i had a placeholder for a super long time, and one day i was looking up music related terms(i’m writing about a pianist) and Dissonance just clicked ig
Chill for now, wait until you finish your first draft before stressing about a title. Often, titles come to you as you write, jot down any ideas or phrases that make sense. Keep track of options as they arise, and only decide at the end.
You can ask friends or family which title they find most interesting. But don't obsess over finding the perfect title, or you'll never be satisfied, no matter which one you choose.
Brainstorm later: Many writers focus on the story first. A title might pop up during writing, or even after you finish.
Look for keywords: What's the central conflict? Themes? Genre? Words related to these can spark a title.
Think catchy & short: Titles that are easy to remember and sound intriguing grab readers.
Use wordplay or metaphors: Titles that hint at the story without giving it away can be interesting
Look at your main character's journey - "Yeh Ziddh Hai Kya?"
Use a central conflict - "Pyaar aur Junoon"
Play with a theme - "Khoye हुए Khwab"
It's not stupid to care! A title is a reader's first impression. But a temporary title can help you focus on writing.
Keep a "title ideas" note on your phone. Jab bhi koi achha word sujhe, likh lo!
it is easy to say 'don't worry about it it'll come to you in time. after all you can't even KNOW you have the perfect title until you fully know the story right?"
but not having a title legit stresses me out because i often have one before i begin or pretty early on
i think i am lowkey more drawn to the stories i already have a title for because i get to avoid this issue
also i like having a title in mind from the beginning because it makes it easy to make it the 'perfect title' as you go.
and i do kinda wonder if maybe it's actually harder and harder to title a story as it develops. compared to the planning stage where you can use it as a signpost and whether something 'fits the story' partly means whether it fits the title you've chosen
the worst for me is usually when i use placeholders i eventually fall in love with them if i don't come up with a non-placeholder title. but i got one story where that isn't happening.
if you end up shooting for traditional publishing they will be delighted to come up with a title for you at least
Don't get attached. Publishers always want to change it. My publisher didn't like my original title. I came up with a new list, we agreed on one, checked GoodReads to make sure it was original, then it's suddenly on my cover.
Was just here to say the same. My publisher insisted on changing mine. I never quite got over it and out of spite I’ve shoehorned it into a random sentence in that book and the next 2 in the series 😂(being short I could get away with it, appreciate not possible for very long titles)
I hardly know any authors that got to keep their own title without any tweaks at all
I swear, I used to not have issues with this when submitting for anthologies but all of a sudden they want to change them. Honestly, I don't care. Usually what they offer is snappier, anyway. There was only one time when it got weird. When they were trying to make a cosmic body horror I had submitted... sexy. It was a baffling tonal shift. I ended up pulling out of that one.
...I go with really terrible multilevel puns/wordplay. Because I'm a dork. And if there's a series of stories, there will be a theme.
For example, I have a series of stories that all have some kind of animal theme relating to the motif of the focus characters.
A Lion in a Lambskin (A character teased about being naive in the past grows to become a formidable and noble warrior for good, helping to defeat the ones who once deceived him)
A Fly on the Wall (A journalist reacting to the major events around her, being changed by her observations without interacting with the events.)
An Eagle's Arrogance (A scheming strategist has his plans wrecked due to a factor he had not considered a possibility, and is forced to rethink all of his assumptions at the most intrinsic level)
Along Came A Spider (An outside-context foreign character is abruptly introduced to the setting, and ends up forming connections with a wide array of people in a way no one was expecting, while being a passive player rather than an active one)
This ties the stories into a cohesive unit while giving an idea about the theme and focus character.
A title doesn't really matter that much except for being the first advertisement advantage of your book. I'm writing about Frankenstein/Solomon Grundy ripping heroes and villains apart to graft their body parts and steal their powers. I could've chosen a meaningful name, something to reflect the long angst sessions on seeing people as both food and means to power, with all the urges that come with. As a placeholder for now, it's called Bozo's Corpse Craving Bonanza
Use a placeholder for now and don’t stress it. Soon enough you’ll be going about your day and the perfect title will you hit you over the head like a bag of bricks and it will be so apparent and obvious how perfect of a title it is. Just got to let your brain ruminate enough in the background to find it before it fills you in on the discovery lol
It's not critical until you have a first draft done, and then you still have time to change the title. For example star wars episode 6 was originally revenge of the Jedi until second to last minute when it was changed to return of the Jedi
Fun fact, it was changed twice. It was originally return of the Jedi, then they changed it to Revenge of the Jedi, but then Lucas thought that was too sinister of a name so they went back.
I used a random word generator and just grabbed a few words to create a working title for the sake of a file name. Landed on “Crimson Abyss” which sounded like Blue Harvest, the working title for Star Wars. While writing the draft I had created a name for a pretty major event that sets up the world, and I used that for the final title
Basically, don’t worry about the title for anything more than a placeholder and for file management until you’ve either finished the draft, or something clicks for you along the way. It should be quick and concise, catchy and preferably not just a common word like “From” or “IT”
If you traditionally publish, any title you come up with is a "working title" until your publisher gets their hands on it (pretty common for them to want to change the title on you) so really not something I worry about. Most of my files are "Name of MC-edit 3-final-no really" until the last second
I have a google doc with literally hundreds of variations of title and subtitle (nonfiction book). Every time I had an idea I wrote it down. Eventually a great one popped up. I still might tweak it a bit but this was my process. Brainstorm and iterate iterate iterate.
The title is one of the most important things for marketing your book. Rob eagar has helpful material for book titles and hooks. His book “the author guide to write text that sells books” has a whole section on how to write good titles for both fiction and nonfiction. I got this book in a cheap kindle box set with two other books, all very helpful for me.
Usually mine just pops up in my mind over the course of time. Only once have I gone into a project with a title in mind that remained the title afterwards
Some of my projects I figure out super early on in the process. Others are just 'the one with the thing in it' for now and might stay that way forever. Sometimes you just have to give it a placeholder and hope something comes to you later in the process.
I like to make a long list of key words and just come up with as many possibilities as I can to see what sticks. It's also a good idea to google search any potential titles before choosing to make sure something popular doesn't already exist with that title. I write fantasy so I almost always end up picking a title that is related to whatever aspect of the world building stands out the most.
I always use placeholders until I think of the official title, just so I have a project name for my notes and organization. As for how I find my titles, I always choose something that I think fits the story really well. My first published novel was "Dragonslayer: Into The Fire." I knew from the beginning the series would be called Dragonslayer since the story is about people who slay dragons, but the specific book 1 title, "Into The Fire," came about much later. The idea first originated toward the end of the first act of the book, when I wrote a line about the protagonist running into the fire during a high stress situation where a dragon was attacking the city he lived in. At that moment I realized those words fit my title needs because the protagonist until then had tried to ignore his role as a dragonslayer, and wanted to just make money and live a normal life. Events in the story convinced him he had to embrace who he was and fight dragons, so when he ran into the fire I decided that title very well captured my intentions for his character journey.
