How do YOU name your novel?

[Regan Leigh]

I'm sick of not having a name for my WIP. I sorta had one in mind, but its already taken.

My latest ideas:
Controlled Breathing
Lucid Death
Luckless
Untimely Tempest

Um, yeah. Clearly, I need help.

How do you name your stories?

[scarletpeaches]

Doesn't matter if it's already taken. There's no copyright on titles.

How do I name mine? I just have a search through my brain and see what phrase fits. Often this happens when I just have a vague idea for the story and any further development occurs as a result of me asking myself, "Now what further twists would resonate with my working title?"

Nine times out of ten, the working title stays.

Also, it's interesting how thethinker42 names her novels. She sends them to me and waits for me to come up with a title. :D

[thethinker42]

Also, it's interesting how thethinker42 names her novels. She sends them to me and waits for me to come up with a title. :D

Yep, 'tis true. 2 of my 3 contracted books were titled by SP. Of my finished books, probably half, if not more.

The ones I come up with? Hell, I couldn't say...sometimes something just fits.

[Regan Leigh]

Doesn't matter if it's already taken. There's no copyright on titles.

I know, but I've heard it is best to have an original so that it isn't hard to find or for someone to know which is yours, etc...

How do I name mine? I just have a search through my brain and see what phrase fits. Often this happens when I just have a vague idea for the story and any further development occurs as a result of me asking myself, "Now what further twists would resonate with my working title?"

Nine times out of ten, the working title stays.

Also, it's interesting how thethinker42 names her novels. She sends them to me and waits for me to come up with a title. :D


Oh, maybe I'll try that if I don't have any luck. ;)



I have had ideas for working titles, but hated them all.

[Regan Leigh]

Yep, 'tis true. 2 of my 3 contracted books were titled by SP. Of my finished books, probably half, if not more.

The ones I come up with? Hell, I couldn't say...sometimes something just fits.


Yeah, I keep feeling like I should already KNOW it. I'm in another revision and I know the story well, but the name still alludes me.

What do you charge SP? :D

[thethinker42]

Yeah, I keep feeling like I should already KNOW it. I'm in another revision and I know the story well, but the name still alludes me.

If it's any consolation, I worked on my fantasy novel for 10 years (3 full drafts, working off and on over the years) and didn't come up with a title until I was 20,000 words from the end of the 3rd draft.

What do you charge SP? :D

She steals a piece of your soul. Not a problem for me, since I don't have one, but I figured I should warn you.

[Regan Leigh]

If it's any consolation, I worked on my fantasy novel for 10 years (3 full drafts, working off and on over the years) and didn't come up with a title until I was 20,000 words from the end of the 3rd draft.

Good to know I'm not alone!

She steals a piece of your soul. Not a problem for me, since I don't have one, but I figured I should warn you.

Yes, but will it catch an agent's/publisher's eye? I mean, that's what really matters, right? :D



Maybe I should keep brainstorming and then do a poll. Love the polls.

[Regan Leigh]

Maybe I should keep brainstorming and then do a poll. Love the polls.


Polls! Not Poles! Jeez, erotica people. :D

[mscelina]

usually, I'll name my books after a line I particularly liked or for the theme of a book in a series. My current urban fantasy that's out on submission, however, was named by committee. The working title was Carnival after a play mentioned in the storyline, but it wasn't quite taking me there. Since the story had to do with the theater, I was trying to find a way to make that an absolute within the title. So a couple of my betas and I debated it. At first, I was thinking of naming it Theater of Seduction because there are references in it to the theater of cruelty or the theater of the absurd. Then, we got sidetracked onto stage directions and from there ended up with Deception Enters Stage Left. At the moment, the title is working for me, but there's probably an 80% chance the title will be changed if it's bought.

[Regan Leigh]

I don't feel like I would even know a good title if I thought of it. How can I write an entire book, but blank on a small phrase or word? It feels so silly.

[panda]

I don't feel like I would even know a good title if I thought of it. How can I write an entire book, but blank on a small phrase or word? It feels so silly.

Not silly, titles can make or break a book.

Stephenie Meyers wanted to call Twilight Forks, her publisher made her change it.

What's the synopsis of the book?

[Regan Leigh]

A female ghost haunting a guy that she had never met, but falls in love with. That's the basic beginning premise. (A lot more happens that I wouldn't want to give away.)

