Titles are always tricky to conjure up. A whole story can be done without a title (or am I speaking for myself here >.> <.< hmm...) Just go on writing. At one inevitable point, a spark will click.
At the moment my novel is going to be called North West Spurs but do i have to seek the ok from Tottenham to use there name in the book if it were to be published...
i doubt you need their permission, since names of sports teams are not usually trademark protected, though their logo may be... and, of course, titles and names can't be copyrighted...
He's right. You've written the story all by yourself (I think), why ruin it by getting somebody to write the title for you?!
I have the characters designed, the plot and locations already in place and I have written the first three chapters and a prologue. The problem is, altough I have most of the story more or less defined, I cannot find a name for the story that sounds good. The story is about two brothers named Alcher and Daniel Rawkes, who after fighting some bandints and helping the town of Vanaheim, are sent an invitation from the Imperial University. This university is an academy for adepts (a.k.a. mages), but do not worry, this has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Then, the Emperor is assassinated by the Grandmagus, the leader of the Magisterium (The Magisterium is like the parliament). The Grandmagus then becomes Emperor, and it is revealed that he is part of a demonic cult worshipping Heolstor, the Traitor. All adepts are then persecuted and killed, except the necromancers of the cult who are known as Blacknives. The main characters; along with two friends, a teacher and the teacher's familiar (a talking lynx) they escape to a forest. A Hermit who lives in the forest, who was also the teacher's mentor, tells the animals to send message to all hiding adepts, and they reunite there. Then the adepts, along with the forest's creatures overthrow the Empire and defeat the necromancers. I just explained like one quarter of the story, but this is all you need to help me name my story. Thanks in advance!
Is it really urgent to name your story? If you submit to a publisher, your editor might change the title anyway, so it's all that important. You can just give it a working title and keep changing it until you find something you like.
Just give it a working title like, Forest Fire, or A Gathering in the Forest or something. A decent one will come to you. Al
Klee, I'm not planning to publish it... I'm just 14 years old xD. However, I have always thought that names (for titles, places, objects, people) are really important. Oh well, I'll keep thinking..
I usually wait until I've finished writing and editing to give my stories titles. Until them, I give them temporary names. What or whom is the most important event in/aspect of/character in your story? You can name the story after that.
Look at some titles of books that you enjoy. What were they like? You could go: Title Character, i.e. Harry Potter Title Villian, i.e. The Lord of the Rings Legend, Tales, Chronicles, i.e. Chronicles of Narnia, A Song of Ice and Fire There's plenty of other uses, such as Important Plot Point, some Important Phrase, a One-Word title that makes readers want to know what it means...there's a lot. Decide what type of title you want, what type of feeling you want it to envoke on the reader, and then go from there.
Is it just me? I get ruffled when I don't write a draft title before writing content. Or, I'll start writing content, and unconsciously shift focus to the title. The title is going to change later on anyways; why am I so set on concreting it down?? What about yall?
I usually know what my title will be ahead of time, but I almost always wind up changing it to better fit the theme of the story.
Maybe it's an age thing. I certainly felt that way when I was younger, but for me it was being unable to narrow down all the millions of things that my story Could be about. I think when you've got a story that needs telling you don't worry so much about the title. Could also be a hanger on from school when you're given a title and told to write.
With stories, I begin with a plotline, an image, a theme, or a character... so titles come later, usually with a lot of agonizing so I had better have finished the bulk of the work. "Working titles" annoy me a little, but I can work with them. With poems... I totally forget but a read-over or two and it's usually just obvious what the title ought to be. With essays and articles, though-- I usually have the gist of it make the title, and I need the title there to remind me of what I meant to say. I'll rarely change it. That's why-- --I think it might be this, too
I always start a work with a working title, usually developed in the planning stages (rough plot outline). The title normally sticks, and doesn't change through the writing process and remains when submitted to markets. I say normally because one article I've written changed titles, one novel did, but no short stories have. The title for me, helps with the focus of the story. But whether one method is better than another--which comes first? I don't think it matters, especially realizing what is used may simply be a working title subject to change anyway. Terry
Honestly, the most I worry about a title is what to label the story under in Word so I can find it easily again. Besides that, I always worry more about content. Usually plot or characters come first for me. Titles never did anything for me because I don't come up with good ones and it takes me forever to finish a story (if I do).
Content first. What's the point of having a title before you actually have a finished product in your hand?
On fiction, my working title is always the name of the main character. If a better title pops up while I'm working, I'll use it. If not, the publisher will come up with the right one.
It's hard to separate the two because I tend to mull over story ideas for months if not years (I work in series stories), and the title almost always comes to me sometime during that period, so usually, it seems like the two go hand-in-hand. I'd say the story idea is probably there before the title, but I usually have the title down before I actually start writing. It's somewhat different with shorter stories. Often with those I won't have a title until I'm partway through or finished, usually because I really have no idea for a good title until I look through the text. It would feel very weird for me to work on a novel or serial without a title, though, because my novel and serial ideas bounce around in my head for so long. I do have a very few finished stories that are currently titleless. One is called "Random Scene 3" (ugh) and the others are called "Random Story 1" and "Random Story 2," though the first one has a working title. The other two just stump me. My titles don't tend to change because I'm not getting published. *shrug*