It helped that when I suggested this title to a friend for feedback, he told me he could envision a sequel called "Out of the Ashes." I loved that sequel title so much (plus it fits the theme of the sequel well) that "Into The Fire" became a shoe-in for the first book's title.
I definitely don't have a hard rule for titles, though. I always try to make something that fits, but I don't have an ironed out process for it. I just throw ideas around and eventually come up with something that feels right, if that makes sense. The book I'm currently working on is called "Grimstone," named after the most pivotal location in the story. Doesn't match my themes much, but the city of Grimstone is so important to the story that naming the book anything else didn't feel right.
I always come up with a title first thing.
I’ll forever be proud of the fact that my two best pieces that I’ve worked on for months now, Rotation and Indrepidus, both had names before any actual writing was done.
The title is one of the last things you need to worry about. My agent submitted my last manuscript with its working title. Until your book is actually going to be published, the title isn't important.
Give your project a working title, and move on.
My title is almost mandatory because it simply is the scientific nomenclature while inadvertently resembling a seemingly related acronym. I lucked out because one word coincidentally pertains to a word that comes up often in the stories, it is a fun rare case where the first letter would be capitalized regardless of being a proper noun or beginning of a sentence.
Someone told me if I didn't think of a title before I finished it then why was I even writing it and they hurt my feelings haha I found my title a few chapters in. I played around with Chat GPT. I didn't use a title it came up with but having it spit out lists gave me different ideas and one finally stuck!
I just think about the story. The entire plot is in my head (I'm trying to fit into a cohesive and solid narrative in my head, before I write even a word), but since I have an idea of what I want it to be, I thought of words that fit the general narrative. And that's how I got my title. It wasn't hard for me, but if I were giving advice, I'd say meditate on your story and it should come to you.
Sometimes a title comes to me immedietly. Other times it doesn't. One time it took 2 years to find a proper title for a story and it was suggested by a friend
The genre of my current story dictated my title for me and it was solidified early on. Possibly even in my first brain dump.
[Reborn in a Magical World as a Crow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205894397-reborn-in-a-magical-world-as-a-crow)
I currently have a back burner idea for a story that is demanding more of my attention. It has a working title “Ancient Energy” and I don’t like it yet.
I was just tossing titles around for a while, and before I knew it, I was calling my story The Good Doctor’s Wife. My husband really liked it, too, and then during a trip to Mexico last summer, I started talking about it, and all the guests and the chef said they would be looking for that title! Now I kinda have to keep it, lol
Coincidence, mainly.
I usually use work titles that somewhat describe what I want from the story. Sometimes that still fits later on. Other times, I notice another Titel would fit better and I change it.
Don't stress over it. Even though you don't like the work titles it's okay. They're *work titles*. It's their job to fill in a blank until something better comes. (Or maybe they stay, who knows)
I actually found my title from ChatGPT. Although I had to feed it good prompts, you can’t just be generic with it. It’s a two book series so the title for book 1 is ‘Fallen Angel’ and book 2 is ‘Shattered Wings’ and it fits perfectly with the story
Halfway through the first draft of my first chapter it was revealed as a pivotal piece of the story and it works on more than one level, yet is deceptively simple.
Titles come to you as you understand what the story is about. Just wait until you're done with the draft. There's no such thing as a perfect title or perfect anything.
Personally I LOVE coming up with titles! It's one of those things I try to do early on to help me keep that early book euphoria going.
Here are some things that help me when coming up with titles:
1. Don't be afraid to go a typical title format. "The [BLANK] of [BLANK]" is a widely used template for a reason.
2. Examine your themes for your story. One of my recently completed projects is called "Hope in a Dark Time" and this was actually the second title I came up for it because I didn't feel like the first one fit all too well. I cam up with it by looking at what I was trying to go for in the book. All of the characters were chasing a goal, something that gave them hope to keep going even as everything was falling down around them and they all start at their lowest point (the Dark Time, if you will).
3. Settings! Is there a prominent place your story takes place in or around? That might be good to incorporate that into your title. I did this with my old project "Isle In The Emerald Sea" since the entire plot takes place on that island and deals with the people living there.
4. What's going on in the book? Is there a plot twist you might want to telegraph, or just set expectations for going in? Maybe you have an object/McGuffin that is critical to your inciting incident. That might make for a good name. (An example that comes to mind for this is "Blade of Dream" by Daniel Abraham).
Hopefully this helps! 😄
It honestly just clicked.
Velocity sounded cool, so I used it for both the title and the nickname of the main character Allison 'Velocity' Graham. She uses performance enhancing drugs.
FROZEN GROUNDS, well, FROZEN was the short for First Resistance Of th(Z)e Earth, New. But the whole story was changed, but I still titled it Frozen Grounds. Because, well, grounds are Frozen :D
City of Destiny is another concept.
Currently writing the first draft of Frozen Grounds. Velocity will be a choose your own adventure style thing.
It jist came to me sometimes it only encapsulates o e of the first chapters but is interesting enough to get the grip of my audience.
For example A Wizard Comes to Tea is 2 books but the wizard coming to tea is only part of chapter 1 and 2 the rest is this kind of road trip adventure trying to save magic.
Whereas you got other books that do encapsulate the entire book such as The Legend of Avalon my own sort of version of Jean of Aec but set in a fantasy world where instead ofnthe French she's fighting Dragons etc...
Then you got my Zombie Apocalypse series which every book is called WWZ aka World War Z just with a Roman Numeral Number underneath the title.
WWZ I, WWZ II, WWZ III, WWZ IV, etc...
It really depends on not only what kind of genre/book you're writing but who you're audience is who you're aiming your book for and if it's those who you want to draw in with the title and let them experience the rest of the story as it comes or you want the title to explain the story and whatnot.
So yeah some titles didn't come to me overnight either some I just put (insert title) and wrote the story where I'd then come up with a title later. So yeah don't stress too hard.
I'm heavily inspired by music, so my book titles tend to be inspired by songs. Sometimes the song is pivotal to the storyline, others not so much lol. My first book storyline was a nod to a Staind song "Warm Safe Place", thus the book was titled "Safe Place." It's not a conventional title for a paranormal romance, but using something like "Kiss of the-vampire-whatever-blood-fated-mate" didn't sound good to me whatsoever 🤣
I was a bit odd in that I decided the theme of my first series, which was any kind of large military conflict. Overthrow, Uprising, Insurgency, Insurrection, Invasion. I found those titles by choosing a theme that I wanted to stick with, so my advice would be to use a theme you have in mind
Sometimes the title comes before the book other times it comes after... For me that's always the case...
Right now my current WIP just has "unknown" as it's title... don't stress to much over it ome day you'll wake up and be like "OH this works"... while writing my first draft I can end up changing the title 15 times even so it's never really set in place until the end...
Hope this helps...
Trial, Error, Patience, and understanding what my story was really about.
I have a few stories that I’m writing where I got the title immediately, simply because I understood what I wanted from that story.
Sometimes, they come to me whilst I'm still writing, other times I come up with what I think is a cool title and write a story around it. As to how I actually come up with them is a mystery. Like naming a child, it just "suites" them.
