Monday, December 23, 2013

Creating Titles

There’s one aspect of writing that I really struggle with.  Well, more than one, but I’m able to overcome most of the others.  But when it comes to finding the right title to my novels, I usually come up blank.

To be honest, I’m not sure that I pay too much attention to titles when it’s on other books.  The only time I do is when it something like ‘The Goose Girl,’ which is the same title as one of my favorite fairy tales.  In fact, most of the time, I forget the title the moment that I set the book down (which tends to make it difficult to find again.)  I’ve had moments where I pick up a random book at a relative’s house, then forget what it’s called and end up searching for it for years.

But I digress.

When I’m writing stories, I never start out with a title.  Well, I did once but I never finished it.  Since I organize my stories by color I call them “the red story” or “white story.”  It takes me several drafts to finally get to something that I feel comfortable with, but I still struggle to find something that pops.


Do any of you have advice?  How do you come up with good titles that convey the idea of the story and draw the reader in?  What titles have hooked you?

1 comment:

  1. Girl, a few weeks ago I had a cheery post about how I found the title for my WIP. Time for the happy dance, right? Now, after my first round of editing and a dramatically different ending, the title is void. Back to square one.

    But, for a Selfish Moment, I followed a few suggestions I found online. Make lists of phrases, words, that stand for the characters plights, the dilemma, the world she lives in, stuff like that. Then, put the list away, reread the book ( or continue editing) and revisit the list. You'll notice some of the words don't make sense, more are missing, some tenses change, etc. You go through a few rounds until one just sticks. For me, this took almost a month. But once the title hit me, I just knew.

    Hope this helps. :-)

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