Need help with fantasy title!

[Saanen]

I'm preparing to send out my newly overhauled fantasy novel and I'm not happy with the title. Maybe some of you clever folks out there can help me come up with something better!

The book's about a weredeer who's exiled to a world where magic is treated as a weapon, and where his own magical immunity leads to him being captured by the sinister Magical Sciences Institute and trained as a spy and assassin. The main thrust of the story is him trying to escape with the friend he's made and find a way back to his own world.

Currently the title is "Stag at Bay," but that's really generic and doesn't stand out. Any suggestions would be very helpful! Thanks!

[TheIT]

The first thing which came to mind was "Deerstalker". Is the story dramatic or comic?

[Saanen]

Dramatic, but with lighter moments.

[MidnightMuse]

Who's Ned?

[alleycat]

The Weredeer

The Captured

The Sorcerer's Stag

The Stag and the Sorcerer

Escape of the Stag

The Exiled Stag

Death and Magic

Journey of the Stag

Night of the Stag

The trouble with the word stag is it's other meaning, so you have to use something that doesn't remind anyone of a stag party. In any event, don't worry too much about the title.

[LisaHy]

"The Stag Identity"

"Day of the Stag"

"The Stag Who Came in from the Cold"

"The Stag Who Loved Me"

;)

Sorry. Not really serious suggestions, but then I have issues with titles myself.

Good luck!

Cheers, Lisa.

[Saanen]

Who's Ned?

Darn it, I just noticed that, lol! It won't let me edit the title.

[Saanen]

I like a bunch of these, alleycat. And LisaHy, I think "The Stag Who Loved Me" is a little too hardcore furry for my writing. :)

[TheIT]

The Buck Stops Here?

(sorry, couldn't resist :D )

[alleycat]

From Deer to Eternity?

:-)

Oh, great, they've got me started. I could go on all evening.

[Saanen]

*groans* Okay, you all.... :p

[alleycat]

The Red Deer

The Red Stag (that sounds familiar)

The Black Deer

The family name for deer is Cervidae (I just looked it up); you might be able to do something with that.

The Cervidaeus

[alleycat]

*groans* Okay, you all.... :p
The Buck of the Irish?

King Deer?

Deer John?

;-)

[LisaHy]

And LisaHy, I think "The Stag Who Loved Me" is a little too hardcore furry for my writing. :)

D'oh! I didn't even consider that. Just want to say here and now I'm not a furry... not that there's anything wrong with that. ;)

Cheers, Lisa.

[Saanen]

I'm really tending toward The Weredeer. It's interesting and gives a clue to the main character's identity.

[Del]

Magic and Antlers

Unordinary Friends

On the Back of a Deer

Stag Nation

Geeze, Titles are easy. But a bit more story would help. Who's or what is the friend? Are there Men or is it all animals? What and where is this new world of exile? What the heck is a weredear?

[Saanen]

D'oh! I didn't even consider that. Just want to say here and now I'm not a fury... not that there's anything wrong with that. ;)

Cheers, Lisa.

Furry (or fury, even!) is okay, except for the people who, you know, take it way too far. Ick! :)

[TheIT]

The premise sounds intriguing, but I'm drawing a blank as to titles. My usual approach is to think of words associated with the topic and play with alternate meanings. I've been trying to think of words associated with deer: stag, antlers, rack, hoof, doe, fawn. Unfortunately, several of those are loaded with other meanings which probably don't apply to your story.

When the character is in deer form, is he a specific species of deer? Whitetail? Reindeer?

[Saanen]

What the heck is a weredear?

Like a werewolf, only he turns into a deer. He's exiled to a world without weres at all, only humans, and meets a guy who helps him and who is arrested as a result.

It sounds really stupid in cold blood. That's why I hate writing synopses so much.

[Saanen]

When the character is in deer form, is he a specific species of deer? Whitetail? Reindeer?

