How do you come up with a title for your novel(s)?

swvaughn · May 1, 2007

Inspired by Jo's thread about helping to pick a title, and my own need to come up with a new title for mine...

Where do your book titles come from? Do you:

-Try to capture the theme of the book?
-Use word tricks like alliteration or puns?
-Name novels after your characters?
-Use a short phrase or repetitive element from the book itself?
-Pick random words from the dictionary and string them together?
-Ask friends, family members, or complete strangers to give you a title?
-Something else entirely?

What method(s) do you use in choosing a title? Inquiring minds wanna know...

(And yes, I am aware that agents and editors will often change the title you have so carefully chosen. You still need a strong title to capture attention in your queries, because really, who's going to be interested in reading more from a title like "Sally Goes to the Dollar Store" or "Ten Bland White Objects" or "The DaVinci Code"... oops, did I type that out loud?)

seun · May 1, 2007

I go for something memorable that fits the book's theme. A few times, I've had the title set almost as soon as I start writing it. For the last one, a final title didn't come till I finished the second draft.

KatieJohnson · May 1, 2007

I wish I was one of those people who knew their title while they were working on the project. Alas, I am not. I just call my books, "Book one" or "Carrie Book"-after the main character's name. I guess I need the time to come up with a name that suits the whole story and I feel I can't know that until I have the overall picture. I like chosing a name though...it feels like the "candy" part of the job!

I also keep an open file of great possible names I come up with for pretty much any possible work in the future. Usually when I look it over, nothing springs out, but it's always a good jumping off point for me to begin. Sparks my mind to get going on a good name.

stormie · May 1, 2007

seun said:
A few times, I've had the title set almost as soon as I start writing it.

That's what happens to me. The title comes to me first. And it usually works. Can't explain it.

I read somewhere that one and two word titles are the catchiest. Don't know how true that is, but I guess it's easier for a reader to remember.

sunna · May 1, 2007

I agonized over my titles long after I finished - well, the first one anyway. Sine they're all connected once I'd picked one I had the other two in place, and a few in mind should I ever want to continue past 3. I went for the short phrase/repetitive element route; I like short & sweet titles.

Nolita · May 1, 2007

This How To Write a Novel helped me to get unstuck. So I go with her advice, she's very much published. Anyway, she goes with Katie's style of naming, at least at the beginning. Also, she hints, the title you give your book might not be the one the publisher wants, so... I'm thinking everything has to gel.

ccarver30 · May 1, 2007

My first novel was a fluke. I had named it a long time ago, part of it being part of the last name of my male MC (novel is Stone and Glass and his title name is similar to Stone). But the Glass part I had no idea how I was going to incorporate it or even what the hell it meant.
Flash forward a bunch of years and I found the absolute perfect way to use the Glass portion. It was kind of weird. I am sure this probably makes no sense, so I guess you will have to read SAG when it comes out one day...

Anyway, as for the second one, I was coming out of the shower and watching the water drop from the end of my hair and decided that Watching the Water would be a neat title. LOL

ccarver30 · May 1, 2007

Oh also, my titles always come first- not the story itself.

Claudia Gray · May 1, 2007

I find that, when it comes to my stories, I either have a great title right away or I'm not going to come up with one until the very, very end.

I thought of Evernight years ago -- in connection with a scifi book that died partly finished. Evernight fit that world (it would be way too complicated to explain why) and was one of the things I liked best about the whole project; I put the name Evernight everywhere, named my hard drive that, etc. Well, the book died unfinished, and for a long time after that, I would run into jotted-down "Evernight" and feel like the biggest failure. But when the time came to name a creepy Gothic boarding school for my vampire book, Evernight seemed to work perfectly, and now I feel a lot better about it.

There's no one thing I use. I've come up with phrases that are spoken by characters, words or phrases that have a double meaning within the story, etc. All the Evernight books will have compound-word names; the second is Stargazer. The thriller book I'm outlining is tentatively called Delilah, as it's about a woman who knows how to cause trouble, and how.

I think you have to just keep turning it over and over in your mind until something stands out to you -- something original enough to stand out but meaningful, too.

Calla Lily · May 1, 2007

I had a miserable time coming up with my first title. When it tanked in a contest and I completely rewrote and entered the same contest a year later, I had to change the title because the first one was quirky and might have been remembered. The second title fits it so much better!

Sometimes it's those happy accidents.

For the mystery I'm writing, the title popped into my head immediately. One of those serendipitous moments.

BruceJ · May 1, 2007

Mine's named after my MC, but only his patronymic. His first name is too familiar and would ellicit too many preconceived notions on the thrust of the book.

Shady Lane · May 1, 2007

I try to use the title as an additional theme. It has to tie into the plot, but I don't want to insult the reader's intelligence by overhighlighting a theme that's already present. It has to add something that would otherwise be unnoticed, not point to something that's already there.