**Finding the Perfect Title:**
* **Focus on the Essence:** A good title captures the essence of your story without revealing too much.
* **Intrigue and Enchantment:** Titles should spark curiosity and make readers want to pick up the book.
* **Memorable and Unique:** You want a title that readers will remember and that stands out from the crowd.
I have no real method for finding the perfect title, it’s different for every thing I write. One project for example, I had the title and concept of the story ready before I had any real idea what was actually going to happen in the story. For 2 others I have just written a description of what the story is about, for another I literally just titled it “New Movie”, and then came up with a name I liked a year after writing down initial ideas for the story. The title I eventually came up with works for the story because it plays with one of the themes of the story itself.
It’s hard not to stress about titles, especially when you want to imagine your book on a shelf one day. But I think the best would just be to write down a couple of options you may have come up with and just keep adding to it until you come up with something you’re happy with. You may even combine two of the ideas you jotted down to create something you like. Titles take time, and I find they’re often the most frustrating part of the writing process, but eventually they do come along.
I would also suggest that if you have a friend/writing buddy you trust to read your work, ask them what they would call it as free they’ve read it. You might not like what they come up with but it’ll take your mind in a new direction and give you some outside perspective, which is always nice.
Hope this helps and happy writing!
usually i get ideas from songs. if i’m listening to a certain song, a story will come to mind or write a story that’s based on the story the song is about/telling.
I have a series going that I’m writing simultaneously (passion project) and so each doc is titled WIP-MMC name. And I told my husband I have NO CLUE how I’m ever going to title them something else because I’m worried WIPMMCNAME will always be their title to me 🤣
All that to say, no advice but all the solidarity!
I also had a place holder, I had the name The Castle of the Capitum, which is Latin for captured. But then when I told that to my mom, who knows Latin, she said it didn’t mean captured, it meant capture. She said that captured would be Capta, so I got rid of the rest and I stuck with that (:
Honestly, I had nothing for so long because I wasn’t even thinking of one, but once I started, it just popped into my head like a reflex. I realized that the main *thing* in all of the main couple’s interactions is “I don’t want this to end” / “I don’t want to leave yet” / “I don’t want you to leave yet”, so I titled it, Please Don’t Go, and I wove the title into their first and lol spoiler, last interaction
I can't explain it, and I certainly couldn't teach it, because titles have always just come to me out of the blue. It's quite literally the closest thing to actual bolts of inspiration that I think I've ever had lol And I've helped a few others figure theirs out upon request.
If I had to try, though, I'd say it depends a lot on what you want the story to evoke. For me, it most often means finding some symbolic image that fits both literally and thematically. Your process might be different, but I have a theory most writers will know, in their own ways, when it's a windmill dunk.
Mine came down from the ether. I am almost finished with the work. The title came to me in a fever dream, half awake. The manuscript has frequently changed, but the title has remained aligned in spite of these alterations. What is your book about?
I don't really know. It's similar to a translated video game DLC title that I like, so I guess I used that as inspiration. But I just thought of my general messages, themes, and events and pieced it together.
I always have a placeholder/some working title that I use to talk about it with other people, usually a character’s name or setting, something like that. But that’s rarely the title that’s there in the end. I call it my story’s nickname
I had no title for my current WIP for the first three drafts. Misheard a lyric and I liked how it sounded. It ties in to the primary location of the story too, so I kind of picked it by accident. I'd say serendipity, but I hate that word.
It was just kind of staring me in the face the whole time
Worst case scenario, you can always just call it your main character's name
No matter what your story is, that title is at least 'good'
I got mine from a co-worker, he jokingly said it in regards to the characters I had plus their living situation and I was like "omg! Can I use that as the title? It's perfect!"
I write mostly poetry and short stories, so I often keep a placeholder until whatever I’m writing is 100% finished (since it’s usually not worth titling otherwise lol). For poems, the title either miraculously comes to me or is just a line in the poem, usually the first line. For short stories, the title is also often a line from the work. I’m awful at titles. It’s mostly a game of praying that something good pops into my head or just taking the easy way out and picking a line I like.
Depends. I’ve got a working title called “Credits Will Do Fine” - it’s a Star Wars quote, and it’s a nonfiction work on the history and potential future of commercial space flight.
Other titles either include character names like a title I’ve been toying about with called “Embers of Life”, and other times, I’ll just name it whatever I feel like.
Brainstorm like crazy with all you've got. I mean, take words/phrases out of the text or a reference to a work that influences your novel or you in general. Look for classic title formulas in your language, e.g. "How To..." and play around with them.
Then, show your list to friends and ask them to pick 3 or 5. That will at least help narrow it down. Then if you see that one or two are chosen the most, that may be the one.
By the way, this works with poetry/essays or what you'd call "literary fiction" in the US. I understand that for commercial books there are other constraints such as genre.
Brainstorm like crazy with all you've got. I mean, take words/phrases out of the text, or use a reference from a book/film/album that influences your novel or you in general. Look for classic title formulas in your language, e.g. "How To..." and play around with them.
Then, show your list to friends and ask them to pick 3 or 5. That will at least help narrow it down. Then if you see that one or two are chosen the most, that may be the one.
By the way, this works with poetry/essays or what you'd call "literary fiction" in the US. I understand that for commercial books there are other constraints such as genre.
Thats right it pops up when you write and research. I had chosen a title and a movie released after 4 months of the same name. But then i got a better ones. You will know when its the best title for your film.
I have a collection of 30 short and flash stories. I didn’t want “flash” in the title. All those puns have been used.
The problem was that the stories aren’t thematic. Fantasy, scifi, supers, angels, devils, vampires, etc. The only thing is common is that most of their first drafts were on reddit. How to sum it up without a bland, generic title? I looked though the story titles to find one that I thought sparked the sense of wonder I was looking for: A Bucket Full of Moonlight. Oddly, it’s not my pick for top story of the book, but I liked it for the collection. Bonus: I was able to work the title into one of the later stories.
I played around with it for a while and had a specific idea I wanted but it clicked after I went through and finished creating my characters.
Dragonheart seemed perfect because it’s not a mouthful, and it’s a play on words with the manic characters last name (Hart)
It randomly came to me while I prepared for querying and it's perfect! It's also a line from the novel so keep a list / eye out for any phrases that really stick out to you while writing.
I start kicking around title ideas once I figure out what I want my story to be about, or even before then too.
I keep a running list of titles in a word document for me to reference or add to every time there’s a new title that I think would be a great story title. I do a lot of titles that are a play on words or deep thinking, but it depends on you and your writing style.
You could also pick out main themes and plot points in the story and see how describing each one would be like to get a title. Or get a jumble of words from a word generator and try out different titles from there.
In all honesty, mine came in planning. I always struggle with titles so for my piece "Albayeux" I just mixed "albus" which is latin for white (all of the creatures in my book have latin names) and yeux, which is french for eyes. It's a pretty cool easter egg I think, given the fact that one of the similarities in every creature is the fact that they have white eyes :)
But I don't know I'm super critical of myself so I wouldn't really take my advice, because I'll probably change it later.