Black deer, actually, which I think I made up. I had him a red deer, but certain of his deer traits didn't quite fit with red deer (since I'm only really familiar with whitetails, he has a lot of whitetail traits, while red deer are actually a type of elk). But that's only incidental (hehe, I almost typed incidentail), and he actually has dark brown fur, not black.

[sunna]

If you went with hart instead of stag or deer, you could come up with some fun wordplay....hart of enchantment/magic/etc. If that's not too hokey.
Note - I think a hart is a red stag, if color's important.

That's all I got, sorry. :) I just got out of work, I have no brain left...

[alleycat]

The Moon of the Stag

The Sword and the Stag

Metamorphosis of the Stag, or The Stag's Metamorphosis

The Werebuck

[alleycat]

Open Season?

;-)

[Del]

If you want get poetic

Beneath a Winter Coat

Too Far the Leap

The Following of the Stag (Stagman)

Against the Full Moon

I could go on...

[Death Wizard]

The Fawn Pawn

or

The Pawn Fawn


(groan)

[Saanen]

I've changed the title to The Weredeer. Thanks, everyone!

[TheIT]

The Deer Hunter (wait, already used)

The Werebuck made me think of Annie and Daddy Werebucks...


Of all which has been posted, I think I'd vote for "The Weredeer". Short, sweet, and to the point.

ETA: cross posted. Glad we could help!

[dclary]

Bambo: Last Blood

[Del]

The Denizen of Venison

Good luck with your book.

[Izunya]

Hart of Darkness?

Izunya

[JBI]

Wild Stag

[Fenika]

Werebambi

Dunno, that's a tough story to label...

Bridge to Were-les-bithia

Buck of the Moon

Moon Buck

Buck side of the Moon

...The Werebuck ... Weredeer makes me think of Bambi with more hair, lol... not as strong as stag or buck...

[Writer2011]

FAWN OF THE WILD--FOTW

[mscelina]

Terms of Endeerment

[Saanen]

*snickers* I'd like to see the books that go with some of these titles, especially Bambo. That would make the famous Bambi vs. Godzilla a very different movie. :)

[Death Wizard]

Bambo: Last Blood


Haaaa!!!

[Azraelsbane]

The Fawn Pawn

or

The Pawn Fawn


(groan)

Wow. That even made me groan, and I'm the one with the novel entitled A Creation for Devastation...which is possibly the most ridiculously bad title I've ever come up with ::chuckles::

[MattW]

Stag Party

In the Headlights

Killer Rack

[KishaN]

Isolated Stag =D.

[Mr. Fix]

Venison's Song

Weredeer? There deer!

The Buck Stops Were?

I just gotta stop... too much fun... :ROFL:

[AzBobby]

All of the above suggestions are better than "Deer Me" or "Oh Deer, Oh Deer."

One thing I wonder about fantasy and sf sometimes is the preoccupation with gimmick or fantasy elements per se making it into the titles.

Of course, the weredeer aspect of this story grabbed my attention right away, like I imagine it was supposed to, just because it's unusual to me. I had to read it twice though, being a tad slow. I read it as "weer-uh-deer" before figuring out what it was supposed to be. So I'd avoid that title. Kind of like the band in That Thing You Do who had to give up the name that was mispronounced "oh-needers" instead of "wonders" when they spelled it "Oneders."

I was thinking that if there weren't any titles featuring the deer that didn't sound silly, why not use a title that indicates what the story's really about on some more important level rather than a superficial point of novelty that may be less important within the story context? Kind of for the same reason "The Grapes of Wrath" wasn't called "The Starvin' Oakies"?

[Queen of Swords]

Hindsight

Doe-ways in the Sand

Absence makes the Hart grow Fawn-der

[Bertha Babette]

[quote=sunna7kore;1436105]If you went with hart instead of stag or deer, you could come up with some fun wordplay....hart of enchantment/magic/etc. If that's not too hokey.
Note - I think a hart is a red stag, if color's important.
quote]


Going along the hart route...

Mission Hart
Were the Hart Is... (hey, it's funny but kinda cool)