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll wake up and someone will have named my book for me. ;)

[DrZoidberg]

I constantly write down name ideas. Either for chapters or the whole novel. My qualifier is that a name has to be clever, have multiple meanings, be poetic, catch the essence of the story, be selling and have punch.... oh, and needs to be short. I just brainstorm constantly.

[panda]

Cool Premise. :)

Ghostly
A Waking Ghost
Dust
A Dark Ceiling
Awake, I Dream
When Angels Visit

Sorry...past my bedtime best I can come up with..

[Ken]

... titling stories for me has always been difficult. I try to make them convey as much about my stories as possible, as if they were mini-summaries. I also try to make them intriguing enough so that they attract interest. Usually I'll go through several titles while at work on a story before I come up with one I'm satisfied with.

[fringle]

For the MG I'm working on right now, I was watching my kids play in the amazing kids' pool at The Madinat in Dubai, and a title popped into my head. It was totally unrelated to anything going on around me. Over the next few days, the story came to me in bits and pieces. It's the first time I ever worked from a title backwards to a story.

[backslashbaby]

I can't do it at all. I figure, before I submit, I'll hold a contest with a money prize!

A large part of that is knowing it's so likely to be changed anyway. I take it you still have to title it to submit, though. *grumble, grumble*

[seun]

I don't stress too much about titles. They come when they're ready. Could be at any point in any draft. When they're right, I know it.

[Stijn Hommes]

I'm sick of not having a name for my WIP. I sorta had one in mind, but its already taken.

My latest ideas:
Controlled Breathing
Lucid Death
Luckless
Untimely Tempest

Um, yeah. Clearly, I need help.

How do you name your stories? Nah, you don't need any help. First of all, you can reuse a title that's already taken unless it's so incredibly famous people will notice. Don't call your novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". I haven't read your story, but the first two titles in your list look interesting.

[aadams73]

A female ghost haunting a guy that she had never met, but falls in love with. That's the basic beginning premise. (A lot more happens that I wouldn't want to give away.)

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll wake up and someone will have named my book for me. ;)

Is it humorous or more serious? Because that makes a difference. :)

[Lady Ice]

Nah, you don't need any help. First of all, you can reuse a title that's already taken unless it's so incredibly famous people will notice. Don't call your novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". I haven't read your story, but the first two titles in your list look interesting.

Controlled Breathing and Untimely Tempest sound a bit like innuendo (unless that's what you want).

Quotes from other works are often good as are phrases from your novel.
Choose a title that inspires you.

[ChaosTitan]

Titles are hard, and it's pretty difficult to come up with something unique and that hasn't been used before. When you can, you're golden. But books come out all the time with the same title as three others before them.

Someone once gave me some advice that I used to create the title "Three Days to Dead." They said take a piece of paper and make three columns. Column 1 - nouns/people/places from the book. Column 2 - adjectives that describe the book. Column 3 - verbs that describe the book. Then start mixing and matching until something works.

[C.M.C.]

I heard it in a song lyric and thought it sounded like a good title.

[Libbie]

Painfully, that's how.

I really struggle with titles. They always feel either too bland or too cryptic. I settled on the title for A River of Light while writing a scene in which the MC hallucinated, seeing a river made out of stars. It was a fairly important hallucination to the plot, so I figured it might work for a title.

It'll probably be changed by an editor anyway, so I'm not too attached to it, but I just can't slap a half-assed, boring title on my work. I think it sends a clear message of carelessness to editors and agents. It's like creating a very nice product and then trying to sell it in a Zip-Loc bag instead of nice packaging. I just can't do it.

So I agonize over titles a lot, even though they're subject to change by people who are much better at titling books than I.

Fortunately, Strange Songs, my next WIP, titled itself easily. It's about Houdini, and I was able to lift a portion of one of his quotes for the title. Thanks, Ehrich! You saved my ass.

[willietheshakes]

See, titles just come to me, no effort at all.

Take my current one: For a while UCNN (Untitled Children's Novel Novel) just seemed to fit, until I woke up one morning and had an epiphany. It's now called UVLCNN (Untitled Very Late Children's Novel Novel).

See? Easy.

[motormind]

I just think for five minutes and have one. But then again, it's basically how I plan my life.

[Rarri]

Main WIP, the title just came into being and worked. The other projects? They just have nicknames basically, one is currently called 'plot plot' (no, i don't know why either). I'll give time to their titles once they've been revised/edited, for the moment, silly titles abound. :)

[Ruth2]

Titles are agonizing for me. My current WIP's working title is Blood Ties. It has a double meaning and it's okay but it doesn't exactly grab me. Sounds like another vampire book...

