It is better to give away the punchline in your note title

I think the hardest part of writing a note is the title.

There are many tips on how to write one, but I often advise people that it is better to give away the punchline.

It is better to give away the punchline in your title

Don't be coy with your title; give away the punchline. Of course, there is a method of stopping at a good point to make the reader wonder, "What is this about?" but that is a bit difficult. If you want to make an effort to get your title read, you should focus on "giving away the punchline."

Take this article by Asako Makimura. The title is "The story of how I mixed up Haneda and Narita but still made it in time" but just saying "The story of how I mixed up Haneda and Narita" is not enough. Because she says "I made it in time" it makes you want to read it.

You want to read it because the punchline is given away

It is a strange thing, but when the punchline is given away, you feel like reading it.

The title of this article by Hyori Takahashi is "The story of how my water heater broke at the exact moment when it would be a real disaster if it did" but when you are told the outcome that the water heater broke, for some reason, you want to read it.

I think the psychology of "morbid curiosity" is at work here, but when you give away the punchline like this, you end up wanting to read the main text.

This "The story of how my water heater broke at the exact moment when it would be a real disaster if it did." title is long for a title, but it has a great rhythm even when read aloud.

It feels like a slightly advanced technique, but the part "at the exact moment when it would be a real disaster if it did" serves as a solid setup.

It is like a traditional Japanese comedy technique where you use a long setup to tease the audience and then deliver the punchline, "the water heater broke," at the end. I am always impressed by what a brilliant title it is whenever I read it.

It is okay if it is long, just write it so it is perfectly clear

You might worry that if the title gets too long, it will be cut off when displayed on a smartphone, but that is fine. It is okay if it gets cut off, so please try writing it long and rich in detail.

I believe that a title "should be written so that it is perfectly clear." It is best if it is clear enough to be a summary of the main text.

In this article by Masahiro Hagiwara, even if someone who doesn't know Hagiwara reads it, the title makes it clear "who" it is about and "what kind of story" it is.

When I say "it is better to write the punchline in the title," you might feel like you have to prepare a grand punchline, but that is not the case at all. It is most important that "who did what and what happened" is clearly conveyed.

Instead of just writing "I changed jobs to a startup," by writing the subject as "a 40-year-old guy who has only ever worked at large corporations," you can imagine the content more concretely. By writing the "who" part in more detail, it serves as a setup that piques interest. By making the setup more concrete in this way, you can create a gap between the setup and the punchline.

The title will definitely be read

Even if the body text isn't read, the title will definitely be read.It might not be read thoroughly, but it will be glanced at. Therefore, if you can learn to write good titles, your body text will inevitably be read as well. If you want your work to be read, it is best to start by improving your titles.

Compared to working on the body text, you can start working on titles right away, so I highly recommend giving it a try.

In this magazine, "Notes with Great Titles," Keisuke Mizuno, a personal editor and organizer, adds notes that he feels have wonderful titles as he finds them. Please feel free to take a look.

(Written by Shohei Shibuya)