100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019

Don’t play word games
Twelve ways to avoid making your reader hate you

Puns, double entendres, rhymes, inside jokes, and various other literary parlor tricks are amusing, and they can be good writing in a story that is intentionally whimsical. But generally you should stay away from them in your writing. They might make you look clever, but they will diminish the success of the writing. The reader sees too much of form and loses track of content. Quite often the reader will chuckle at your cleverness but will cease to take your story seriously.

It is often when searching for the perfect title that a writer falls prey to word games. Don’t call an article about a coyote that has escaped from the zoo “Don Coyote.” Please.