Same title as short story.

[billyf027]

Is it okay to use the same title for a short story for a novel? I do believe titles cannot be copyrighted. I would also give credit to the literary journal that published the short story in the back of the novel.

[beezle]

I don't quite understand the question. Is this a short story someone else wrote, or one you wrote and sold?

[Maryn]

If the story is well known, it could be a bad idea to use the same title, but it's certainly allowed. My understanding is that publishers of first novels often change the title to something not as good but more marketable anyway. (Not that I'd know!)

Consider whether this borrowed title is the absolute best title possible, and whether there could be another just as good. Often there's another one lurking, but the first one you thought of kind of crowds it out.

Maryn, pleased to meet you

[billyf027]

I wrote the story and it was recently published. I expanded it into a novel and just finished the first draft.

[maestrowork]

I wrote the story and it was recently published. I expanded it into a novel and just finished the first draft.

You can use it again. No problem. I think that's what Chuck Palahniuk did with Fight Club. The short story eventually became Chapter 6 of the novel.