This seemed like the right place to post this. The one thing that holds me back a lot is naming various things. Most short stories I write are in a first person narration where the character has no name just so that I don't have to name him. Or her. Mostly him. But this is to the point where I can't even think up of the name of one of my stories. A lot of my work revolves around one central story line that I would like to release in a series of comics, and this is the story I can't name. A better part of twelve years have been spent sporadically developing this story. Details in the story, the fights, the character development, all have come to a point where I can discuss them for hours, but I have NO IDEA what to name it! Does anyone else have this problem? How do you get past it if you do?
I have run into the issue of naming individual stories/episodes/chapters, but usually some brainstorming, meditating on central themes, motifs and characters leads to an answer. Look at stories in the same genre. How do their titles fit in with the story? Are they named after a main character? An objective or goal? Are the titles tied in with the theme of the story? I'd say a bigger issue--especially if you're trying to develope a comic--is naming your characters. A story should be built on its characters, and if they're unformed, your story won't need a title because it won't survive.
The major players have names, and their individual developments are mapped out in good detail in my notes. This would be a comic if I could draw or knew someone who could. There are still a good amount of unnamed characters, though. When I can get my friends interested in the subject, we come up with some good names.
I still have substitute names in my novel even though it's 3/4 done. I'm not worried about it. In the mean time I started using the alphabet. Abby Bet Carl and so on. My main criteria is that I don't want to think of someone I know if I use their name. Second naming criteria is considering the story is set in the future. For animals on my not-Earth planet I've been looking at phylum names but I haven't sat down yet to really figure those out. So I have ligers for the large predators and lopers for the game, but I'm expecting to change those names eventually. I have a DVD series on evolution I plan to watch to get some ideas for animals that would have evolved differently than on Earth. But there is no shortage of bizarre animals here to draw from.
I started my current novel in August 2008, and I'm only just about to finish it - I only came up with a title I'm happy with about a month ago. (It's had a weak working title in the meantime). And I understand that the publisher will often over-ride the author's choice of name anyway, for one that markets better.
I find that using a major event or theme works for me. Like my novel that i am working on -The Starshade's legacy: Last of the Imirri. First book of its series, and i came up with both names while thinking about what was important and interesting in the book. Aka: the character is the last Starshade (pretty much a female with super-powers), so she is the Legacy of her predecessors. Add that to the fact that she is possibly the last living member of her race, and bingo! series and first book title thought up. Well... still have that issue of picking between the Starshade's Legacy or the Legacy of the Starshade... but that will be resolved at some point.
For the title, I usually give it a working name until I can think of a better one. I'd also discuss it among friends who can sometimes suggest things I wouldn't have thought of alone. As for characters, I can't write a character in detail without a name. Admittedly the characters in one of my novels in progress start with designations with their names revealed later on but before I could write for them I had to come up with names. If you're really stumped for a name, a name generator can help. Especially if you're looking for a name from a particular region or time period.
I have no problem with the titles of my books. "Czechmate" - Takes place in Prague where my MC has to corner and assassinate someone. "Meltdown" - Has to do with a kidnapped nuclear technician making dirty bombs and being forced to place those on a ship while his family is held captive. "The 4th Strike"- North Korean SOF attack a US. LORAN Station. It's the 4th attack on US soil in modern times. "Intercept" - My agent has to fight off two different antagonists and 'intercept' and abduct a high value target before he is killed by the other antagonists. "Spear Garden" - My full length novel. I just thought the name was cool. Everyone else seemed to like it too. The names of my books, like the names of my characters just pop into my head.
The names of all but one of my novels, or planned novels, are named after a significant location or event that takes place within the book. In some cases, I've used a "nickname" for the place (in the same way that Voldemort is called You Know Who), to make it a little more interesting. The name of the one exception is a play on words. It refers to a key plot point as well as a well-known saying that relates to certain internal struggles that go on in the book. That's an exception though, I was quite lucky to stumble upon a name like that.
