Really? Character titles: Ok there's a guy named "Bob" in it apparently. "Darkness of Light" = From this title I expect something deep about "darkness" which could be anything. "Building Harlequin's Moon" = This tells me the book is about a new society and makes me curious of what problems may arise in it. "Gemini Cell" = This is about a military group and makes me curious about who controls them and what their goals are. "Rynn's World" = Tells me that something is happening on the main planet of the Crimson Fists, makes me curious as to who may invade their main world. "Fall of Reach" = Tells me that this will be the death of a place, what is calling it's downfall? I honestly don't know if you were serious when asking that question but I hope I answered it to the best of my ability. Until you have something to actually discuss I really don't feel like furthering this silly argument you keep pushing. So with that good night
I don't really get any of those things out of any of those titles. I mean you're especially reaching on "Rynn's World" because there's certainly no mention of the Crimson Fists, anything happening, or anyone invading. "Gemini Cell" - a cell could be military group but it could plenty of other things as well, add in a constellation and who knows, and there's absolutely no question in the title about who controls them or what their goals are. How about some that you haven't read and don't already know the story to? What insightful thing does "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" tell you? How about "Wooden Feathers"? "Ptolemy's Gate"? "To Drown the World"? "Cestrum Nocturnum"? Or, as I expect, are these all 'bad' titles of published works because you personally don't like them? edited to add: I mean, I've read the above, and all these titles told me beforehand were things like "there'll probably be body horror", "there's gonna be wooden feathers in some capacity", "there'll be a gate of some description, relating to Ptolemy", "everyone might drown", and "the author is some kind of nerd who likes Latin". It's a bit more to go on than a character name, yeah (keep in mind: I don't even like character name titles, personally). But it doesn't give the kind of insight that you seem to be suggesting. How about a one-word title like "Nightfall" or "Fool" or "Specialist" or "Accelerando"? Are they also lazy phoned-in cop-outs, no exceptions? They don't tell you much either.
Jannert and I both provided you a list of titles that use character's names. This proves that you can successfully publish novels with character's names. What am I missing here?
The "ignore" feature is activated by clicking on the poster's name (below the avatar) and then clicking "ignore" on the pop-up box. Just in case anyone was interested, for any reason...
So I have another question. How and when do people decide on their titles? I have no idea what the title of my WIP should be. Should I have one now or do you wait till the end and how do you decide what it should be? Its probably a stupid question but I was curious
There's a thread somewhere. Hold on. Can't find it. I don't worry about titles. I give my WiP a working one, and it may or may not change by the end. I like short titles - one or two words. I don't put a lot of store in them to be honest.
Oliver Twist Hamlet Macbeth The Hobbit Classics all with the MCs name as the title. I'm with @izzybot on this one I didn't get anything out of those titles. They could mean completely different things depending on the genre and where they are in the bookshop "Rynn's World" could be two completely different things depending on if it sits in fantasy or Young Adult. @Wolf Daemon I assume you got this because you are a 40k fan and have read the book. If this was sitting on the YA shelf I would assume it was about the struggles of a girl called Rynn through her adolescence. The title is a bit meaningless really wirhout the context and I would hazard to suggest that having the name of the MC in the title at least gives you an idea that its about a person.
"The Hobbit" isn't an MC name, it's the name of the race the MC is. As for Rynn's World those books are directly marketed towards 40k fans. Having MC names as the title is both lazy and doesn't tell us anything except there's someone called "blank" in it. At least the titles I provided gave an overall theme and sparked curiosity.
I think its fine to use a characters name as the title. Though i would make sure that the story is about them. Like if you are using third person narrative and often switching character then it might not be a good idea.
Poison by Chris Wooding is one of my all time favourite books. Yes the Main Characters name is Poison
My WIPs always have a title very early on and sometimes before I start writing. Titles however can and have been changed so I dont pick a title with a strong attachment to it until I am done with the first draft at least. Also, I'm not sure whether or not the publishing company has a say in your title if you choose a publishing house.
I usually go through a bunch of working titles before I hit on one that sounds right. I think titles are really important, but I don't pay that much attention to them because it's pretty common for the publisher to change them. I just try to make it good enough that editors aren't going to roll their eyes when they read the pitch. I recently read that one-word titles are bad, for reasons I can't remember... maybe because it's hard to say much about the book in one word? But I can't remember where I read it, and if that's commonly accepted in the publishing world or if it was just one person's opinion. Either way, my first two novels have one-word titles and no agent or editor has commented on it.
