How long to find the perfect title?

illiterwrite · Jan 18, 2006

My publisher doesn't like my working title, so I'm trying to come up with a new one as I revise. Every once in a while, blinding inspiration hits -- the perfect title! -- and then I sink again to realize it's been taken.

My most recent was Necessary Madness. Taken, of course.

How long did it take you to title your novel? Did you take it from a line in your ms, or did it just come to you in a flash?

StoryG27 · Jan 18, 2006

It depends.

Sometimes I think of a perfect title and then write the book for it.

Sometimes I think of the perfect story and then I agonize over the perfect title while I write it. Like my WIP. I have no idea what title to give it. Usually when this happens, if I wait long enough, something in the story will jump out at me and then I'll have my title. I'm hoping that happens this time too.

I have to say, I've never finished writing a novel and not known the name by the end. Though I have changed it during revisions.

Anyway, I know that's not helpful.

Wishing you the best of luck on your quest for the perfect title!

maestrowork · Jan 18, 2006

Halfway through my first book. The title just came to me.

I still don't have a title for the second book. I am tempted to call it The Pacific Between: Not Really a Sequel."

illiterwrite · Jan 18, 2006

Oh, I've always had titles by the end. But in this case, the publisher hated my first (Dirty Little Secrets) and is lukewarm on the second (Quiet at the Close). I'm still not done my revision, so I'm hoping that something jumps out at me when I print everything out and go over it closely.

azbikergirl · Jan 18, 2006

I worked on my book for three years, and the final title didn't come to me until it was finished. Of course, I wasn't under any pressure to think one up, either.

underthecity · Jan 18, 2006

Song lyrics inspired the title to my book which I hadn't started even writing yet. It was just in the planning stages when I recalled an Anita O'Day song, "Let Me Off Uptown":

If it's pleasure you're about
And you feel like steppin' out
All you've got to shout is
Let me off uptown

And voila, the title was right there.

allen

MasterRegal · Jan 18, 2006

Look at your themes and motiffs, maybe there is something that can trigger the perfect title. Or just look at the general plot and come up with a clver two or three word summary -- your title.

Me, for some reasons, I always have my title before I even begin to write. Sometimes I change it but it is very rare.

I have not published a book yet, but I have ideas for exactly twelve novels, eight of which I will write, and I already have the title for every one.

Good luck. At least there is a publisher who wants to print your work for the world to see.

sirensix · Jan 18, 2006

My titles tend to be very literal, just describing the contents of the story. The Jewels of Kyreth. Letters to Steve Martin. But every now and then I come up with a fantastic title that has 3-4 different meanings, and those always just leap to mind out of nowhere. The Stranger Rose. Holocaust. One of my favorites was a short fantasy story called "Postmortem" in which a guy (an embalmer) is looking back on what went wrong in his relationship. It ends with the girl rising from the dead and murdering his entire family, so the title has at least three different resonances. I love titles like that.

Julie Worth · Jan 18, 2006

illiterwrite said:
My publisher doesn't like my working title, so I'm trying to come up with a new one as I revise. Every once in a while, blinding inspiration hits -- the perfect title! -- and then I sink again to realize it's been taken.

My most recent was Necessary Madness. Taken, of course.

How long did it take you to title your novel? Did you take it from a line in your ms, or did it just come to you in a flash?

You can reuse titles, if you want. But maybe you don’t want, so how about, Not an Unnecessary Madness?

zeprosnepsid · Jan 18, 2006

I got my title here. On Absolute Write. I started a topic and discussed that I knew the kind of title I wanted. I put up my clunky 'sort of' title ("I want something sort of like this but better"). Then people asked for a short summary of my story, which I gave them. And these lovely, lovely people kind of workshopped it for me and wha-lah -- the perfect title. And it really is perfect. Y'all are getting an acknowledgement if my book ever gets published =)

So we're all here to help if you need us.

blacbird · Jan 18, 2006

I always have more good titles than I need, it seems. A number of things started with an intriguing title, and, like a seed, sprouted into stories (a novel, in one case). My problems tend to lie with what follows the title.

caw.

Princesstilly · Jan 18, 2006

How I got my title

Mine also came from song lyrics. "Will You Remember Me" by Jann Arden. If you're Canadian you will be familiar with her stuff.

The song has a line "I've got a junkie heart, a cage of bone"...

Voila! Cage of Bone became my title. Had the title first and started my WIP based on the ideas that came to me....what was a cage of bone? Family? Death?

