Novel title - eek!

Ms Hollands · Oct 17, 2008

Now that I'm at the stage where I'd like to query some agents, I've realised I probably should have a name for my novel to put in the query letter.

The working title was boring old 'Observations', but that really won't do.

How on earth do I go abut finding a better title? It's been an issue for two years now. Help!

Priene · Oct 17, 2008

Either

find the best line in the book and take part of it

or

tell us the plot and we can all have a think.

Observations, incidentally, will be great if your story is about a Peeking Tom astronomer.

Bufty · Oct 17, 2008

You make it sound as though titles are hidden away in odd corners of shops or something. Two years!! Without intending to be smart - it's your story -you know it better than anybody - you put your mind to work on it, like everybody else.

Check some of the titles of books you've read - and see if you can work out how they were arrived at.

C A Winters · Oct 17, 2008

I wouldn't stress out over it too much, in all probability, your publisher/editor will change the title anyway. That's what happened to me, and several author friends. In fact, me and the editor went a few rounds before we came up with a title that was ok with both of us.

Ms Hollands · Oct 17, 2008

Oh good, see, I figure I'm not the best person to come up with the title: I'm a good writer, but not a clue what words sell books. I'd be happy if someone changes it along the way.

The best I've come up with is "The Pizza Maker" (the main character leaves a 9-5 office job in London to work in a small French village as a pizza chef).

Bufty · Oct 17, 2008

Nothing wrong with that. See? End of worries!! :Hug2:

RJK · Oct 17, 2008

I had the title of my first novel in my head for years before I began writing it. The second novel came to me shortly after I started writing it. I've started outlining a third and fourth, and I've given them temporary titles but they will change when I start writing.

Tell us what your story is about in three words or less. There's your title. Here's an example:

My second novel is about a man who desperately wants to sire children. He is married but his wife cannot bear children. He tried foster children but that didn't ring his bells. He decided to abduct women and rape them until he was sure they were pregnant. (The technical details about how he insures he can do this are an integral part of the story.) He manages to impregnate several women while their memories have been wiped with date rape drugs. They don't even remember being abducted.
My detective likens his actions to that of a cuckoo bird who lays her eggs in anothers nest. This also fits the other use of the word "He's Cuckoo."

My title: Cuckoo

selkn.asrai · Oct 17, 2008

What's the name of his favorite dish, or the dish that made him change his life? Say it was a "Margherita" pizza. That title would not only be lush and intriguing, but could stand for the experience and what all the ingredients suggest about his life and journey--why he made such a big move. I imagine ingredients/tastes and the experience of food is integral to the book you've written.

A thought only; you know better than anyone what an appropriate title is.

Charlie Horse · Oct 17, 2008

As you can see in my sig, I've been calling one of my title 'Forbidden Seed(s)'. One of my readers thought it sounded like a porno so undoubtedly that title will change. However, I don't see it as something to stress about. I'll find another title, and then, god willing, eventually an editor or an agent will change it again...and again...and again.

vixey · Oct 17, 2008

RJK said:
My detective likens his actions to that of a cuckoo bird who lays her eggs in anothers nest. This also fits the other use of the word "He's Cuckoo."

My title: Cuckoo

Kewl title! and kewl reason for it!

mrockwell · Oct 17, 2008

This is a good article on coming up with titles:

http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/clough.htm

Of course, it hasn't helped me with my current WIP, but I'm hoping by the time I'm done with it, the perfect title will make itself obvious.

Hey, we all gotta have a dream, right?

-- Marcy

Ms Hollands · Oct 17, 2008

@Bufty, thanks

@JRK, I like this idea....The Baby Escapade (kind of similar issues going on in my book, but not from the same perspective)

@selkn.asrai, I think if I went that that theory, it would have to be My Pineapple Testimony. I quite like that too.

mrockwell, I'm on way to that site right now.

Thanks everyone - you've inspired me!

selkn.asrai · Oct 17, 2008

I quite like My Pineapple Testimony.

It's lovely, refreshing (in taste-theory, too) and intriguing ("What's his testimony about, that it would include a tropical fruit?" for instance

). Like Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris.

AnneAtWordHustler · Oct 17, 2008

I'm with Selkn- My Pineapple Testimony sounds like a great mix of your main characters old life (9-5 office job) and new life (hey, everyone loves pizza).

AnneMarble · Oct 17, 2008

You mean I was supposed to come up with a title?!
:e2thud:

I guess I can't send my stuff to agents with titles like "The Lord of Death thingie" and "The Prequel about the Lord of Death." Or "the first Moonstone Story I Wrote," "the Young Moonstone story," and "the Even Younger Moonstone story."

Ms Hollands · Oct 17, 2008

AnneMarble said:
You mean I was supposed to come up with a title?!

I guess I can't send my stuff to agents with titles like "The Lord of Death thingie" and "The Prequel about the Lord of Death." Or "the first Moonstone Story I Wrote," "the Young Moonstone story," and "the Even Younger Moonstone story."

Yep, I only realised this when I started writing my first query letter earlier today. The ideas on this thread should help though: they're GREAT!

I'm sticking with The Pineapple Testimony based on this feedback too. :O)

....now....since pizza-making is less important as the novel draws to an end, I'm wondering if I should somehow re-introduce the pineapple-good-or-bad-on-pizza debate. I think I mentioned a Hawaiian pizza in one of the last chapters...I might expand in an effort to show how the character is at heart still the same person that she was at the start of the book. This is coming together quite nicely!

Susan Breen · Oct 17, 2008

I was at a conference and an editor there said that one thing she looks for in a title is whether it helps her visualize the cover of the book. So when I read The Pineapple Testimony, I immediately see how you could do something with that on a cover. Which is a good sign. Good luck with the queries.

Smiling Ted · Oct 17, 2008

"The English Pizza."

What?
No?
Why?
Why's everyone looking at me like that?

Diana W. · Oct 17, 2008

*Shakes head*. Okay Ted...get back in the corner.

Pineapple Testimony sounds good to me. The title alone would make me pick the book up to look at it.

katiemac · Oct 17, 2008

I'm sticking with The Pineapple Testimony based on this feedback too. :O)

I'd give the back cover a read if I saw the book on a table at B&N.

Nymtoc · Oct 17, 2008

Thumbs up to the Pineapple.

:Thumbs:

As others have said, your publisher may insist on a title change, but at this point you want to catch the eye of an agent. If I were an agent and a manuscript titled "My Pineapple Testimony" crossed my desk, I'd definitely give it a look.

Ms Hollands · Oct 18, 2008

Thanks everyone. I have a good feeling about this title, mostly based on your feedback. :O)

RJK · Oct 18, 2008

This is a little off subject, but reading this thread has inspired an idea for the cover for my Cuckoo novel.

Picture a bird's eye view of a robin's nest, two robin's eggs lay next to a larger, hatched, cuckoo's egg. Lying in the eggshell, a newborn human baby.

Diana W. · Oct 18, 2008

Well that would sure make me pick the book up to see what it's about!

P-tree · Oct 19, 2008

I'm having the same problem. Here's the setup of the story.

Five Marines get stuck without a General, having to fight through Polish soldiers, disable a superweapon, and leave, without any assistance. Obvious enough, not all of them survive. Now where do you get a title from that? I thought of "Private" since the main character is a private, but that sounds too much like "Saving Private Ryan".

Novel title - eek!

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