Sometimes I get the idea of the title at the same time as the idea of a story, sometimes I don't come up with a title until long after it's finished and edited and I need a title if I'm going to submit it anywhere. It varies. Like Jud, I favor shorter titles and I give wips working titles that might just be one word, just so I don't have too many Untitleds sitting around on my desktop and don't have to open each one to figure out which one I wanted. It might end up being the final name, or at least part of it, but it's going to be something relevant to the setting or character or theme or whatever, which is part of how I go about picking final titles, too. A working title I have on my desktop right now is 'salt', which is pretty likely to be the final title as it's spec fic that sort of revolves around a quasi-magical substance called salt, but I also have 'cyberpunk pi', which obviously isn't final title material, so for things like that I'll usually wait until it's finished and think about the names of important things in the story, what the overall theme could be, if there are any literary or mythological references implicit in the story that could be more explicit in the title (that's a common one for me, anyway, because I'm a sucker for references). I feel like my dialog is one of my stronger suits so I'll check if any lines, especially towards the end, can describe the story particularly well, too. I'm sure I've read that too, but also can't think where or why.
I usually begin with a generic working title, just so I have one. Then, as the story develops, other working titles occur to me. For the novel I am currently pitching, a historical novel about Cuba, I started with the working title of Cuba (clever, huh?). Fairly early in the process, I developed a character who would become the focal point of the novel and named her Rosa. I changed the working title to Rosa. Almost immediately, I changed the title to Rosa's Secret, and that remains the title today.
I almost always have a title before anything else, and weirdly enough it often doesn't change. Occasionally I'll hear a turn of phrase or think of some kind of expression that I really like and store it away in memory. When I'm ready to write a new story, sometimes I'll dig back into that list and see if any of those titles inspire anything. Lately, though, my songwriting has differed from this approach--most of my newest material has been written title-less, and it's been a real struggle to come up with something. I can only imagine how much trouble I'd have with a piece of fiction!
I usually come up with a title as I'm figuring out the idea. I try to keep it simple. I'm a huge Hitchcock fan and I love the simplicity of his titles. Right now my WIP features a teen boy who becomes a tv star and battles a strange relationship with the director. As I was figuring out the idea I thought of the term Falling Star and decided to call the story Falling Child Star to hint at a tragedy. If it changes it changes but that's the title for now. If I can't come up with a title I give it the name - Untitled ( insert description ) project. For a while a screenplay of mine was Untitled Woodsy Horror. It wasn't until I wrote a section of dialogue that I came up with the perfect title - Snare. Though title are important never let them prolong your writing. If nothing is happening just go with something temporary. Believe me something will appear that will have you going - that's it!
My first attempt at a book had no title. My current book was inspired by the title; it just popped in my head and I desperately wanted to write a book with that title. There's a sequel title for it, too, which is just as inspiring. I don't think titles are necessary if you're not hampered in your writing by not having one. Maybe you're thinking of the Character Names as the Title thread? Most of the titles mentioned are only one word.
Nah, I read it before that--I was going to mention it in that thread, but with the troll trolling I left it.
I've had a title changed on me before. I don't mind it. I kind of trust that the editor knows what he likes and what he wants to publish and what makes a good title. But the last time it happened, I thought I had nailed it with a great title. Wait, we did just have a thread not too long ago about this, and I said pretty much the same thing. Anyway, a title is an easy fix. I have gotten feedback from other writers like "this story needs a way better title" more than once on different works. Titles can be tricky. And even when you think you've got it right, whoever is buying your work might have a different opinion. It's not like all the titles I come up with are bad. It's just that sometimes it can take me a while to come up with something that I really like. Sometimes I give things a title before I start and sometimes it comes to me later. Either way, it often changes as a story progresses or I just come up with something I think is better. That being said I absolutely love the titles of my current screenplay and novel. Both are works in progress, but I doubt I will be changing either of them unless I'm working with an editor or publisher who wants to change it.
Someone needs to tell Steven King that aside on the OP I generally pick the title first as part of my general idea...
I wouldn't be interested in them without first reading his work which I have. I still think it is lazy and doesn't hint at anything in the story like titles do. If I had never heard of Heinlein I wouldn't pick them up at all. Now that I know his work, I still don't feel the need to pick them up.
