I'm at a point where I feel it's appropriate for people to start reviewing my novella - about half-way in, when a major tone shift is about to take place. I feel it's ready for Fragments and Feedback, except for one problem - I have no title!
So, um, yeah, there you go :P
More amusing than helpful, but I've always enjoyed this little gem from the SFWA website.
On the other hand, the novelette / novella (whatever twenty thousand words is) had one title that stayed on it. I played with a couple more titles, but the one I had seemed to fit best.
I think a good and dynamic title would help sell the damned things. Right up there with getting a good First Thirteen, don't you think?
quote:
My current novel has a title---I've got to have something to file it under
Right now it's filed by the name of the main character, filed by "protonovella" (as in prototype-novella).
Not very creative, I know :P
I remember a website that supposedly calculated how likely a book was to succeed based on title. I'll dig it up in a bit, but it doesn't actually make a title for you, just calculate its supposed success, so I have to still have a place to start.
Most titles strike me out of the blue, I've got no idea how I get them. And most of my titles go through four or five changes before I'm done with them. Usually, I just try to think of the main idea of the story, or what the main character is/does, and derive it from that. Occasionally, I think of my favorite theme or idea in the story and use that as my title.
I've a friend who uses throwaway lines in the story itself as her title.
My advice is just have some fun, think of something catchy that at least has something to do with your story, if you post a quick summary I'd be happy to suggest some titles,
Grant
Look in Fragments and Feedback for Novels soon.
http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum26/HTML/000188.html
As for which books to use---well, I found some of the more, er, "ornate" writing produced the most interesting titles.
I try to make my titles short and unique so they differ from other books or stories. For my current work I intend to make the title simply the name and surname of my protagonist.
The problem with my native language is that the alphabet doesn't include q,x,y,w, but it does have letters š,č,ž (let's see how these will look when I post this...). Therefore I try to make the title without any of these letters to be compatible with my native book market plus any foreign one so I don't have to change the title if I suddenly go publishing abroad.
I think finding a title is an art combining pith, poetry and promotion.
I found JeanneT’s SFWA link amusing, and helpful at least in the sense that it offers a classification of title styles. It prompted me to visit my friend Google and here’s what I found:
About titles and Julian Barnes and other writers:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/19/1071337141618.html
Here’s a title scorer:
http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php
It thinks Stranger in a Strange Land has a 10% chance of being a best seller, and rates ‘Ender’s Game’ at 51% and ‘I Robot’ at 55%. You have to be a grammar expert to drive it, so mileage is gonna vary. I don't think it knows any more than computers usually do, which is never as much as their programmers.
There’s a random book title generator here, www.kitt.net/php/title.php, but for me that’s a cop-out. I think the title leads the reader into the book, somehow with a promise, however indirect or mystifying.
Here’s some practical advice on book titles that sell well:
www.writersbreak.com/Marketing/Articles/article_marketing_titlessellbooks.htm
There’s a bit more here: http://foremostpress.com/authors/articles/titles_sell.html but it’s mostly a list of titles the writer likes and why.
Finally, perhaps the best advice Google helped me to find is here: http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/titles.shtml . John Floyd offers a useful list of ‘sources to jog the imagination’ and says,
<Quote>
But does the fact that the editor may change your title mean you shouldn't spend a lot of time creating a good one of your own? Absolutely not. According to Pat Kubis and Bob Howland in The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction and Nonfiction, "You need a good title to attract an editor's eye. Remember, it's the first thing he or she sees of your work--and the editor who likes your title will begin reading your manuscript in an optimistic frame of mind."
<End quote>
Hopefully helpfully,
Pat
Lynda, who hopes the second figure is the accurate one!
[This message has been edited by Lynda (edited August 27, 2007).]