Sage · May 1, 2007

Usually I call it "[Insert MC name]'s Story" or "Sequel to [Insert previous story's title]" until I come up with a better title. There have been a few times that I knew the name early on & only once b4 I started writing the novel. I try to incorporated a theme, a name, a good line, or just whatever sounds good.

My last one, AFTRLYF, came from a license plate I misread. It became my MC's license plate & the title. Using "afterlife" worked well as she's an Angel of Death, but a little bold, sassy, & kinda a screw-up (so a different spelling works well), the afterlife I present is a little unorthodox. The afterlife is what's at stake, politically (will the Big Bad take over the afterlife from the reigning Angel in charge?) and personally (the Big Bad has the ability to destroy angel & human souls so that there is no afterlife for them). Plus it's an eye-catching title, IMHO, so that's a plus.

Anonymisty · May 1, 2007

swvaughn said:
What method(s) do you use in choosing a title? Inquiring minds wanna know...

Honestly, I am terrible at choosing titles that I like (and that might make sense to more than 2% of my readers.) I'm one of those readers who prefers a funky, poetic title to my books, and I'd tried in the past to come up with something brilliant for my own work. But it always seems to feel affected and pretentious when I can come up with something at all.

Luckily for me, two friends who are already published assured me that publishers almost always change the titles anyway, so I stopped stressing about it. I stuck a title on my first novel, one that was short, to the point, and not particularly artsy or exciting.

So far my publisher hasn't asked for a change. I keep wondering when they're going to...

Anya Smith · May 1, 2007

Titles are the bane of my life.

I have working titles but they're not very good ones. Sometimes I change titles 4-5 times and still not satisfied. There are only two short stories of mine that I had come up with good titles that stuck.

seun · May 2, 2007

A strange thing for me - I have the title for a book I haven't started planning in any way other than having a few ideas. The title is ideal. All I need now is the complete story to go with it.

C.bronco · May 2, 2007

I didn't have a title for mine. After awhile, I started referring to it as The Haven. After I did a few times, I figured that must be the title, and I wrote it on page one.
Don't agonize too much; the publishers are likely to change it anyway.

swvaughn · May 2, 2007

Thanks for all the great responses!

*sigh* I'm trying not to agonize. I had a title. Thought it was okay. My agent thinks it can be better.

I agree - but I'm at my wit's end trying to come up with something else!

Please note my jealousy at all you folks whose titles come before your novels.

maddythemad · May 2, 2007

Ahh, I find titles hard. I have a friend (on these boards, actually) who always seems to come up with these brilliant titles along with her plots. Like, right from the beginning, she knows what her book is going to be called.

... I am SO jealous of her.

Basically, my method is this: I go around asking other people for advice, I bitch them out when they say, "I haven't read your book, how can I give you a title?", then I fall into a depressed funk for awhile, panic as I realize I need a title now, and finally grab some random title out of a hat that I end up loving.

Sometimes. Other times I'm miserable with my title-from-a-hat, and I spend a lot of time fretting over it. I still cringe when I hear the titles of my first two novels.

DragonHeart · May 2, 2007

I almost always start with a title. Even if it's not the one I end up with, it gives me a focal point of sorts. I have a hard time completing an unnamed work.

For example, I'm currently working on a series of short stories. Even though I'm only on the rough draft of the second story, I have names for all seven of them. It's the same with novels. I have titles for about a dozen novels even though I haven't started working on any of them.

~DragonHeart~

Tirjasdyn · May 2, 2007

I start with a title...eventually it changes...then the publisher changes it again.

Oliveman · May 2, 2007

I find the most effective titles are those that don't just inform, but relate what the book is about, what it feels like. There are many ways to approach your title, as before stated, and it really is up to you, your story, and what you want others to get out of the title and your story.

Scrawler · May 2, 2007

I try to capture the theme of the book, using word tricks like alliteration or puns.

TsukiRyoko · May 2, 2007

I don't have to search hard for titles, they usually come to me. On the rare occasion that I do have to put some thought into it, I rely on word tricks and double entendres when possible.

TsukiRyoko · May 2, 2007

DragonHeart said:
I almost always start with a title. Even if it's not the one I end up with, it gives me a focal point of sorts. I have a hard time completing an unnamed work.

For example, I'm currently working on a series of short stories. Even though I'm only on the rough draft of the second story, I have names for all seven of them. It's the same with novels. I have titles for about a dozen novels even though I haven't started working on any of them.

~DragonHeart~

I agree with this. I usually can't start working on something unless it has a name (impermanent as it usually is). Without a title, I feel like I'm walking about blindly.

How do you come up with a title for your novel(s)?

adrift

Horror Man

KatieJohnson

storm central

Nicole Castro

Nicole Castro

On hiatus

Me and my Muse

my name is hannah

Our Lady of Parentheticals

House Dragon

Horror Man

I have plans...

adrift

Oerba Yun Fang

Outline Maven

Bored fanatic

Forced into cell phone life

Forced into cell phone life