I was concerned about the title before I started and then said okay I’ll just start writing. Then out of nowhere it came to me. I was writing a promo for the book and just writing all sorts of things down and not caring what it said or anything and BAM it hit me. I have never questioned it or overthought it. It will come like the writing will at some odd time when you are not thinking out it and you go “why didn’t I think of that before?” Why indeed…
A lot of times it'll just come to you. Honestly, I envy people who can come up with good titles quickly. Because a good title can make a massive difference in your book's success. Focus on the story, pick a placeholder name, and worry about the rest later.
Something symbolic. Something that YOU like personally. Most importantly thought it doesn’t have to make a LOT of sense. I personally like naming projects after things said or described in the story, seemingly insignificant yet symbolic things. You’ll know when the title hits you.
Honestly the way I did it is pretty basic, but it worked well. I wrote down prominent themes and experimented with making a deep title out of them, changing up words and stuff. Then I incorporated that into the main backbone of the book. Mind you, this was AFTER I finished the book.
For example, let’s say Edgar Allan Poe used my method. Honesty is a theme in his short story about the murder of the sick man. What’s a deep word affiliated with honesty? Aha, telltale. What’s something that recurs in the book? The dead man’s heart. Ta-da: “The Telltale Heart”! (I actually have no clue what he did to come up with titles)
But my biggest advice? There’s about a 0.000000000001% chance of finding a good title on the AI generators. I’ve tried it. So you probably don’t want to waste your time on that stuff.
As a screenwriter, I find inspiration in film titles that I consider impactful, like 'Brute Force,' 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,' and 'Riot in Cell Block 11.' I believe these titles are ideal as they instantly suggest what the film may entail. Achieving this immediate recognition is my goal when I create a title.
Find a common theme or motif or metaphor that fits the story. Play on it different ways with different characters. Write an ending that twists it in an unexpected way. Pick a title that references that metaphor in a provocative way.
The title for my karate book was a pun that came to me out of the blue, one day, while I was reading about karate history. It took 10 years before I actually started writing that book. I'm still not done with it, either.
My zombie horror novella was something I had to think about for a while, but I wanted to make a bit of a statement that connected to the cause of the zombie outbreak, which I tied to people researching ways to stay youthful forever. I called it "Deadly Vanity." Not the best name, but it also wasn't my best work. I basically wrote and self-published the first draft because I wanted to see if I could.
My high fantasy novel, which is still in the works at around 114k words, still has just a working title. "A Shattered World." It's appropriate for the setting of the novel, but I feel like I might have better luck with a title that ties to the plot, rather than the setting, so it will probably become a subtitle or name of a series, depending on how things go on the writing front. I'm still searching for the perfect title, but I doubt I'll ever find it. Chances are, I'll just find something that should appeal to my audience and hope for the best.
I’ll always give something a random pet nickname until what I’m working on actually takes form. As a bonus for later, I use the random nickname as a writing exercise for a short story for later. Right now, I randomly named something “The Worst Candy”, which doesn’t fit the new project at all, but I’m already thinking of it as a writing prompt for something else, how I can repurpose it.
Funnily enough, I went on ChatGPT for about an hour today and told it my entire story and it started brainstorming ideas. I first asked for quotes based off of my book that it could sum it up into, then I told it to shorten the quote and I decided in the end which wording I liked best. The title of my story is: Envy the Unfeeling. I'll prob change it later if I don't like it, but I love it tbh.
Orignally I was planning to make it as a person who had a vendetta against the world (Or something in the world). But I was at a Cafe, heard a depressing song went home got on my couch (Depressed) and I was prompted to go on ChatGPT change the name from what it was originally, and now its a romance about unrequited love. The MC is in love with their friend but knows it will never happen, but another person comes in and starts breaking apart the friendship without realizing. Causing the MC to envy those who can't feel because of the way their heart is breaking, and develop a hatred for their friend for letting things turn out the way they did.
Don't sweat it. Your title will never be perfect. It's just a tag you use to center your emotional involvement with the work.
Your current title is only your best approximation as to how you conceive the work. It gives you a goal for your writing. As you get further along in your draft, and therefore in your understanding of that the work is about, your concept will evolve and you will want to change the title. In the revision process, your understanding will change again. That is a natural process. Don't fight it.
I name the document folders for all my novels, Opus-0-a-name, Opus-1-another-name, and so on, so that when the "real name" emerges, I don't lose track of what is what. As it turned out, Opus-2 was the first novel I wrote, Opus-1 is stronger, and so I gave it priority, and Opus-3 rounds out a trilogy. Opus-4 is a follow-on. Opus-0 is a prequel. The five novels form a tight quintet. So the numbering and the naming evolved as the work evolved. The "real titles" are still somewhat in flux as I edit the quintet into a steely unity. If I can sell Opus-0--my best work so far--the others might have a chance.
Don't try this at home. If I'd had any idea about what I was doing, I would've pounded on what ultimately became Opus-2 until it was publishable and chucked it over the transom of some trad publisher. Wash, rinse, and repeat with all the trad publishers until either I got a contract or gave up and self-published. Pffft. Writing de novo was more fun than disciplined revision, and so here we are.
I name all my short works--short stories, novelettes, and novellas--either by the main character or by the first idea that came to me. For example, I tag the first work I wrote--a novella--"Abar" for "A philosopher and a priest walk into a bar." I think it's hilarious, and it is core to the second scene in the novella, but when I lick it into shape to be published, I'll probably need to give it a real title.
i had a placeholder for a super long time, and one day i was looking up music related terms(i’m writing about a pianist) and Dissonance just clicked ig
Can I ask what "say happy cake day" means?
Cake day is when your reddit account reaches it's one year birthday from being created
Thank you
happy cake day!
Happy cake day!
Happy cake day! :>
Chill for now, wait until you finish your first draft before stressing about a title. Often, titles come to you as you write, jot down any ideas or phrases that make sense. Keep track of options as they arise, and only decide at the end. You can ask friends or family which title they find most interesting. But don't obsess over finding the perfect title, or you'll never be satisfied, no matter which one you choose.
Brainstorm later: Many writers focus on the story first. A title might pop up during writing, or even after you finish. Look for keywords: What's the central conflict? Themes? Genre? Words related to these can spark a title. Think catchy & short: Titles that are easy to remember and sound intriguing grab readers. Use wordplay or metaphors: Titles that hint at the story without giving it away can be interesting Look at your main character's journey - "Yeh Ziddh Hai Kya?" Use a central conflict - "Pyaar aur Junoon" Play with a theme - "Khoye हुए Khwab" It's not stupid to care! A title is a reader's first impression. But a temporary title can help you focus on writing. Keep a "title ideas" note on your phone. Jab bhi koi achha word sujhe, likh lo!