[Renee Collins]

Another one who struggles with titles here.

I've been working on a novel for a solid year now. I have title brainstorming sessions probably once a week. I have plenty of options, but I've yet to find that one.

But hmm . . . I might try Chaos Titan's idea.

Good luck! Your premise sounds cool. :)

[MGraybosch]

I stole mine from the time of a Judas Priest song, "Starbreaker". I was going to use "Stormbringer" until I remembered that Michael Moorcock had already used it.

[scarletpeaches]

I keep a list of phrases in BONER that strike me as "Ooh, that's euphonious." I like the word euphonious. Anyway...BONER (Black Omnipresent Notebook of Erotic Romance) has titled both mine and tt42's works. :D

[maestrowork]

I look for themes, motifs, symbolism, or premise. Usually the working title comes to me when I'm working on the mid-book. For a long time, it was entitled CTN (Crap, the Novel).

But don't worry. Chances are your editor would want to change the title anyway.

[Ruth2]

Oooh, I like "Crap, the Novel". It's got a a certain je ne sais quoi about it, y'know?

[maestrowork]

:)

Oh and the title should match the tone of your novel, I think. It's your first point of sale contact -- the first thing your potential reader will see. It should give a hint of what's in the book. Somehow, for example, I don't think "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to War" is going to work for my book...

[job]

What you might do is save all your 'second best' titles in a file.

If your editor doesn't like the first title you propose, you'll have some other good ones to offer.

[Ken]

What you might do is save all your 'second best' titles in a file.

If your editor doesn't like the first title you propose, you'll have some other good ones to offer.

... good idea, here.

[Regan Leigh]

Is it humorous or more serious? Because that makes a difference. :)

Hm, more serious... But the humor is DEFINITELY in it. Not necessarily a happy ending. ;)

Titles are hard, and it's pretty difficult to come up with something unique and that hasn't been used before. When you can, you're golden. But books come out all the time with the same title as three others before them.

Someone once gave me some advice that I used to create the title "Three Days to Dead." They said take a piece of paper and make three columns. Column 1 - nouns/people/places from the book. Column 2 - adjectives that describe the book. Column 3 - verbs that describe the book. Then start mixing and matching until something works.

I'm going to do this today! Thank you.

I heard it in a song lyric and thought it sounded like a good title.

Oh, I want to do this one, too. Music is huge to me so I'd LOVE to title it this way.

What you might do is save all your 'second best' titles in a file.

If your editor doesn't like the first title you propose, you'll have some other good ones to offer.

Yep, yep. I like this idea.


Thanks everybody! All great comments and suggestions. Right now, I just call them by the MC's name. (This one is my Mallory story.)

Her name means luckless or unlucky, so that's where all the luck stuff came from.

[Ellefire]

my latest WIP is called 'Asylum', it's short and it's boring but it fits. Both meanings of the word fit. I hope the editor doesn't think the title was slapped on.

[aadams73]

And then there's this fun little tool: the Lulu Titlescorer (http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php).

[panda]

You don't have final say over your title anyway though, correct?
Kind of like the book cover?

I've heard of authors being overruled in either case...

[Regan Leigh]

And then there's this fun little tool: the Lulu Titlescorer (http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php).

The title I had in mind... Well, its an Orwell book. Damn Orwell.

Lulu said: The title Coming Up for Air has a 63.7% chance of being a bestselling title!

[Strange Days]

Is it humorous or more serious? Because that makes a difference. :)

What the Hell is my sheltie doing in your avatar?!!! :D:D:D

[ChristineR]

My experience is that someone between word one and word one hundred thousand, I'm able to get a title of out of there.

Anyhow, as mentioned, editors and publishers have been known to change titles, so it's not like the world will end if you don't have the most perfect title ever.

[Strange Days]

It helps to have some cheesy stupid worktitle for your WIP. Like mine is "Game Dramatic". Worst. Title. Ever. But the more I'm working on it, the more I'm getting inclined towards "A.D. St. Fan"... :evil

[MrWrite]

I don't stress too much about titles. They come when they're ready. Could be at any point in any draft. When they're right, I know it.


That's what happened to me. For ages when I started Psychic Witness I struggled to come up with a title. It really bothered me. Then one day the title just popped into my head and I loved it. Maybe don't worry about it so much and just let your subconscious mull it over.

