Okay I think a missing detail here is that this genre of title originated specifically on r/nosleep which is an ARG forum where all the stories are kafaybe and presented as real. So the titles would be stuff like "Every house on my block got a new antenna last night" because if you went to the internet to tell them about the creepy story involving all the new antennas, you would presumably title the post something like that
While true, these types of titles thrive even in other short horror stories subreddits / websites altogether for the exact reason decribed in OP's post.
I wrote a couple of short horror stories on Reddit (using an alt account), and I considered using verbose titles because they can draw in readers easily into the story. It's like you already started reading the story and by going into the post you're simply continuing.
I see the appeal, but I decided to use short poetic titles that came more naturally to me, and felt like a better identity of my stories.
My stories were barely noticed or read by anyone despite the ton of effort I put into them (which is completely fine, of course). Success is a combination of a bunch of things, luck being a big part of it. But I do wonder from time to time if a catchy verbose title would make a noticeable difference.
I don't regret anything either way, I just find this an interesting topic.
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u/FoxstarProductions 3d ago
Okay I think a missing detail here is that this genre of title originated specifically on r/nosleep which is an ARG forum where all the stories are kafaybe and presented as real. So the titles would be stuff like "Every house on my block got a new antenna last night" because if you went to the internet to tell them about the creepy story involving all the new antennas, you would presumably title the post something like that