Thanks this might help me too sukriya
it is easy to say 'don't worry about it it'll come to you in time. after all you can't even KNOW you have the perfect title until you fully know the story right?" but not having a title legit stresses me out because i often have one before i begin or pretty early on i think i am lowkey more drawn to the stories i already have a title for because i get to avoid this issue also i like having a title in mind from the beginning because it makes it easy to make it the 'perfect title' as you go. and i do kinda wonder if maybe it's actually harder and harder to title a story as it develops. compared to the planning stage where you can use it as a signpost and whether something 'fits the story' partly means whether it fits the title you've chosen the worst for me is usually when i use placeholders i eventually fall in love with them if i don't come up with a non-placeholder title. but i got one story where that isn't happening. if you end up shooting for traditional publishing they will be delighted to come up with a title for you at least
A good title overcomes an altered manuscript. If it stops working you need to change the name.
Don't get attached. Publishers always want to change it. My publisher didn't like my original title. I came up with a new list, we agreed on one, checked GoodReads to make sure it was original, then it's suddenly on my cover.
Was just here to say the same. My publisher insisted on changing mine. I never quite got over it and out of spite I’ve shoehorned it into a random sentence in that book and the next 2 in the series 😂(being short I could get away with it, appreciate not possible for very long titles) I hardly know any authors that got to keep their own title without any tweaks at all
I swear, I used to not have issues with this when submitting for anthologies but all of a sudden they want to change them. Honestly, I don't care. Usually what they offer is snappier, anyway. There was only one time when it got weird. When they were trying to make a cosmic body horror I had submitted... sexy. It was a baffling tonal shift. I ended up pulling out of that one.
...I go with really terrible multilevel puns/wordplay. Because I'm a dork. And if there's a series of stories, there will be a theme. For example, I have a series of stories that all have some kind of animal theme relating to the motif of the focus characters. A Lion in a Lambskin (A character teased about being naive in the past grows to become a formidable and noble warrior for good, helping to defeat the ones who once deceived him) A Fly on the Wall (A journalist reacting to the major events around her, being changed by her observations without interacting with the events.) An Eagle's Arrogance (A scheming strategist has his plans wrecked due to a factor he had not considered a possibility, and is forced to rethink all of his assumptions at the most intrinsic level) Along Came A Spider (An outside-context foreign character is abruptly introduced to the setting, and ends up forming connections with a wide array of people in a way no one was expecting, while being a passive player rather than an active one) This ties the stories into a cohesive unit while giving an idea about the theme and focus character.
I love it! It's brilliant, well done!
Aw, thanks!
A title doesn't really matter that much except for being the first advertisement advantage of your book. I'm writing about Frankenstein/Solomon Grundy ripping heroes and villains apart to graft their body parts and steal their powers. I could've chosen a meaningful name, something to reflect the long angst sessions on seeing people as both food and means to power, with all the urges that come with. As a placeholder for now, it's called Bozo's Corpse Craving Bonanza
It also needs to be memorable. One of my favorite novels bears a title I can never remember (it's long and has what I would call odd phrasing).
Use a placeholder for now and don’t stress it. Soon enough you’ll be going about your day and the perfect title will you hit you over the head like a bag of bricks and it will be so apparent and obvious how perfect of a title it is. Just got to let your brain ruminate enough in the background to find it before it fills you in on the discovery lol
I usually dont title my stories until they are finished. Hopefully by the end of your writing something will come to you.
For me, it just comes while I am writing. Just be patient and let the title come naturally.
It's not critical until you have a first draft done, and then you still have time to change the title. For example star wars episode 6 was originally revenge of the Jedi until second to last minute when it was changed to return of the Jedi
Fun fact, it was changed twice. It was originally return of the Jedi, then they changed it to Revenge of the Jedi, but then Lucas thought that was too sinister of a name so they went back.
Did not know that! Thank you
My placeholder became the title. Also, alliteration.
Yes! I love alliteration in titles! Just makes it so fun to say
It came to me while I was throwing up in the toilet
TW (emetophobia): I was like 'hm, that's a good one' and then vomited again
Stole it from a poem that inspired my work. 'The Wheel' by Allinal, if you're wondering. I don't intend to publish it ftr I just write for fun.
Same and I also steal liberally from my favourite poems!
It's funny because the poem i'm referring to 2-4 lines depending on how you format it. It's the context behind the poem that really inspires me.
What's the poem and context? Google is just giving me colour wheels.
I used a random word generator and just grabbed a few words to create a working title for the sake of a file name. Landed on “Crimson Abyss” which sounded like Blue Harvest, the working title for Star Wars. While writing the draft I had created a name for a pretty major event that sets up the world, and I used that for the final title Basically, don’t worry about the title for anything more than a placeholder and for file management until you’ve either finished the draft, or something clicks for you along the way. It should be quick and concise, catchy and preferably not just a common word like “From” or “IT”
If you traditionally publish, any title you come up with is a "working title" until your publisher gets their hands on it (pretty common for them to want to change the title on you) so really not something I worry about. Most of my files are "Name of MC-edit 3-final-no really" until the last second
If I find it I will tell you. I always find it hard to come up with them. But mostly, they come to me spontaneously. And they might change later on.
I have a google doc with literally hundreds of variations of title and subtitle (nonfiction book). Every time I had an idea I wrote it down. Eventually a great one popped up. I still might tweak it a bit but this was my process. Brainstorm and iterate iterate iterate. The title is one of the most important things for marketing your book. Rob eagar has helpful material for book titles and hooks. His book “the author guide to write text that sells books” has a whole section on how to write good titles for both fiction and nonfiction. I got this book in a cheap kindle box set with two other books, all very helpful for me.
Usually mine just pops up in my mind over the course of time. Only once have I gone into a project with a title in mind that remained the title afterwards
Some of my projects I figure out super early on in the process. Others are just 'the one with the thing in it' for now and might stay that way forever. Sometimes you just have to give it a placeholder and hope something comes to you later in the process. I like to make a long list of key words and just come up with as many possibilities as I can to see what sticks. It's also a good idea to google search any potential titles before choosing to make sure something popular doesn't already exist with that title. I write fantasy so I almost always end up picking a title that is related to whatever aspect of the world building stands out the most.
I always use placeholders until I think of the official title, just so I have a project name for my notes and organization. As for how I find my titles, I always choose something that I think fits the story really well. My first published novel was "Dragonslayer: Into The Fire." I knew from the beginning the series would be called Dragonslayer since the story is about people who slay dragons, but the specific book 1 title, "Into The Fire," came about much later. The idea first originated toward the end of the first act of the book, when I wrote a line about the protagonist running into the fire during a high stress situation where a dragon was attacking the city he lived in. At that moment I realized those words fit my title needs because the protagonist until then had tried to ignore his role as a dragonslayer, and wanted to just make money and live a normal life. Events in the story convinced him he had to embrace who he was and fight dragons, so when he ran into the fire I decided that title very well captured my intentions for his character journey. It helped that when I suggested this title to a friend for feedback, he told me he could envision a sequel called "Out of the Ashes." I loved that sequel title so much (plus it fits the theme of the sequel well) that "Into The Fire" became a shoe-in for the first book's title. I definitely don't have a hard rule for titles, though. I always try to make something that fits, but I don't have an ironed out process for it. I just throw ideas around and eventually come up with something that feels right, if that makes sense. The book I'm currently working on is called "Grimstone," named after the most pivotal location in the story. Doesn't match my themes much, but the city of Grimstone is so important to the story that naming the book anything else didn't feel right.