[sveltskye]

I'm only a chapter into my second novel and I got the title right away. It was a no brainer.
My first started out as Strange as Fiction, but then the movie Stranger than Fiction came out and I was like "D'Oh!" hehe
Then I came up with Stories Ending, which I love but people keep thinking is grammatically incorrect (It's referring to the multiple endings of hypothetical stories, as well as the two stories featured in the novel- my MC's as well as the one she's writing- as in "the stories that are ending"). It does reflect the abstract nature of the book and I hope it doesn't get changed but we'll see.
And Crap the Novel: Best. Name. Ever.

[ChaosTitan]

You don't have final say over your title anyway though, correct?
Kind of like the book cover?

I've heard of authors being overruled in either case...

It's true authors don't get final say. Usually marketing does.

However, it never hurts to try for something eye-catching and unique. If it is, you might just get to keep it. I'm constantly amazed that I've been able to keep both titles for my contracted books (I thought for sure book two would be retitled).

And I'm sure agents get tired of seeing the same tired, over-used titles time and again on submissions.

[scarletpeaches]

Speaking for tt42 (again) I know with her three contracts she kept the titles she subbed under. Maybe it's different because she went direct to each press rather than through an agent?

I know one author whose book went through three titles but it wasn't a case of "YOU MUST CALL YOUR BOOK THIS!" She had the final veto, as in, if her publisher suggested something she strongly objected to, she was allowed to say "No. I'd prefer something else."

She subbed under title #1, the publisher tentatively helped her come up with #2 and marketing changed it to #3 (after discussions with the author).

[Regan Leigh]

I tried the lyrics idea and already have two more titles. I'll do a poll at some point for sure. :P

I'm kinda glad I'm not in love with a certain title. I'd hate to lose it, if that happened to me.

[bearilou]

Ghostly
A Waking Ghost
Dust
A Dark Ceiling
Awake, I Dream
When Angels Visit

A Dark Ceiling...I like that one. It's going in my titles jar.

Someone once gave me some advice that I used to create the title "Three Days to Dead." They said take a piece of paper and make three columns. Column 1 - nouns/people/places from the book. Column 2 - adjectives that describe the book. Column 3 - verbs that describe the book. Then start mixing and matching until something works.

And I love this idea a lot! I may have to try it.

[katiemac]

I realized some of the most interesting titles, to me, are named after a person in the book. But it's never "Jodie Smith," it's a more original way of looking at the character ... "The Time Traveler's Wife" or "The Kite Runner" or "The Resurrectionist."

So I did this with my WIP, the only WIP I've ever bothered titling. For what it's worth, the title character is not my main character, but someone who has a profound effect on him.

[Regan Leigh]

I realized some of the most interesting titles, to me, are named after a person in the book. But it's never "Jodie Smith," it's a more original way of looking at the character ... "The Time Traveler's Wife" or "The Kite Runner" or "The Resurrectionist."

So I did this with my WIP, the only WIP I've ever bothered titling. For what it's worth, the title character is not my main character, but someone who has a profound effect on him.


I agree. I like those type of title. (Doesn't hurt that I really like The Time Traveler's Wife.) :)

[panda]

A Dark Ceiling...I like that one. It's going in my titles jar.



:)

[Sandy Shin]

A poll is a good idea: I tend to ask for other people's opinions and make my decision based on which option I subconsciously root for (which, often times, is not the one with the most votes).

My process of choosing a title for my novels and stories differ from one story to the next. Some novels come with their titles attached, and some are still stuck with "Untitled #." If I absolutely cannot come up with a working title or two, I'll ask myself what's the novel is about and go hunt down popular quotes for inspirations. It works, sometimes. :>

[maestrowork]

So I did this with my WIP, the only WIP I've ever bothered titling. For what it's worth, the title character is not my main character, but someone who has a profound effect on him.

Wouldn't that set up a wrong expectation, though? I mean the time traveler's wife is one of the main character... although, technically speaking, the MC in the Kite Runner isn't really THE kite runner (Hassan is), but the kite running is a strong theme through the entire book.

Another way to title is to use a significant object/thing(s) or setting: the Notebook, the Secret Life of Bees, Cold Mountain, Cell, Lottery, etc.

[katiemac]

Wouldn't that set up a wrong expectation, though? I mean the time traveler's wife is one of the main character... although, technically speaking, the MC in the Kite Runner isn't really THE kite runner (Hassan is), but the kite running is a strong theme through the entire book.