Leanne

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 18, 2006

underthecity said:
Song lyrics inspired the title to my book which I hadn't started even writing yet. It was just in the planning stages when I recalled an Anita O'Day song, "Let Me Off Uptown":

If it's pleasure you're about
And you feel like steppin' out
All you've got to shout is
Let me off uptown

And voila, the title was right there.

allen

Funny, that's happened to me, too. I went through about 4 titles on my currently shelved WIP before I came up with one from Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream. Fits it just right - but I really have to revise that puppy before I have it critted.

As for my current WIP, I came up with the titles on a whim - as I imagine this to be a 3 book series - Dark Alleys, Dark Avenues, Dark Apostles. Pretty bland, but okay for now. Then I heard a Go-Go's song, and one of the lyrics stuck in my head:

Used to hunt for darkness
And it would follow me wherever I'd go, etc., etc.

Yeah! Now I have new names for these 3 books, but I'm keeping the generic titles in reserve.

It's funny how certain songs can get you thinkin'...

~Nancy

blisswriter · Jan 18, 2006

My titles seem to come from the blue skies but I have a fondness for song lyrics as well. I'm also partial to titles that just name the main characters.

I think shorter is better: Frankenstein; Insomnia, Thinner, Carrie (Stephen King); Jane Eyre; Paradise, Sula, Tar Baby, Beloved, Sula (Toni Morrison); Pride and Prejudice; Foundation; Mama (Terri McMillan).

triceretops · Jan 18, 2006

It's Word Wars for the first one.

It's either going to be Planet Janitor, or Custodian of the Stars, or a combination of both, for the second one

Valley of the Mastodons (a pure ripoff of J.M. Auel) for the third

and current: Felicity Fortune

Tri

L.Jones · Jan 19, 2006

Titles in publishing can be heartbreaking. Even if you work and work for the perfect one, it can be changed by TPTB. You can win the war on the words inside most of the time but the title? Try your best to come up with a good one then let it go.

Have you gone to the bookstore and just wandered around among Those titles? I've got one in the back of my head now that I love that came from a headline on a magazine cover.

annie
Luanne Jones
Heathen Girls (available now)
I got to keep that title but the sequel went from Dancing in the Labyrinth to The Southern Comforts. It's a bit disheartening but even I see it's more marketable)

Julie Worth · Jan 19, 2006

blisswriter said:
I think shorter is better: Frankenstein; Insomnia, Thinner, Carrie (Stephen King); Jane Eyre; Paradise, Sula, Tar Baby, Beloved, Sula (Toni Morrison); Pride and Prejudice; Foundation; Mama (Terri McMillan).

Or Stephen King's It. Though nowadays, it's best to come up with a rare two-letter combination, or else the search engines will bury you.

(Here's the list.)

Ronda · Jan 19, 2006

My WIP is named for the lead character, Kamali. Maybe it will change, but somehow that name intrigues people so much that I decided to use it. Maybe later as I write, a better one will come to me. The novel I've completed, Rue the Day, was titled early, and it fits the story on more than one level.

I have a funny story about titling a short story. I was walking the dog late at night. You need to know that I live in the Ozarks at the buckle fo the Bible belt. My story has to do with an item being auctioned. I talked out loud, trying out various titles, but nothing sounded right. Suddenly I had it! Into the cold night air I shouted. "Lust at Any Price!"

I wonder if anyone heard me.

Ronda

Dhewco · Jan 19, 2006

I thought I'd posted this, but now I can't find it. My title: Three Crowns comes from the fact that my character Edward V ends the novel as King of England, France, and the Spanish kingdoms. France will be his by conquest, but he marries the heir to Isabella and Ferdinand . . . giving him a united Spain. (I'm also pondering a crusade to liberate the Holy Land). This is alternative History.

illiterwrite · Jan 19, 2006

I like the lyric inspirations; sadly, we haven't reconnected our stereo yet since we got our floors done (um, weeks ago), and I'm going through music withdrawal. It's hard to play what I want though, since my daughter prefers The Wiggles.

I'll have to keep my ears open. I've been compiling a list of potentials as I rewrite to send to the publisher, but nothing really stands out yet.

DamaNegra · Jan 19, 2006

I too took my WIP's title from a song. I was hearing it, and the inspiration hit me. That moment, I started writing it. I got through a long way but realized it was horrible. Only today I took it out of exile and started writing it agian. Hopefully, this time around it's much better.

TwentyFour · Jan 22, 2006

Edited

How long to find the perfect title?

illiterwrite

StoryG27

Miss Behave

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

illiterwrite

azbikergirl

I really do look like this.

underthecity

Finestkind

MasterRegal

sirensix

Mediocre Sorceress

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

zeprosnepsid

blacbird

Princesstilly

JerseyGirl1962

I heart Malamutes! :-)

blisswriter

blissed beyond belief...

triceretops

L.Jones

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

Ronda

Dhewco

illiterwrite

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

TwentyFour

practical experience, FTW