Exist?, Internet Addiction – the Virtual Health Problem of The Future? and A Third World War? all pose questions that burrow deep into our brains and worry us when we are trying to get to sleep. Maybe it is the fact the questions are often left unanswered and up to the reader; maybe they are just so bold that we as mere humans can’t comprehend the magnitude of them. Either way, if you title your article with a question, you can expect results.

Another trend I came across was the fact that Swedish people are very, very good at titling articles. I mean, really, just unbelievably good. The imagination and flair buzzing around most Swedish articles on Freeway is incredible. It must be something in the water over there. I am sad to report, however, that my countrymen and I appear to be the worst at naming our work. The majority of headlines that pour from the keyboards and quills of Britain are lazily written, simple, and uninspiring. Come now! A title should be the wand that waves the magic into an article, not merely a name tag by which it is identified. It is not all bad, of course, as in recent years British authors have been able to pen headlines such as The Story of English (which proposes a veritable mine field of journalism, but one its author can easily navigate), and the stark Alcohol. The latter is an article by Matt Reeve about the dangers of alcohol, and for many journalists an inquisitive title such as Alcohol - Brilliant Beverage or Deadly Drink? would have sufficed. I am fully aware that I previously said questions as titles are a good idea, but in this case Reeve goes one step beyond. One word is all he uses, and one word is all he needs.

As I reach the end of my piece, or ‘treatise’, if you will, I am aware I have probably written too much. I am aware I have said some things that maybe shouldn’t have been said. I am aware of lots of things. I am an aware kind of guy. An aware-wolf, possibly. I hope you can forgive me, and if I have achieved my goal of making you aware of one simple thing, then all the unpleasantness has been worth it.

What is that one thing, I hear you ask? Well, dear reader, in this article I endeavoured to make you think twice next time you finish an article. For far too many writers, all their creative juices have ebbed away onto the page, and there are not enough left to construct an article. Next time you are in a bookstore, just look at the amount of one or two word book titles, and consider them with scorn. A title is a beautiful thing, friends. It requires your full attention. It should be dwelled on, thought about, redrafted, considered, surveyed, looked at from all angles, and most important of all - cared about. If you truly care about your article, you’ll care about its title.

I am no journalistic specialist, dispensing my knowledge from atop a stack of dictionaries, nor do I claim to be a great title expert. I just saw some titles, did a little research, and wrote down what I saw, and more importantly, what I felt. I can’t teach you how to write a good title. But practice will. So next time you’re writing an article, spend a good ten or twenty minutes brainstorming titles. Trust me, it will pay off in the long run.

Is it just me or is it really difficult coming up with questions to put at the end of your articles?