I don't think it gives the wrong expectation at all. Granted, it's my WIP and the title is definitely subject to change. But the story is just as much about the main character's relationship with the title character as it is about the main character. The story doesn't exist without either one of them.

Additionally, I really like titles that seem to refer to one character but really point to someone else (or both).

ETA: Anything that has a strong impact on the story or main character, in my opinion, is fair game.

[maestrowork]

Actually, The Time Traveler's Wife mentions BOTH main characters. Brilliant. :)

[Cliff Face]

My first book I titled "Everything Over" after typing a page and a half. Then I finished writing it and realised that title has nothing to do with anything I wrote. Sigh.

Second book was easier. I already knew that the plot would revolve around an item, so I named it after that item, kind of. It's "The Black Book That Went 'Thud'" - comedy, probably YA, fantasy.

The second book's title is one that I really hope sticks, because I don't know what I'd name it if that title wasn't acceptable, but I'm open to suggestions for book 1's title, even though nobody here has read it... sigh again.

I think naming my books around the events or plot devices is the way to go for my saga, because it's all the same characters, so using them for names isn't exactly going to work, and wouldn't sound very good anyway, IMO.

New title for book 1 that I don't like: "Chaos." Too... blah. I was considering "The Chaos Curse" but there's already a book named that out in stores - check it out, it's by R. A. Salvatore - if you like D&D at all, I'd reccomend this book. :)

[DWSTXS]

Waking Dreams

[newgreekwriter]

Titles..Arg. I had the perfect one until I realized a published book with a similar theme had the same title.
As your friends! My BR and I always bounce ideas off each other, but we have two different personalities..meaning a long list of titles that really don't er...fit.

[Matera the Mad]

Something memorable happens to my MC. Or it's a pun, for funny shtuff. My criteria are: 1. It sticks in my head, and 2. It's related somehow to the overall theme (in my head, at least). Godnose, editors are said to be heck on chosen titles. I just hope mine survive.

[MGraybosch]

I just named mine after the Sword of Plot Advancement that my MC got stuck with and would dearly like to chuck into a volcano before I settle on a plot for the sequel. I suspect that a publisher will want to slap something other than "Starbreaker" on the cover, but right now I don't give a shit.

[rosiroo]

Nah, you don't need any help. First of all, you can reuse a title that's already taken unless it's so incredibly famous people will notice. Don't call your novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". I haven't read your story, but the first two titles in your list look interesting.

D'oh- but that title fits SO well with my plot.... :D

[defcon6000]

I'm not any better at title making either. :tongue Most of the time I just take the title of the song that helped inspired me to write or I work that song title into the title. Although, I usually go for the infamous 'untitled' title. :e2smack:

[Haphazard]

I dunno, sometimes I name stories after main characters, like 128 Sisu and Three Dead Men, but most of the time I name them after recurring things like Last Thursday, Tumbleweed House, and Hatchet (yes I know there's already a very famous book by that name, that story was totally different, it was a working title). Sometimes I do parodies, too: Do Hangmen Dream of Dangling Sheep? and With Heirs Like These.


If you're having trouble, don't worry about it, you'll come up with something brilliant soon, either that or your publisher will :D

[Regan Leigh]

Just to update, I do have a couple of possible titles since I made this thread. I have yet to decide on one for sure, but I used the awesome idea C.M.C provided. I read through lyrics of songs I had felt compelled to put in my writing playlist. I chose a couple of words from a few songs and then narrowed it down. Surprisingly, there were some great two word phrases!

[MDei]

Doesn't matter if it's already taken. There's no copyright on titles.

How do I name mine? I just have a search through my brain and see what phrase fits. Often this happens when I just have a vague idea for the story and any further development occurs as a result of me asking myself, "Now what further twists would resonate with my working title?"

Nine times out of ten, the working title stays.

And it's bout the same with me. I have the title and the general plot of my next WIP Consequences Not to be Damned and I just came up with that from one particular scene that's going to get the book moving where my MC says "Consequences be damned."... I still don't know how I'm going to work that into my book seeing as I haven't even started writing it, but, I'll get to it.

[Cuthbert]

Interesting thread.

I had the name of the novel in mind before writing, but it's a long title...while I see that the majority of people prefers something quick...

