Ok, this might sound funny to some, but what i meant by that, is that often i think about a random book title and it inspires me on creating from it a story or idea. Now do you think of a tittle before you write the story or does your story inspire the title.
'Should' has no part in this discussion! Be thankful you've been inspired - by anything - and run with it.
I don't think it matters. Sometimes I get the title first, other times the plot first - it's not as if anyone besides you will know by the end which one came first.
The title you give your novel isn't all that important--the publisher often changes it anyway. Or you get one title in the UK and a dfferent one in the US. For a short story submission to a magazine the title is perhaps more of a selling point, hinting at the story. I once had one changed because it was too similar to a story they'd carried a few months previously... Anyway, it's not worth losing sleep over. Whatever inspires you is good.
I have done it both ways - don't think it really matters - my current one was inspired by the characters names.
Either way is perfectly fine. I often think of the title last, or use a working title for most of the time which is eventually changed, but some of my stories began with the title. Otherwise, I second art. The word "should" doesn't belong in this discussion.
Mirroring a lot of the responses here, there is no "Should" about it. Some people can be inspired to write an entire epic based on a single word. Other people make it to 200,000 words without having a clue what to call it. Whatever works.
Either way, the two should relate to one another. Personally, I always write the story first, at least the storyline, and then come up with the title. I mean, if your book is about fighting dragons, it shouldn't really be called, "Fluffy the Wonderbunny," if there is no Fluffy or Wonderbunny in it.
I usually work in the story first->title second format, simply because you never know when your characters might come up with some profound phrasing that would be just perfect as your title. Either way works fine though, I suppose. It's always useful to have a filler title anyway, so at least you know where you started out from.
Yes, why is that?? I came across that phenomenon the other day. To me it sounds weird, they are both in english, or are the translations (if the original version was in another language, like the one I saw) slightly different too, using words and expressions that differ between american and brittish english?
ditto the 'no should'! i most often come up with a title first... but not always... all that matters is if the title is a good one!
there is no "should" in this, it's all up to you and your own creativity. And like someone said, no one will know in which order they came anyway. Why do some people see so many problems in even the littlest things? If we should all worry about these details no books would ever be written.
I've yet to come up with a title as I trudge along with my novel. I think of things I could call it. But I hope one day it comes upon me, and it will be awesome. I want it to be special. I don't think a person should force themselves to think of a title at the moment or whatever, but rather set in, until your mind thinks of it.
It would be hard for me to come up with the title first and generate a story from that. Normally I take a look at my story, or my story idea and generate a title from that. It may happen before the story itself is written, but it's not before the concept. That being said, there's no right way or wrong way, there's just the You way.
I've done both, and sometimes the inspiration comes from a person I see, the news, or anything. Sometimes I tend to come up with a title and that's as far as I get, but that's just me. Inspiration is inspiration.
Yes, a title, or rather a word or phrase, has inspired me to write a story, but I always not keep that title when the story is finished. So, I would say my titles are inspired by my stories... as they say, a name means nothing until you know the person who owns that name.
Good one. Actually, I think finding titles is actually pretty hard. I've come up with numerous story ideas but finding the right and fitting title can prove to strenuous to the creative soul.
It's funny, with my first novel it took ages to come up with the title and still im not sure about it, but with this one it came to my mind while still writing the beginning. I think in general I have trouble coming up with a good title and usually the story comes first and then the title (with a lot of effort).
Both. You can get your inspiration from anything. The magic happens when you start writing the story and your mind picks ideas and images from all over and order them into a meaningful whole. The original idea is only a small part of the whole. The dadaist movement of the early 20th century used to create poetry by literally pulling words out of a hat.
I used to come up with titles all the time in the past, but I put more effort in that one thing alone instead of working on my story. I've since moved one to focussing on my stories and letting the titles form from them
I write the novel first and pick a title afterwards. Sometimes the title comes from something that inspired me, though. For instance, my project which was originally titled Silent Sempiternity took heavy influences from a poem by Swinburne, Anactoria. When I went back to find a better title for it, I ended up deciding on a line from the poem, "Bade sink the spirit and the flesh aspire, pain animate the dust of dead desire." It's stuck so far, but hey, this would be the fourth working title, so who knows. Interestingly, if you search for that exact line in google, you'll turn up more things about me than about Swinburne.
