A Perfect Title

[quiller77]

I decided to try to revive my blog, and hope to post weekly or biweekly. Should I admit to being skeptical that this will succeed? But since each journey begins with a single step...

Titles have been on my mind. Back when I was writing fanfiction, titles flowed as effortlessly as a stream in summer. Hidden Agendas, Night Watch, The Moment, Defy

Comments

[bimo]

First of all: Welcome back! :-)

As for my experiences with finding a title, I guess the icon I've chosen says more than words ever could. *g*

I regularly fail at coming up with something catchy, something that would make sense to others and not just to me. So, more often than not, I end up with naming my pieces according to the weird, cryptic and somewhat subconscious gut feelings (gut phrases?) that I experienced when I was writing them.

It's a rather good thing that I don't write pro-fic and mostly for my own amusement.

[quiller77]

Thanks! I'm happy to be back and hope I can manage to stick around. The LJ community really is great.

Feelings can be as good a way as any to title books. You see it in pro fic, too (Devasted, Spooked, Dazed & Confused, Gutted). If the title resonates for you, it might for readers. It's catchy that's the catch. As we both know. :-)

There are a lot of traditionally published books with awful titles. Believe me. I shelved many of them for many years. And I know of one case where a writer's fun, quirky title was replaced by the publisher with a hideous, boring one. Publishers don't always know best.

[murron]

I always thought publishers just keep the book title you choose; I've been so naive :) I've been going to a monthly meeting of fantasy authors since last spring and I'm learning tons.

Brainstorming titles sounds like a great idea! And it's funny but I'm experiencing the very same problems you describe. Finding titles for fanfic was never that hard but when it comes to naming book drafts? Gah. For the moment, I'm just filing them under working titles that sound as inspired as "The Forgotten Forest". Ahem.

[quiller77]

The publisher is not obligated to keep your title. For them, it's all about what will attract the reader and what will sell, so if they come up with a title they think will do that better than your title, have fun arguing with them. (Unless you're a best-selling author you will likely lose.)

I always search potential titles on Amazon. It can be very discouraging because sometimes my first instincts were the same as a lot of books that already exist. (Forgotten Forest is there, btw.) Sometimes that can't be avoided if it's actually a great title for your story.

As for working titles, I use them all the time. We have to call them something, right? I hope brainstorming works for you if you decide to search for a new title. (And I'd love to hear about that book draft sometime. Email if you're willing to share.)

[murron]

Arguing with the publisher -- that's pretty far up on the list of things that might happen for me. First, I need to find a publisher. Before that, I need to find an agent. Before that, I should probably edit my draft . . . *eyes draft*

Thanks for the tipp with the title search on amazon! Wow, considering how many books there are it's a miracle more of them don't share the same title.

I'd love to tell you about the book draft! It's still a mess but I'm actually quite happy with it. No-one's more surprised than I ;-)
It's a first draft and a first book and both of it shows but I had a lot of fun developing the characters and diving into their world. I'll cobble together an email in the coming days and I'd be more than happy to send it to you. Thanks for your interest!!