[IdiotsRUs]

First title took me aggggges, and then I was editing and a phrase one of my characters said just kinda leapt out at me. I got to keep that one

The second one I had the title first. It totally fitted the theme of the book. My editor liked it too - but it didn't really fit the market so I spent a few frazzled days trying to come up with another. And, hey, you can't go wrong with a bit of Shakespeare lol. That title really fits too, so I'm happy.

The third - well it has a working title. And then Ruv gave me this idea yesterday, and I saw the title for it. OMG it was like totally awesome! It fitted the book, it would fit the market...and today I notice that my publisher already has a book coming out with the same title....Yeah , I know, you can re-use a title. But with the same publisher, in the same genre? *cries* Oh well, back to the drawing board.

[eyeblink]

and today I notice that my publisher already has a book coming out with the same title....Yeah , I know, you can re-use a title. But with the same publisher, in the same genre? *cries* Oh well, back to the drawing board.

FWIW a good few years ago, the same UK publisher released two novels in the same year with the title Beauty. Different genres, admittedly: one was a horror novel and one was a glitz saga.

Of mine... Natalie and Melissa (agented 19 years ago) - names of the two narrators/protagonists. This novel never sold, and was returned to me after ten months when my agent left the company. :( It will need a redraft if I do anything with it, as it's been superseded in many ways by Partings and Greetings, for which see below.

The Ice - pretentious symbolic title. Never rewritten beyond first draft, and later redrafted as a 10,000 word story called "Migraine" (a working title which stuck) which sold and can also be found in my collection.

Kindred Spirits (near miss ten years ago) - had no title until the point when I wrote the sentence "Maybe he saw a kindred spirit in her."

My Name is Maggie (never submitted because I don't think the novel works) - again the main character, which also brings in an identity theme. (Maggie is Malgorzata, a Polish girl in England in 1989 - note significant date! - who feels herself between cultures and even languages). Many people hated that title but I stuck to it. I may redraft this one from scratch and set it in 1981/82, also a significant date in Polish history.)

Eyeblink (never completed, will return to this one day) - fantasy YA. Title came about because the world in which most of the story takes place is described as a dust mote in God's eye between one blink and the next. Also a pun ("I blink") which I quite liked. This is where my AW name comes from.

and in more recent years...

The Storyteller's Tale (complete in draft, though needs heavy redrafting) - This had several working titles, the one that lasted the longest being "Magda and The Storyteller", after the two main characters. "The Storyteller's Tale" I liked as it's a reflexive title and stories, legends and how the "truth" or whatever is turned into them is a theme of the novel.

The Plague Year (on hiatus) - a working title vaguely inspired by "A Journal of the Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe. "The Plague Summer" would be a more accurate indication of timespan though.

Partings and Greetings (current WIP) - Way back when, I had an idea of a sequel to Natalie and Melissa which would take them through University and into early adulthood - and Partings and Greetings was always going to be the title. I can't remember how I thought of it. I think I wrote some of it, but it never got off the ground. The new Partings and Greetings has Natalie as one of the three protagonists, Agnieszka (a major character in Kindred Spirits) as another, and a new character in the story of a love triangle. Melissa and other minor characters in the earlier novel appear in this too. Let's ignore the fact that the two earlier novels are set and were written in the 1980s and this new one is set in 2008-9, and the characters are still teenagers. :) In any case, the old title seems very appropriate so I'm finally going to use it.

[nitaworm]

Well first I come up with the idea, and usually when I am doing the outline a name comes to me.

[CaroGirl]

How do I name my novels? Somewhere between badly and not at all.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I usually name it "Title Goes Here."

[charlotte49ers]

Vintage came to me because it's something a character says (though I may expand or change it later) and then the other title is the basis of the whole story. The title came to me and then the rest is following - if I can ever recover what I've written on it from my other computer.

Give me time! I'll brainstorm for you with Mallory!

[Regan Leigh]

Yes, brainstorm for me! And I'll be looking for betas in a month, so I may ask them to also look for a possible title from the ms.

[CocoCat]

I tend to start with working titles that are sentences, which describe the basic premise of the novel at the point I begin writing. They may be ridiculously unsuitable but they serve a purpose at the time, such as "The Races of Time and Space" and "A Summer Without Internet". The real titles just turn up when they're ready. They tend to be single words that say a lot. The connotations of them tend to relate more to key themes than to the plot, which seems to be more emotive and hopefully enigmatic enough to make people wonder what's going on.

Is it a romance or more of a thriller?

