How to come up with a title for a murder mystery

Reservoir Angel said:

I've pretty much got my idea for my WIP solidified now and all that's required now is to really finalise the planning stage before I'm ready to start actually writing it. Might take a while still, but I'm getting through it.

Problem is, as you can see from my signature, the current working title I've given it is just...horrific. And not in the way a murder mystery should be.

But I really don't know how to think of better titles. I've always had this problem with titling my stuff, I can just never think of a good one that sits right with me.

So how does everybody else go about creating their titles for their stories? Maybe hearing of how you think of titles will give me some inspiration about my potentially titling.

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I had a title I loved for Old Book, but Marketing felt it wasn't much of a seller so it had to be changed. The publisher made up a list of four-word quotes from the book itself and I chose one of those. (It was actually quite a blast - I thought she was incredibly clever to have thought up such great titles and she said "Well, you wrote them...")

I'm going to do it like that next time. In fact, since then we've just called the books Old Book or New Book. You get less attached that way.

Good luck with it

Murder 101 isn't such a bad title; they used it for a movie (and maybe a book too, I'm not sure).

Generally, titles just "comes to me". I don't have to think about them very much.

If you want to come up with a title, you might think about some of the keywords related to your story (characters, setting, plot, events, inciting event, etc.) and play around with them.

I have found the best way is to go out with my writing group to a bar an have a few drinks and brainstorm We come up with a lot of crazy titles but a few good ones as well. I also jot down anything that comes to mind during the day or while I am writing. I normally have a huge list of titles to choose from by the time I need one.

I get the impression ( from reading other's blogs, not my own experience) that the book's title is very much up to the editorial team, and the writer doesn't always get much choice, much like the cover image.
A working title is fine and there's not much point wasting time and effort on a title that Marketing gets rid of anyway.
That said, despite my inability to play an instrument, I do have my band name all worked out!

You can also use that as a "starter"

Thinking about Murder 101, I think of:

Murder Class

The First Murder is the Hardest

Learning to Kill

The Novice Serial Killer

First Kill (this is a movie, isn't it?)

Fresh Blood (I'm sure it's been used for a horror flick)

Simple Murder

Murder by Numbers

The Second Murder is Easy (too close to Agatha Christie's Murder is Easy)

Murder for Beginners

etc, etc.

I'm sure some or all of those have been used recently. It was just an example of brainstorming.

The title of the book I'm querying now is a line from the MS - Smoke and Wait. I'm a fan of that approach. It would probably be changed if a publisher ever took it on, but I'm sort of attached to it now. My WIP has a title that I know would be changed - The Stripping Hole. It's a coal mining thing. Not a nudie bar. I imagine at some point I'll find a piece of dialogue that I like and I'll go with that when I'm at the point I feel ready to query.

bellabar said:

I get the impression ( from reading other's blogs, not my own experience) that the book's title is very much up to the editorial team, and the writer doesn't always get much choice, much like the cover image.
A working title is fine and there's not much point wasting time and effort on a title that Marketing gets rid of anyway.
That said, despite my inability to play an instrument, I do have my band name all worked out!

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Well, why not think of something good? If they like it, marketing might stick with your title. You might as well defend the best option, right?

Where does the murder take place? I've always loved location-titles, like Murder in London, Murder in Boston, Murder on the Beach, Murder in a Small Town...

jaksen said:

Where does the murder take place? I've always loved location-titles, like Murder in London, Murder in Boston, Murder on the Beach, Murder in a Small Town...

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I've been writing a series set in New York, which so far includes four cozy mysteries and one thriller. The cozies are all titled like that - Murder at 21, Murder at Bendel's, Murder at the Waldorf, and Murder on Park Avenue.

Actually, I just made up the last one on the spur of the moment. I have a stray scene where my main character wakes up with a cold and I decided to try doing one where he solves the mystery from his bed.

Write first. Then come up with a title. I find it much easier that way.

happywritermom said:

Write first. Then come up with a title. I find it much easier that way.

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You also come up with a better title, because you're invested in the story.