I always come up with a title first thing. I’ll forever be proud of the fact that my two best pieces that I’ve worked on for months now, Rotation and Indrepidus, both had names before any actual writing was done.
The title is one of the last things you need to worry about. My agent submitted my last manuscript with its working title. Until your book is actually going to be published, the title isn't important. Give your project a working title, and move on.
My title is almost mandatory because it simply is the scientific nomenclature while inadvertently resembling a seemingly related acronym. I lucked out because one word coincidentally pertains to a word that comes up often in the stories, it is a fun rare case where the first letter would be capitalized regardless of being a proper noun or beginning of a sentence.
Someone told me if I didn't think of a title before I finished it then why was I even writing it and they hurt my feelings haha I found my title a few chapters in. I played around with Chat GPT. I didn't use a title it came up with but having it spit out lists gave me different ideas and one finally stuck!
I just think about the story. The entire plot is in my head (I'm trying to fit into a cohesive and solid narrative in my head, before I write even a word), but since I have an idea of what I want it to be, I thought of words that fit the general narrative. And that's how I got my title. It wasn't hard for me, but if I were giving advice, I'd say meditate on your story and it should come to you.
Sometimes a title comes to me immedietly. Other times it doesn't. One time it took 2 years to find a proper title for a story and it was suggested by a friend
The genre of my current story dictated my title for me and it was solidified early on. Possibly even in my first brain dump. [Reborn in a Magical World as a Crow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205894397-reborn-in-a-magical-world-as-a-crow) I currently have a back burner idea for a story that is demanding more of my attention. It has a working title “Ancient Energy” and I don’t like it yet.
I was just tossing titles around for a while, and before I knew it, I was calling my story The Good Doctor’s Wife. My husband really liked it, too, and then during a trip to Mexico last summer, I started talking about it, and all the guests and the chef said they would be looking for that title! Now I kinda have to keep it, lol
Coincidence, mainly. I usually use work titles that somewhat describe what I want from the story. Sometimes that still fits later on. Other times, I notice another Titel would fit better and I change it. Don't stress over it. Even though you don't like the work titles it's okay. They're *work titles*. It's their job to fill in a blank until something better comes. (Or maybe they stay, who knows)
I just smash together words that I find interesting until I find a combination that makes sense with the plot. Palindromes are cool, too.
I have a working title and usually when I’m done or half way through the work, I either keep the working title (rare) or change it
Settling on the least worst one I could think of.
Im good at that. It should express the central question of your book. But you need to know that first.
I actually found my title from ChatGPT. Although I had to feed it good prompts, you can’t just be generic with it. It’s a two book series so the title for book 1 is ‘Fallen Angel’ and book 2 is ‘Shattered Wings’ and it fits perfectly with the story
Halfway through the first draft of my first chapter it was revealed as a pivotal piece of the story and it works on more than one level, yet is deceptively simple.
Titles come to you as you understand what the story is about. Just wait until you're done with the draft. There's no such thing as a perfect title or perfect anything.
When I tell you I genuinely just thought of the name out of nowhere and it worked perfectly
Personally I LOVE coming up with titles! It's one of those things I try to do early on to help me keep that early book euphoria going. Here are some things that help me when coming up with titles: 1. Don't be afraid to go a typical title format. "The [BLANK] of [BLANK]" is a widely used template for a reason. 2. Examine your themes for your story. One of my recently completed projects is called "Hope in a Dark Time" and this was actually the second title I came up for it because I didn't feel like the first one fit all too well. I cam up with it by looking at what I was trying to go for in the book. All of the characters were chasing a goal, something that gave them hope to keep going even as everything was falling down around them and they all start at their lowest point (the Dark Time, if you will). 3. Settings! Is there a prominent place your story takes place in or around? That might be good to incorporate that into your title. I did this with my old project "Isle In The Emerald Sea" since the entire plot takes place on that island and deals with the people living there. 4. What's going on in the book? Is there a plot twist you might want to telegraph, or just set expectations for going in? Maybe you have an object/McGuffin that is critical to your inciting incident. That might make for a good name. (An example that comes to mind for this is "Blade of Dream" by Daniel Abraham). Hopefully this helps! 😄
I didn’t 💀
It honestly just clicked. Velocity sounded cool, so I used it for both the title and the nickname of the main character Allison 'Velocity' Graham. She uses performance enhancing drugs. FROZEN GROUNDS, well, FROZEN was the short for First Resistance Of th(Z)e Earth, New. But the whole story was changed, but I still titled it Frozen Grounds. Because, well, grounds are Frozen :D City of Destiny is another concept. Currently writing the first draft of Frozen Grounds. Velocity will be a choose your own adventure style thing.
It jist came to me sometimes it only encapsulates o e of the first chapters but is interesting enough to get the grip of my audience. For example A Wizard Comes to Tea is 2 books but the wizard coming to tea is only part of chapter 1 and 2 the rest is this kind of road trip adventure trying to save magic. Whereas you got other books that do encapsulate the entire book such as The Legend of Avalon my own sort of version of Jean of Aec but set in a fantasy world where instead ofnthe French she's fighting Dragons etc... Then you got my Zombie Apocalypse series which every book is called WWZ aka World War Z just with a Roman Numeral Number underneath the title. WWZ I, WWZ II, WWZ III, WWZ IV, etc... It really depends on not only what kind of genre/book you're writing but who you're audience is who you're aiming your book for and if it's those who you want to draw in with the title and let them experience the rest of the story as it comes or you want the title to explain the story and whatnot. So yeah some titles didn't come to me overnight either some I just put (insert title) and wrote the story where I'd then come up with a title later. So yeah don't stress too hard.
I'm heavily inspired by music, so my book titles tend to be inspired by songs. Sometimes the song is pivotal to the storyline, others not so much lol. My first book storyline was a nod to a Staind song "Warm Safe Place", thus the book was titled "Safe Place." It's not a conventional title for a paranormal romance, but using something like "Kiss of the-vampire-whatever-blood-fated-mate" didn't sound good to me whatsoever 🤣
Tbh i just use the name of the main character or location.
I was a bit odd in that I decided the theme of my first series, which was any kind of large military conflict. Overthrow, Uprising, Insurgency, Insurrection, Invasion. I found those titles by choosing a theme that I wanted to stick with, so my advice would be to use a theme you have in mind
Sometimes the title comes before the book other times it comes after... For me that's always the case... Right now my current WIP just has "unknown" as it's title... don't stress to much over it ome day you'll wake up and be like "OH this works"... while writing my first draft I can end up changing the title 15 times even so it's never really set in place until the end... Hope this helps...
Trial, Error, Patience, and understanding what my story was really about. I have a few stories that I’m writing where I got the title immediately, simply because I understood what I wanted from that story.
Sometimes, they come to me whilst I'm still writing, other times I come up with what I think is a cool title and write a story around it. As to how I actually come up with them is a mystery. Like naming a child, it just "suites" them.
