Titles

good: The Old Man and the Sea

has a nice ring to it, rolls off the tongue.

Never Lick A Moving Blender is by the far the most "what the...?" title I've ever seen on a book. The Color of Her Panties by Piers Anthony is a close second.

I'm flexible when it comes to titles. Sometimes a work starts out with a title, other times it has a working title, sometimes it just has a WIP codename. The final title is usually a reference to a line in the work or its theme. For fantasy works, the title can also refer to the central artifact (Sword of Eternal Justice, off the top of my head for example).

I avoid giving character names as my title, having only done so once. If the main character has an official title (Lord the Tenth Realm, just off the top of my head), that might end up being the work's title.

I avoid using character's names because, quite frankly unless it's a video game or a comic book, I really can't stand those titles myself. Often my favorite characters are a supporting character, and titling a work after the MC forces the focus on them.

Two of my favorites:

The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
and
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt.

Oh yeah, forgot...

The Best Titles Ever:

The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien--tells you what it's about, is named after a character (if indirectly) but doesn't force you to focus on the character, and fits the story (big and epic) quite well.

American Gods by Gaiman--"just sounds cool," is also big and epic sounding, and is central to the story (doesn't force your attention to any one thing)

Anything by Poe--Poe was a title master. 'Nuff said. Even "The Raven" is one of those character-titles that throw the reader for a loop (AHA! The title character ISN'T the MC...or is he?).

Foiled by Blue October--Not only a great album, but a great title. By extension, I can't stand albums that are "self-titled" (would anybody read Stephen King by Stephen King, even if it was his auto-bio) or have "title tracks" (I can forgive this if the title track is not the FIRST DAMNED SONG). This album gets across the central theme quite well.

I've learned something today...I could teach a class in the Philosophy of Titles. That's sad.

"American Gods"

"A Canticle For Leibowitz"

Anything by Gene Wolfe. These people know how to title things.

(an amusing story. When Neil Gaiman wrote his publisher about this book about gods and what he was going to write with it, he said And I'm calling it "American Gods" right now, but I'll come up with a better title before it's released, I promise.")

I generally have a title show up either along with the story idea, or else it arrives shortly thereafter. My current big-summer-serial project that I'm working on has no overall title, something that's bothering me off and on. If all else fails, I flip through my iPod and look at good titles of good songs.

I love the simplicity of Mark Twain's titles, like "How I Edited an Agricultural Paper", but for my own stories I usually take advantage of the title as an opportunity to point out something about the story that would be awkward to slip into the body of the story. For instance, I once wrote a story that was very slightly based on the story of Orhpeus' journey into the underworld from Greek mythology, and I wanted readers to catch the similarity, but mentioning it within the work would have been unusual, so I made reference to it in my title.

Aesthetics aside, it's also good to look at titles from a purely practical perspective--sales. Ostensibly, the publisher's marketing department has a good handle on that. It's why they'll want to slap a different title on your book. And sometimes they're spot on. But they can be badly off the mark as well.

In the category of Unintended Consequences:

When saying the title of the book, do people ask you to repeat it? Are you forever having to remind even your mother what the title is, exactly? I hated the title the publisher slapped on one of my books, but demurred to their wishes. It wasn't until I was doing radio phoners that I realized the biggest reason I should hate it: it was very hard for the ear to pick up accurately.

Consider the ways in which your title can be bobbled by a clerk keying it in at Barnes and Noble. The computerization of bookselling and the dismal state of spelling skills are a nasty mix. One of my book titles starts with a homophone. Three spelling choices, two of which are wrong. Also bad for radio/tv interviews.

The Color Purple

Angela's Ashes

The Chosen

Hello my name is jerry

engmajor2005 said:

Never Lick A Moving Blender is by the far the most "what the...?" title I've ever seen on a book.

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If some poor sop ever wrote my life story, that would be the perfect title. I am, after all, the person who got her hair stuck in a fan. And I put my hand on the iron to see if it was hot, after my mother assured me that it was.

I'm partial to "So Long and Thanks for all the Fish" and "Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

Beach Blanket Bimbos!!

Odd that this thread should pop up now. I was just discussing this in PM. I've decided I hate one of mine even though it passes all of KCH's suggestions.

How much power does a title have? These titles you are mentioning, do you like the title or did you just like the book so much that title association is what you like?

