I love a good title
I suppose it’s more important to have a good, well-written story, but I’m a sucker for a good title. I literally have pages of unused, and likely never-to-be-used, titles jotted down in notebooks and stored on my computer. Roughly speaking and including stories and fanfics I’ve already completed, that list is currently around 900 titles. So maybe saying I’m a sucker for a good title is a bit of an understatement.
A good title doesn’t necessary mean a good story of course. And a bad title doesn’t mean a bad story. Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, in my opinion is the great suck of titles. With such gems as “Reptile Boy” and “Prophecy Girl” in his repertoire, I don’t think I have to say anything else. That said, I do have a fanfic with the same title as the finale of “Angel” (that being “Not Fade Away”). Then again, he appears to have borrowed it from the Rolling Stones.
But I think a good title is important, especially if someone is trying to break into the scary world of published fiction (or nonfiction). Not All-Important, just regular important. Here’s why. Let’s say you’re a new writer and by luck and skill, you’ve just published your first science fiction novel. It’s even at your local library and bookstore. Hooray! The problem is that your first novel is now sitting alphabetically on the shelf with all the other novels. How the heck is anybody going to pick it out when they are looking for a nice Ben Bova novel and maybe something else too, if it catches their eye?
And how is something going to catch their eye if they don’t know who you are? With a good title of course! If you’re novel is called “Life” (the name of a good TV show that I’m convinced was killed by its incredibly vague title), someone might drift right by it without even seeing it. If it’s called “Shadow War” or “Bombs Away,” maybe-just-maybe someone will notice, pull it from the shelf, read the awesome synopsis, and carry it to the cash register.
My favorite title of mine is still “Lost Shaker Assault” (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5484406/1/Lost_Shaker_Assault), even after all these years. I don’t see that getting reused as an original work of fiction though...
A good title doesn’t necessary mean a good story of course. And a bad title doesn’t mean a bad story. Joss Whedon, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, in my opinion is the great suck of titles. With such gems as “Reptile Boy” and “Prophecy Girl” in his repertoire, I don’t think I have to say anything else. That said, I do have a fanfic with the same title as the finale of “Angel” (that being “Not Fade Away”). Then again, he appears to have borrowed it from the Rolling Stones.
But I think a good title is important, especially if someone is trying to break into the scary world of published fiction (or nonfiction). Not All-Important, just regular important. Here’s why. Let’s say you’re a new writer and by luck and skill, you’ve just published your first science fiction novel. It’s even at your local library and bookstore. Hooray! The problem is that your first novel is now sitting alphabetically on the shelf with all the other novels. How the heck is anybody going to pick it out when they are looking for a nice Ben Bova novel and maybe something else too, if it catches their eye?
And how is something going to catch their eye if they don’t know who you are? With a good title of course! If you’re novel is called “Life” (the name of a good TV show that I’m convinced was killed by its incredibly vague title), someone might drift right by it without even seeing it. If it’s called “Shadow War” or “Bombs Away,” maybe-just-maybe someone will notice, pull it from the shelf, read the awesome synopsis, and carry it to the cash register.
My favorite title of mine is still “Lost Shaker Assault” (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5484406/1/Lost_Shaker_Assault), even after all these years. I don’t see that getting reused as an original work of fiction though...