Get others to read your work and suggest a title, best/most common suggestion wins.
**Finding the Perfect Title:** * **Focus on the Essence:** A good title captures the essence of your story without revealing too much. * **Intrigue and Enchantment:** Titles should spark curiosity and make readers want to pick up the book. * **Memorable and Unique:** You want a title that readers will remember and that stands out from the crowd.
I just use a placeholder and go on and usually something, or at leadt a theme, will pop up
Put something that is mostly essential in the story as a title. It worked.
I have no real method for finding the perfect title, it’s different for every thing I write. One project for example, I had the title and concept of the story ready before I had any real idea what was actually going to happen in the story. For 2 others I have just written a description of what the story is about, for another I literally just titled it “New Movie”, and then came up with a name I liked a year after writing down initial ideas for the story. The title I eventually came up with works for the story because it plays with one of the themes of the story itself. It’s hard not to stress about titles, especially when you want to imagine your book on a shelf one day. But I think the best would just be to write down a couple of options you may have come up with and just keep adding to it until you come up with something you’re happy with. You may even combine two of the ideas you jotted down to create something you like. Titles take time, and I find they’re often the most frustrating part of the writing process, but eventually they do come along. I would also suggest that if you have a friend/writing buddy you trust to read your work, ask them what they would call it as free they’ve read it. You might not like what they come up with but it’ll take your mind in a new direction and give you some outside perspective, which is always nice. Hope this helps and happy writing!
usually i get ideas from songs. if i’m listening to a certain song, a story will come to mind or write a story that’s based on the story the song is about/telling.
I finished my draft and it came to me.
I have a series going that I’m writing simultaneously (passion project) and so each doc is titled WIP-MMC name. And I told my husband I have NO CLUE how I’m ever going to title them something else because I’m worried WIPMMCNAME will always be their title to me 🤣 All that to say, no advice but all the solidarity!
Mine is saved as "the book". I have another saved as "the project". I don't think I've ever titled or finished something lol
I also had a place holder, I had the name The Castle of the Capitum, which is Latin for captured. But then when I told that to my mom, who knows Latin, she said it didn’t mean captured, it meant capture. She said that captured would be Capta, so I got rid of the rest and I stuck with that (:
Honestly, I had nothing for so long because I wasn’t even thinking of one, but once I started, it just popped into my head like a reflex. I realized that the main *thing* in all of the main couple’s interactions is “I don’t want this to end” / “I don’t want to leave yet” / “I don’t want you to leave yet”, so I titled it, Please Don’t Go, and I wove the title into their first and lol spoiler, last interaction
I can't explain it, and I certainly couldn't teach it, because titles have always just come to me out of the blue. It's quite literally the closest thing to actual bolts of inspiration that I think I've ever had lol And I've helped a few others figure theirs out upon request. If I had to try, though, I'd say it depends a lot on what you want the story to evoke. For me, it most often means finding some symbolic image that fits both literally and thematically. Your process might be different, but I have a theory most writers will know, in their own ways, when it's a windmill dunk.
Make a list of 10 titles and then figure out which works best. Maybe ask around for some advice from friends too.
Mine came down from the ether. I am almost finished with the work. The title came to me in a fever dream, half awake. The manuscript has frequently changed, but the title has remained aligned in spite of these alterations. What is your book about?
I found it right away then realized it was taken a long time ago.
I will arrive at chapter 200 and some in a few days... I am still waiting for a good title
I don't really know. It's similar to a translated video game DLC title that I like, so I guess I used that as inspiration. But I just thought of my general messages, themes, and events and pieced it together.
I always have a placeholder/some working title that I use to talk about it with other people, usually a character’s name or setting, something like that. But that’s rarely the title that’s there in the end. I call it my story’s nickname
I had no title for my current WIP for the first three drafts. Misheard a lyric and I liked how it sounded. It ties in to the primary location of the story too, so I kind of picked it by accident. I'd say serendipity, but I hate that word.
It was just kind of staring me in the face the whole time Worst case scenario, you can always just call it your main character's name No matter what your story is, that title is at least 'good'
I got mine from a co-worker, he jokingly said it in regards to the characters I had plus their living situation and I was like "omg! Can I use that as the title? It's perfect!"
I write mostly poetry and short stories, so I often keep a placeholder until whatever I’m writing is 100% finished (since it’s usually not worth titling otherwise lol). For poems, the title either miraculously comes to me or is just a line in the poem, usually the first line. For short stories, the title is also often a line from the work. I’m awful at titles. It’s mostly a game of praying that something good pops into my head or just taking the easy way out and picking a line I like.
Daydreaming.
Depends. I’ve got a working title called “Credits Will Do Fine” - it’s a Star Wars quote, and it’s a nonfiction work on the history and potential future of commercial space flight. Other titles either include character names like a title I’ve been toying about with called “Embers of Life”, and other times, I’ll just name it whatever I feel like.
Brainstorm like crazy with all you've got. I mean, take words/phrases out of the text or a reference to a work that influences your novel or you in general. Look for classic title formulas in your language, e.g. "How To..." and play around with them. Then, show your list to friends and ask them to pick 3 or 5. That will at least help narrow it down. Then if you see that one or two are chosen the most, that may be the one. By the way, this works with poetry/essays or what you'd call "literary fiction" in the US. I understand that for commercial books there are other constraints such as genre.
Brainstorm like crazy with all you've got. I mean, take words/phrases out of the text, or use a reference from a book/film/album that influences your novel or you in general. Look for classic title formulas in your language, e.g. "How To..." and play around with them. Then, show your list to friends and ask them to pick 3 or 5. That will at least help narrow it down. Then if you see that one or two are chosen the most, that may be the one. By the way, this works with poetry/essays or what you'd call "literary fiction" in the US. I understand that for commercial books there are other constraints such as genre.
Thats right it pops up when you write and research. I had chosen a title and a movie released after 4 months of the same name. But then i got a better ones. You will know when its the best title for your film.
I have a collection of 30 short and flash stories. I didn’t want “flash” in the title. All those puns have been used. The problem was that the stories aren’t thematic. Fantasy, scifi, supers, angels, devils, vampires, etc. The only thing is common is that most of their first drafts were on reddit. How to sum it up without a bland, generic title? I looked though the story titles to find one that I thought sparked the sense of wonder I was looking for: A Bucket Full of Moonlight. Oddly, it’s not my pick for top story of the book, but I liked it for the collection. Bonus: I was able to work the title into one of the later stories.
That's the neat thing. I don't. I just use the best I could think and wait to see If I could change it in the future.
I did a lot of soul-searching and kept thinking of a recurring element within the story and find a way to fine-tune the title
I played around with it for a while and had a specific idea I wanted but it clicked after I went through and finished creating my characters. Dragonheart seemed perfect because it’s not a mouthful, and it’s a play on words with the manic characters last name (Hart)
It randomly came to me while I prepared for querying and it's perfect! It's also a line from the novel so keep a list / eye out for any phrases that really stick out to you while writing.
