Verbal Titles for Novels / In Quotation Marks?

Ken · Sep 30, 2009

Say for instance that the movie Jerry Maguire was a book, instead, and had been titled "Show Me The Money," based on that popular line in it. Would it be acceptable/allowable to place the title in quotations? And if it is placed in quotes would a punctuation mark be needed: a period or exclamation mark?

I'm confronting a similar situation, myself. Placing the title of my work in quotation marks, to emphasize that it is something spoken, would drive home its signifigance a bit more I think, though it does stand okay without the quotes.
Advanced thanks, and a sonatina in E# minor to boot --> :e2violin:

katiemac · Sep 30, 2009

There's a good chance even if you put it in quotes the publishing company would remove the quotes and punctuation. I've only ever really seen this done for comedy or nonfiction titles, so since it's nonstandard for novels that's exactly what I'd think you had--a comedy or nonfiction book.

Ken · Sep 30, 2009

... lol. It is a comedic non-fiction book, though not in the ordinary sence of the term. Very hard to classify. Fiction, with a non-fiction basis, maybe. Or fiction passed off as non-fiction for ironical effect. Thanks for the info. Guess it really doesn't matter much, since a publisher will adjust it accordingly, as you say, if it gets that far.

suki · Sep 30, 2009

What Katiemac said, and I'll add that many, many, many novel titles are in fact derived from dialogue or character thouhts/statements in the book, so it is kind of known that the title might come from a quote from the book, so adding quotation marks I think will make it look silly and amateurish. And more importantly, I don't think it really would draw any emphasis in most situations.

maybe you want to post your exact title for critique, but I can't imagine a quote (with quotation marks) really being more effective than the quote without the quotation marks.

~suki

blacbird · Sep 30, 2009

No quotation marks. Lots of famous books have borrowed lines from other literature or songs for titles:

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)
The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene)
Terrible Swift Sword (Bruce Catton)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
The Winter of Our Discontent (John Steinbeck)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemingway)
All the King's Men (Robert Penn Warren)

The only novel I can think of whose title is customarily rendered in quotation marks is "Captains Courageous", by Rudyard Kipling, and I do not know why that's done.

caw

Ken · Sep 30, 2009

... a close equivalent to my one-word title is, "Bingo!"
Does the exclamation mark and quotes add anything?
(Thanks Suki.)

Ken · Sep 30, 2009

... thanks Blacbird. I'm convinced now. No quotes or an excalmation mark for my title.

blacbird · Sep 30, 2009

Actually, the use of an exclamation mark or a question mark in a title is sometimes done:

Absalom! Absalom! (William Faulkner)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick)

caw

Phaeal · Sep 30, 2009

BINGO!, no quotes, is fine with me. After all, it's MURDER, SHE WROTE. Not "MURDER," SHE WROTE.

suki · Sep 30, 2009

Ken said:
... a close equivalent to my one-word title is, "Bingo!"
Does the exclamation mark and quotes add anything?
(Thanks Suki.)

Exclamation point is fine. Quotation marks have got to go - especially because practically speaking, the word + exclamation mark is obviously something someone says/thinks.

Having said that, I'm not sure it's an effective title

evil) but that is a different question.

~suki

Ken · Sep 30, 2009

... hmm, then maybe Bingo! would be better, w/o quotes. The Bingo! is ironic, so if it sounds somewhat silly and overstated that's more than okay. Thnx again Suki and Blacbird!

And thanks Phaeal. I like the all caps

Lady Ice · Oct 1, 2009

Don't make it so ironic that no one reads it though

There's a play called Bingo which has Shakespeare as a character.

Ken · Oct 1, 2009

... will bear your advice in mind Lady Ice. Thanks ;-)
(Perhaps, with luck, readers will confuse my work for this one with Shakespeare in it

Verbal Titles for Novels / In Quotation Marks?

Ken

katiemac

Five by Five

Ken

suki

Opinionated

blacbird

Ken

Ken

blacbird

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

suki

Opinionated

Ken

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions

Ken