I'm trying to avoid 'THE' in the title. Not that I hate books like that, it is just the confusion of cataloging it. Is The Raven under T or R?

Good thread.

Thinking of a title is the worst part of the whole process for me. I'm in need of one right now, and I can't think of anything. Sometimes I get scared because people often use a line from their story in some form or another, but I can't seem to find any one line that's clever enough. Maybe my entire story blows!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (though I think that might have been a short story)

The Well At The World's End

*cough* What Fish Don't Want You To Know *cough*

Now that you've questioned it...

Yeah, I probably DO like some of the titles I mentioned because I liked the book...The Color Purple [yeah] The Chosen [yeah]. But Angela's Ashes I like as a title [and I liked the book]. But the title titillated me. I kept wondering what it meant. I kept waiting to find out. I think I finally did.

Delarege said:

Beach Blanket Bimbos!!

Odd that this thread should pop up now. I was just discussing this in PM. I've decided I hate one of mine even though it passes all of KCH's suggestions.

How much power does a title have? These titles you are mentioning, do you like the title or did you just like the book so much that title association is what you like?

I'm trying to avoid 'THE' in the title. Not that I hate books like that, it is just the confusion of cataloging it. Is The Raven under T or R?

Good thread.

Click to expand...

What do you guys think about short titles?

Im using the working title "The Blood" For my WIP. Is it too generic or bland?

The title refers to a group of people and the magic that they weild. It's also a subtle reference to the blood that will be spilled, so for me it has a few meanings.

How bad does it suck? LOL

J.S Greer said:

What do you guys think about short titles?

Im using the working title "The Blood" For my WIP. Is it too generic or bland?

The title refers to a group of people and the magic that they weild. It's also a subtle reference to the blood that will be spilled, so for me it has a few meanings.

How bad does it suck? LOL

Click to expand...

Suck? Who's to say? A title is supposed to draw attention. I'd say The Blood would do that, though it doesn't give much hint at the interior of the book. As for a working title, no one cares...you're the only one that it affects. And to hold on to a working title until completion I think is normal. Jaws didn't have a name until it was almost too late. I heard they literally rushed the name to the press, title page being the last printed.

With all the blood titles out there I personally will seek other titles (unless I think it is really good ). If your story is about a blood line of conjurers that kill...I can foresee many suitable titles.

Its not so much a bloodline(family wise), as it is a natural selcetion by nature I suppose. It is an inborn abitlity in some to "Weild the Blood" or to be "Blood Bearers."

"The Blood" refers more so to the power, than the user, though it is the title that they recieve from being able to use the power.

Like you said, I have until my WIP is finished to think it over...

J.S Greer said:

Its not so much a bloodline(family wise), as it is a natural selcetion by nature I suppose. It is an inborn abitlity in some to "Weild the Blood" or to be "Blood Bearers."

Click to expand...

I like the last one.

Title-Appreciation

Just speaking for me [I know who else would I speak for???] I like the title "The Blood."

It would definitely catch my attention. But I would want a sub-title to tell me in a 'bite' what it's about. Like you said below, something like this...

The Blood: Inborn abilities of some to be "Blood Bearers."

The Title would grab me. The sub-title would whet my appetite.

J.S Greer said:

What do you guys think about short titles?

Im using the working title "The Blood" For my WIP. Is it too generic or bland?

The title refers to a group of people and the magic that they weild. It's also a subtle reference to the blood that will be spilled, so for me it has a few meanings.

How bad does it suck? LOL

Click to expand...

"Confessions of a Mask"

I suck at titles. Seriously. Suck. Which is fine, because even the ones I find I like end up changing at the hands of editors.

At any rate, titles I hate are ones that try too hard to sound poetic--can't think of examples, but things like "The Wind Cried" or things like that. Or titles that have nothing to do with the book upon reading the book--they just sound nice. Again, no examples because I'm mildly slow today.

The wind cried...

Jeeze, did you ever hear a title and instantly build a story around it? I do that a lot. I think it is why I am disappointed with many stories, 'cause I already wrote it before I read it.

I think most of the titles that people have mentioned are not particularly memorable. For me, the best titles are memorable, like: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. It's memorable and it describes the book. Perfect for non fiction.

The Blood might work for some genres. It has creepy connotations i.e. it sounds like a thriller or a horror.