[Regan Leigh]

I tend to start with working titles that are sentences, which describe the basic premise of the novel at the point I begin writing. They may be ridiculously unsuitable but they serve a purpose at the time, such as "The Races of Time and Space" and "A Summer Without Internet". The real titles just turn up when they're ready. They tend to be single words that say a lot. The connotations of them tend to relate more to key themes than to the plot, which seems to be more emotive and hopefully enigmatic enough to make people wonder what's going on.

Is it a romance or more of a thriller?

More of a romance, with the slight magical side. (Touches on Magic Realism, but doesn't fully meet that description.)

[PoppysInARow]

I just title it. Simple as that. Sometimes it can take a few weeks, but I can't really write it unless it has a title. I usually think of the plot, the metaphors, important motifs in my book and find a title that suits. Like my favorite, the Secret Life of Bees. Bees are a powerful motif through that entire book, so the title just fits, you know?

Sometime the smallest similie in your book can hold great power, and can work as a title. You just have to make sure it works around the rest of your plot.

[AllieKat]

Often with difficulty.

Some of my stories still don't have proper titles.

[Trauntj]

my two WIPs are named by the source of the conflict in each. my first is based around a man being used a vessel for an unknown spirit (to be released later on) which I have named "Eidolon", and the second is based around a world that shifts into different planes of existence that I've named "Rancorous Constellation" for the main characters are trying to remedy the shifts in specific, destructive ways.

Its usually best to pick something that relates to the plot in some way (either directly, passively or even some authors use a quote) such as Phillip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly with Fred:

"What does a scanner see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does it see into me, into us? Clearly or darkly? I hope it sees clearly, because I can't any longer see into myself. I see only murk. I hope for everyone's sake the scanners do better. Because if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I do, then I'm cursed and cursed again. I'll only wind up dead this way, knowing very little, and getting that little fragment wrong too."

if you want a perfect example, think of Hemingway's The Old Man & The Sea. It sums up the book simply and is easy to remember :)

[Regan Leigh]

I put up title ideas on my blog tonight. Any and all are welcome to go give me yahs or nahs! (Link is in my signature.)

[ccarver30]

I never really think about what I am going to name my novel, it just comes to me. I know that does not help YOU at all. lol

[KaysenParkerPlath]

Be vague, but interesting. Remember that hit novel called "It?"

[Regan Leigh]

Be vague, but interesting. Remember that hit novel called "It?"


Haha! I would rather have something fairly simple. You have a point. :D

[MGraybosch]

Be vague, but interesting. Remember that hit novel called "It?"

I remember. I loves me some killer clowns from outer space.

[year90ninezero]

Titling is one of my favorite things to do. I write songs, books, shorts, and I have a blast coming up with titles. Often the title is the first thing that I come up with. For fiction, sometimes the title sparks the idea. Occasionally a title will eventually fall flat, but then I just come up with another one that feels right. I think of themes, characters, plot points, or any other element. Titles have an element of poetry, since a lot of meaning can get crammed into few words.

Truth is I have titles for probably a hundred unwritten stories.

[Rhoda Nightingale]

Titles are hit or miss for me. Sometimes I come up with something that sounds good and leave it; sometimes I keep it untitled until I find myself calling it something in my head, and realize that's what the title should be; sometimes it's as simple as naming my MC and just putting them in the title somewhere.

That said, I went through about seven different titles for my one (sort of) completed novel before settling on one I'm happy with, and if/when I find a publisher I might be asked to change it again.

I think the key is to zone in on your target audience, and then pick something that's both unique and accessible.

[ChrisKelly331]

I name my WIPs after songs they remind me of. My first book (later pub changed the title) was "Shadowplay" (Joy Division) and my novella is "Constant Craving" ( K.D. Lang) and my Second novel is "Down in a Hole" (Alice in Chains) annnnd The third novel I'm working on now is "Number One Crush" (Garbage)

I have various other wips named after songs too: In Bloom, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Them Bones, etc etc

lol it helps me create the "theme" of the novel I guess.

[jasonleeward]

Naming your novel can be fun and definitely helps in focusing your thoughts when summing up your story in a few words. I named my novel after I wrote a chapter or two because I knew that it was the title that best worked for the story. Some writers might do this upon completing their manuscript. It just depends on you as the writer and if you have enough information about your characters and story to define it in the from of a title. For me, book titles, like chapter titles, are most times easy for me to think of.