How did you come up with the name for your memoirs?
- Thread starter Organique Gal
- Start date
a title only needs to be created when the story written is finished
after it is finished, then you need a title that summerises the piece you've written. a journey of life/hardship/danger/love.
the story tells it, so try to stay away from using key words. look at it, what does it mean to you? what does it express?
wish i could be more help - that's how i do it
after it is finished, then you need a title that summerises the piece you've written. a journey of life/hardship/danger/love.
the story tells it, so try to stay away from using key words. look at it, what does it mean to you? what does it express?
wish i could be more help - that's how i do it
My memoir went through a few titles. The first one was "Wandering Clueless through life" because I had no clue how to write. "Then it went Surviving Life Without A Clue". As you can tell I was definitely clueless. Well the agents didn't seem to like it. Then I took a month break and finished the book and decided to call it "When Life Throws Rocks at you - Duck" Title to long and was lost in translation. Got some advice and put my book down for 3 months. Doing rewrites now and shortened the title to "Learning to Duck" which is fitting to my query letter and rewrites.
Seams is right.....wait until you are completely finished, because you are going to come up with alot of titles. Write them down, but keep the title at the top, "Untitled" Take your time. I have wasted and I stressed WASTED 4 years of rushing queries that were no where ready. Just because I thought it was good....didn't mean it was. I am a novice writer and I had no idea how hard this profession is and competetive...so think long and hard on your title. Read and re-read your manuscript. Soon the title will show itself to you. That's how I do it......
Seams is right.....wait until you are completely finished, because you are going to come up with alot of titles. Write them down, but keep the title at the top, "Untitled" Take your time. I have wasted and I stressed WASTED 4 years of rushing queries that were no where ready. Just because I thought it was good....didn't mean it was. I am a novice writer and I had no idea how hard this profession is and competetive...so think long and hard on your title. Read and re-read your manuscript. Soon the title will show itself to you. That's how I do it......
she probably meant in regards to when you are writing it (please forgive my assumptions to your meaning, Emerita. )
if you are talking about a piece finished, then as she said also - think about what the piece is truly about, what it means to you, give it a title from that emotion rather one of popular choice.
if you are talking about a piece finished, then as she said also - think about what the piece is truly about, what it means to you, give it a title from that emotion rather one of popular choice.
Organique Girl,
It is hard to sell a memoir on proposal unless you're famous. Non-fiction can be sold with a book proposal, but that's a differents story.
Memoirs need a synopsis. The memoir writer is usually expected to have the book completed before they start shopping it around for representation.
Red
It is hard to sell a memoir on proposal unless you're famous. Non-fiction can be sold with a book proposal, but that's a differents story.
Memoirs need a synopsis. The memoir writer is usually expected to have the book completed before they start shopping it around for representation.
Red
So right Redbird.
OG, Have everything ready as if you expected to walk into their office and hand it to them. When they contact you, they don't want to wait for you to finish it. They are busy and if you aren't ready, they will go on to the next author that is ready. I made that mistake by not taking my time and not being ready. I have lost many chances to get with a good agent because I can't go back to them now that I am ready because I have burned my bridges so to speak. They will remember you and may not want to take the time to even look.
I meant while you are writing it, just don't title it.
OG, Have everything ready as if you expected to walk into their office and hand it to them. When they contact you, they don't want to wait for you to finish it. They are busy and if you aren't ready, they will go on to the next author that is ready. I made that mistake by not taking my time and not being ready. I have lost many chances to get with a good agent because I can't go back to them now that I am ready because I have burned my bridges so to speak. They will remember you and may not want to take the time to even look.
I meant while you are writing it, just don't title it.
Good advice from everybody. I had a title for mine, but wasn't happy with it until somebody asked me why I wrote the book.
I remembered the day we cleaned out my mother's apartment after she went into assisted living. I found a wooden chest one of my brothers had made for her in a high school woodworking shop. I opened it, expecting to find old photos, various announcements--that sort of thing. The first thing I found was children's books--books my younger brother had read forty years before. He'd died not long before my mother went into assisted living. The box was crammed with other memorabilia from her children's lives. That led me to write our story.
A picture of the box and its contents is on the front cover of the book, entitled "My Mother's Safe." I'd found the perfect title, but I had to think about why I wrote the book to find it. The revelation didn't come until I was in my second or third edit of the finished book.
I remembered the day we cleaned out my mother's apartment after she went into assisted living. I found a wooden chest one of my brothers had made for her in a high school woodworking shop. I opened it, expecting to find old photos, various announcements--that sort of thing. The first thing I found was children's books--books my younger brother had read forty years before. He'd died not long before my mother went into assisted living. The box was crammed with other memorabilia from her children's lives. That led me to write our story.
A picture of the box and its contents is on the front cover of the book, entitled "My Mother's Safe." I'd found the perfect title, but I had to think about why I wrote the book to find it. The revelation didn't come until I was in my second or third edit of the finished book.
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2008
- Messages
- 1,203
- Reaction score
- 103