Titles DO Matter!
By Deborah Cannon

Some writers spend very little time working on titles. If the story is good they say, then it'll be published. Those of us who have been writing for any length of time know that there are a lot of factors involved in a fiction sale besides a good story. Clear writing, immaculate presentation, appropriate market, to name a few. A catchy title should not be overlooked.

The Great Gatsby, Treasure Island, and Gone With the Wind are books that not only made it onto the best seller lists, but became classics. Just how important is a title? From a sales point of view it might mean the difference between a modest seller and a best seller.

The title is the first thing a potential publisher or agent sees. If the title doesn't grab them, it could very well bias their opinion of your work before they've even read it. So how do you get their attention? First of all, you have to make sure you've written the best story you can. Having a great title won't sell the work if the work doesn't deliver what it promises. Then spend some time thinking about what best describes your story. Simple is better.

Here are the suggestions that Peter Benchley and his editor bandied about before they finally agreed on “Jaws”: "The Stillness in the Water," "The Summer of the Shark," "The Jaws of the Leviathan," "The Terror of the Monster," "The Year They Closed the Beaches," and "Why Us?" Simply "Jaws" was simply better.

A short story I sold last year went through a bevy of titles before it was published. The story idea was conceived almost six years ago and the resulting manuscript has a marketing history almost as long as I've been writing. My rejection slips began as form letters and, as the years went by, became editors' personal notations on the manuscript. I took every comment, good or bad, and used them to make my writing better.

The tale takes place in the future, just about the time Haley's Comet is set to return to the earth's orbit. The protagonist, an archaeologist, finds a burial in a cave etched with pictures depicting the ancient Haida myth of the bear mother and her husband. The archaeologist learns that the day the comet returns is the day the bear mother and her estranged husband can be reunited. But only if her bones are not disturbed. At the same time, the archaeologist realizes she too can be reunited with her dead husband.

I called this piece "Sweet Dreams, Marianne" and sent it out for review. It was rejected by a prominent science fiction magazine, but with helpful suggestions for revision. I decided perhaps the title was wrong, so I changed it to "The Great Star" and sent it out again. It was returned. I rewrote it and changed the title to "Stone Mirror" and popped it into the mail, which by now was the fourth time. Once more it was returned, and once more, I made revisions and sent it out. The next time it came back I decided to rework the narrative from a different point of view and retitle it "Eternal Bliss." I sent it in to a contest-- it didn't win. By the sixth outing, I had returned to my first premise and theme for the story, but shortened it considerably, changed the title back to the original "Sweet Dreams, Marianne," and this time, it was bought by Farsector, a science fiction, fantasy and horror Internet magazine.

But at publication time, John Cullen, the publisher, asked me to change the title! He was insistent on this point. "The title," he warned, "can make or break a story." He suggested "Petroglyphs" and failing to come up with anything better, I agreed.

Titles are tricky. Often they come from struggling with the meaning of your story. Sometimes they come from reading other people's work. Apparently, Margaret Mitchell was enjoying one of her favorite poems when she happened on a line that struck her: "I have forgot much, Cynara, gone with the wind, flung roses, roses riotously with the throng." Buried in this poem was her title, "Gone With the Wind."

Your title can come from a comment about your writing or it may be a strong image that the writing evokes. My publisher suggested "Petroglyphs" because the rock art was the image that opened the story.

A book must grab the buyer's attention. A short story must hook the skimming magazine reader's eye. In order to do that, the author must have a catchy title. If Margaret Mitchell had called her Civil War blockbuster "Tomorrow is Another Day" or "Ba! Ba! Black Sheep," how well would the book have sold? These titles were serious contenders as she wrestled with the words that would best describe her story. Here are a few more titles she considered: "Tote the Weary Load," "Milestones," "Jettison," "None so Blind," "Not in our Stars," "Bugles Sang True."  I've read Mitchell's classic several times and can't imagine it called anything but “Gone With the Wind.”

A title has to have magic, but where does the magic come from? How do authors come up with just the right title, one that will echo in people's minds? As the late Ernest Hemingway once said, "Getting a title is a lot like drawing cards in a poker game. You keep on drawing and they're all worthless, but if you can last at it long enough you can always get a good hand finally."

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