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I suck at titles. Once in a while, titles leap fully-formed from my head with accompanying stories (Out of Shape and Second Sight being two) but mostly, coming up with a title is a hard slog. You can see my lack in the entitling department in my lackluster novel names: The Changeling (boring), Season of Rains (too subtle), Quartz (working title) and Kai’s book (I’m not even trying here).
It’s tempting for me to dismiss titling my fiction as a hoop that I have to jump through on my road to publication, akin to putting my story into Standard Manuscript Format. (Why can’t we just name stories like we do piano sonatas? Then we could have stories like Teenage Vampire in Angst Major). On the other hand, some might argue that a good title is an integral part of the story, one that completes it and adds that final polishing touch. Others might say that it is a marketing gimmick, hooks designed to lure the reader in, to sink into the reader’s brain.
How does titling your work fit into your creative process? How important is the title to your story as a whole? Does your story feel incomplete unless you have titled it?
I had an English professor once who insisted on titles, and preferred clever ones. I’ll never forget the day he walked in, assigned an essay due at the end of class, and walked out–and then marked at least half of our papers down a letter for not having a title.
Titles for me are not integral to the plot, but they must resonate with the story. A story (or a poem for that matter) is truly incomplete until the perfect title has been applied. With novels, multiple titles will generally suggest themselves, all equally usable, but with short stories and poems, it’s a part of the writing. It has to be just perfect.
I think it’s the poet in me. Structure, titles, it’s all a part of the creative process.
Hi Rabia,
I find it very hard to put titles on my WIPs, but I still need to have one. Past working titles include: “Elayna and Aneiran” (after the two main characters); perfectly dreadful, but I had NO IDEA what the title of the novel should have been.
My current WIP which I’m revising is entitled “When Worlds Collide”. Didn’t even realise it was the title of a 1950s sci-fi movie until much later! My novel is a fantasy. *rolls eyes*
For me, I need a working title, but I look for inspiration for “proper” titles from songs or poems that have a similar theme to my WIPs, or from lines of dialogue my characters speak.
Mine is easy: First Draft Book 5.
After the book is written then I look through for one or two words towards the end that are only in the book in one place. This way I can get on with writing the story without trying to make it fit the title. 🙂
Titles are pretty important to me in the writing process. Mostly, when I don’t have one, I tend to feel incomplete. I can still write, but there’s always a hole there until I figure out at least a working title. Titles tend to come to me first before I get going on a new book, so maybe that’s why the lack of one hits me so hard.
David,
You’ll have to tell me more about this prof tonight!
Megs,
You’re right. It’s far more important for me to have the perfect title for a short story than a novel. I can handle burdening a novel with a bring name like “The Changeling” but I spend far more time agonizing over a short story’s title. (Ugh this just reminded me of a story I have out on submission whose title is very unsatisfactory… I almost hope it will be rejected so I can retitle it!).
Lisa,
Yes, I need some form of working title before I start. Most of the time that working title is one word, like the name of the protagonist (eg, Kai) or a place or commodity important to the story (eg. Quartz).
Diane,
Yes, titles need to be flexible, too! Though I don’t think I’m leftbrained enough to ever name my story Book Draft 5 (though I could go with something like Romantic Fantasy, written in Wonder Minor ;).
Deb,
It’s so interesting to hear how different people approach titles. For you, titling seems to be a very important part of your creative process. 🙂