I agree, write the story first. Some important moment or dialogue will probably jump out at you as a good title to query with. You want it to capture the book as a whole which to me seems harder to do if it isn't written yet.

I've only recently begun writing mystery, having finally decided where I want my story to go (I was debating between horror and mystery for a while) so I had to figure out what I wanted for a title. This is how I went:

First title: Cortex.

Second Title: Reaper of Revolution.

Third Title: Predator & Prey

Finally, I came to this title, though it'll probably change again before I'm done.

Cortex: Predator and Prey - A David O'Connor Mystery.

I'll figure it out eventually.

Some people, if they can't figure out a title before they finish a book, wait until they've finished and give it a title than.

In your case, you know what your book's about. A lot of people like to have their eyes caught by the novel's title. I know that two things sell a book to me in a bookstore: the title, and than the summary.

Obviously the publisher'll mess around with both, but if you have a good enough title, they might leave it alone.

Ask yourself this: is there a particular message in your book? Is it about friendship? Love? Is it about revenge or strife within the friend's lives?

As I have no access to the book itself, I can't say exactly what questions you should ask. But these types of questions are what I ask myself as I'm writing my own mystery. When it boiled down to it, it's about vengeance and the way society accepts certain things, but abhors other things. And that's after I debated whether I wanted horror or mystery.

Good luck with your work, and I hope you can come up with a title that you feel is a perfect fit (and hope, should you get an agent and editor, they agree).

Titles are hard, probably even more so for MTS. They have to reflect to story and tone of the book, targeting the correct audience. A cozy will typically have a title like Agatha Raisin and the Death of a Gossip, where a police procedural would have something like Black and Blue or a psychological will have a title such as The Collector.

My first book which is a psychological crime novel is called Bound. It was called that because it was a kidnap novel [inspired by a novel called Gagged] so the meaning was literal, but also the psychological state of my characters. I think I was thinking along the lines of Blakes 'fetter'd minds.' My new book is an historical novel set in Roman Britain is called Virtus which is Latin for virtue or honour.

Val McDermid finds her titles like The Wire In The Blood, Mermaids Singing or The Distant Echo from T.S Eliot poetry.

Ian Rankin has used names of streets in Edinburgh: Fleshmarket Close.

Hey RA,

I like McCardey's idea too. Until I decided on my title I'd bolded a few lines of my WIP for possible titles.

I got my final title from the works of an old English writer called Bill Shakespeare, a la GA's mention of Val McDermid.

I'm still not too sure about it though, heh heh.

Regards

Whacko

whacko said:

Hey RA,

I like McCardey's idea too. Until I decided on my title I'd bolded a few lines of my WIP for possible titles.

I got my final title from the works of an old English writer called Bill Shakespeare, a la GA's mention of Val McDermid.

I'm still not too sure about it though, heh heh.

Regards

Whacko

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I remember reading a historical crime novel about ten years ago called A Curse on Both Your Houses. I think it was by Suzanne Gregory. Great title, if not anachronistic as it was set before Shakespeare was born.

I like mccardey's idea, too. While reading this thread, I looked around at my bookshelves and realized that most of the book titles—especially my favorites—are taken from descriptive words or phrases used within the books.

gothicangel said:

Great title, if not anachronistic as it was set before Shakespeare was born.

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Ah, but the title's thing. Or is it the play?

I'm still wondering who Hamlet's Irish pal is:

Now I might it do it Pat.

I'm thinking it may be a typo in my copy.

Regards

Whacko

The working title for my first mystery (sitting and waiting for another revision) turned out to be an offensive double-entendre (Given the Shaft - titled for a murder involving an elevator shaft but later rape entered the story). I love when a title has multiple meanings that relate to the novel, but this was just no good. Nothing a write has a decent title until at least a draft is finished. I do like what others have said about using short lines from the text itself...I'll have to try that next time.

Titles are fun. My original title for One Man's Paradise was rejected by my editor (and I can't say I blame her). It was Hula Me Once.

The idea for my second novel actually sprung from the title itself -- Night on Fire. I loved the title so much, I needed to use it.