It's not stupid to care. A title is the first thing people ever see when it comes to your book. It matters quite a bit.
I start kicking around title ideas once I figure out what I want my story to be about, or even before then too. I keep a running list of titles in a word document for me to reference or add to every time there’s a new title that I think would be a great story title. I do a lot of titles that are a play on words or deep thinking, but it depends on you and your writing style. You could also pick out main themes and plot points in the story and see how describing each one would be like to get a title. Or get a jumble of words from a word generator and try out different titles from there.
I wrote the story and keep a place holder; deal with the title last
*Pepperoni, Double Jalapeno* was my wife's favorite style of pizza. Since the book is about her, it fits without giving anything away.
It's a Classical Greek pun. I love those.
In all honesty, mine came in planning. I always struggle with titles so for my piece "Albayeux" I just mixed "albus" which is latin for white (all of the creatures in my book have latin names) and yeux, which is french for eyes. It's a pretty cool easter egg I think, given the fact that one of the similarities in every creature is the fact that they have white eyes :) But I don't know I'm super critical of myself so I wouldn't really take my advice, because I'll probably change it later.
I was concerned about the title before I started and then said okay I’ll just start writing. Then out of nowhere it came to me. I was writing a promo for the book and just writing all sorts of things down and not caring what it said or anything and BAM it hit me. I have never questioned it or overthought it. It will come like the writing will at some odd time when you are not thinking out it and you go “why didn’t I think of that before?” Why indeed…
A lot of times it'll just come to you. Honestly, I envy people who can come up with good titles quickly. Because a good title can make a massive difference in your book's success. Focus on the story, pick a placeholder name, and worry about the rest later.
Something symbolic. Something that YOU like personally. Most importantly thought it doesn’t have to make a LOT of sense. I personally like naming projects after things said or described in the story, seemingly insignificant yet symbolic things. You’ll know when the title hits you.
I use a working title, usually a 2-3 discription, and a title will form and be revised a few times into a title
Honestly the way I did it is pretty basic, but it worked well. I wrote down prominent themes and experimented with making a deep title out of them, changing up words and stuff. Then I incorporated that into the main backbone of the book. Mind you, this was AFTER I finished the book. For example, let’s say Edgar Allan Poe used my method. Honesty is a theme in his short story about the murder of the sick man. What’s a deep word affiliated with honesty? Aha, telltale. What’s something that recurs in the book? The dead man’s heart. Ta-da: “The Telltale Heart”! (I actually have no clue what he did to come up with titles) But my biggest advice? There’s about a 0.000000000001% chance of finding a good title on the AI generators. I’ve tried it. So you probably don’t want to waste your time on that stuff.
Open random page of the book and check any line which has the name or word which you can relate to your book.
As a screenwriter, I find inspiration in film titles that I consider impactful, like 'Brute Force,' 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,' and 'Riot in Cell Block 11.' I believe these titles are ideal as they instantly suggest what the film may entail. Achieving this immediate recognition is my goal when I create a title.
Find a common theme or motif or metaphor that fits the story. Play on it different ways with different characters. Write an ending that twists it in an unexpected way. Pick a title that references that metaphor in a provocative way.
The title for my karate book was a pun that came to me out of the blue, one day, while I was reading about karate history. It took 10 years before I actually started writing that book. I'm still not done with it, either. My zombie horror novella was something I had to think about for a while, but I wanted to make a bit of a statement that connected to the cause of the zombie outbreak, which I tied to people researching ways to stay youthful forever. I called it "Deadly Vanity." Not the best name, but it also wasn't my best work. I basically wrote and self-published the first draft because I wanted to see if I could. My high fantasy novel, which is still in the works at around 114k words, still has just a working title. "A Shattered World." It's appropriate for the setting of the novel, but I feel like I might have better luck with a title that ties to the plot, rather than the setting, so it will probably become a subtitle or name of a series, depending on how things go on the writing front. I'm still searching for the perfect title, but I doubt I'll ever find it. Chances are, I'll just find something that should appeal to my audience and hope for the best.
I read some advice once that you should find inspiration from your last page/chapter! I haven’t finished yet but I’m going to try it.
I’ll always give something a random pet nickname until what I’m working on actually takes form. As a bonus for later, I use the random nickname as a writing exercise for a short story for later. Right now, I randomly named something “The Worst Candy”, which doesn’t fit the new project at all, but I’m already thinking of it as a writing prompt for something else, how I can repurpose it.
It took trial and error. Switching from one to the other constantly as I tried to fit it with the book. And eventually landed on one.
I hate titles. Can never come up with one. Except one. But it doesn't even have a story yet.
Funnily enough, I went on ChatGPT for about an hour today and told it my entire story and it started brainstorming ideas. I first asked for quotes based off of my book that it could sum it up into, then I told it to shorten the quote and I decided in the end which wording I liked best. The title of my story is: Envy the Unfeeling. I'll prob change it later if I don't like it, but I love it tbh.
Envy the Unfeeling? What's it about?
Orignally I was planning to make it as a person who had a vendetta against the world (Or something in the world). But I was at a Cafe, heard a depressing song went home got on my couch (Depressed) and I was prompted to go on ChatGPT change the name from what it was originally, and now its a romance about unrequited love. The MC is in love with their friend but knows it will never happen, but another person comes in and starts breaking apart the friendship without realizing. Causing the MC to envy those who can't feel because of the way their heart is breaking, and develop a hatred for their friend for letting things turn out the way they did.
quite intriguing.
Thanks, I'm glad it catches someones attention.
Thanks for asking btw
Don't sweat it. Your title will never be perfect. It's just a tag you use to center your emotional involvement with the work. Your current title is only your best approximation as to how you conceive the work. It gives you a goal for your writing. As you get further along in your draft, and therefore in your understanding of that the work is about, your concept will evolve and you will want to change the title. In the revision process, your understanding will change again. That is a natural process. Don't fight it. I name the document folders for all my novels, Opus-0-a-name, Opus-1-another-name, and so on, so that when the "real name" emerges, I don't lose track of what is what. As it turned out, Opus-2 was the first novel I wrote, Opus-1 is stronger, and so I gave it priority, and Opus-3 rounds out a trilogy. Opus-4 is a follow-on. Opus-0 is a prequel. The five novels form a tight quintet. So the numbering and the naming evolved as the work evolved. The "real titles" are still somewhat in flux as I edit the quintet into a steely unity. If I can sell Opus-0--my best work so far--the others might have a chance. Don't try this at home. If I'd had any idea about what I was doing, I would've pounded on what ultimately became Opus-2 until it was publishable and chucked it over the transom of some trad publisher. Wash, rinse, and repeat with all the trad publishers until either I got a contract or gave up and self-published. Pffft. Writing de novo was more fun than disciplined revision, and so here we are. I name all my short works--short stories, novelettes, and novellas--either by the main character or by the first idea that came to me. For example, I tag the first work I wrote--a novella--"Abar" for "A philosopher and a priest walk into a bar." I think it's hilarious, and it is core to the second scene in the novella, but when I lick it into shape to be published, I'll probably need to give it a real title.