How do you come up with a good title for a story?

[SonicSouls]

How do you come up with a good title for a story? This question is directed more at published authors. What have you found that works? Do you come up with titles yourself? Does the editor suggest them? How many titles do you have to go through before you get one that is good? Thanks.

 

[Alex The G and T]

They come to you.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Yep. What Alex said. I usually have a working title while I'm writing but when I submit to publishers, a more apt title usually rises to the challenge. The title of the first novel I had accepted evolved during the minutes that passed between typing my covering email letter and hitting send, and the first thing the publisher said in reply was, "Love the title." The book is called Knife Edge.

Lucky!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Titles, like covers, are crucial to a book. In most cases, the titles of my novels have come first, or at some early point in the pre-preparation of the novel material. Tommy Catkins for instance was a riff on Tommy Atkins, the British name for a soldier in WW1. The Girl With Two Souls was a title which floated down into my mind one evening and which I liked so much I kept, writing it down. The actual book prep came a whole year later.
A novel title should ideally ask the prospective reader a question. Who is this girl, and how is it possible for people to think she has two souls? Who is Tommy Catkins? What is The Autist? and so on...
A good title is solid gold. Cherish it.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I'm like Stephen and the titles usually arrive with the idea. TimeStorm was a kind of no brainer, as it was about a ship that got caught in a storm that propelled it through time, and Blurred Vision was fit as soon as I knew it was about aliens who were out of focus to humans.

The only time so far that the title came later was in my thriller, when it was a word uttered by a detective at the scene of a particularly violent murder 50 pages in; Overkill.

I don't know if they are good titles, but for me they do fit the novels like a glove.

 

[Toby Frost]

First, finish the book. This is important because you need something that captures it as a whole. Call it anything you like while it's a WIP. I used to have a file on my computer called simply "The Book".

Second, unless you want it to sound like other stuff (which could actually be a sales advantage) I'd avoid very popular title structures from other books. If I was writing crime, I would avoid "The Girl Who Was X", for instance, as there are plenty of girls on trains, with dragon tattoos etc. The equivalent in SFF would probably be fantasy novels with "fantasy words" in the title: Throne, Sword, Honour, Dragon, Destiny etc - says the man who wrote a book called Up To The Throne*.

The use of colons ("Destiny: War of the Gods" etc) always seems a bit OTT and computer-gamey to me, but if that's the done thing in your area, you might want to do it - or avoid it.

Things that seem to work for me:

- a unique object or group (The Big Sleep, Smiley's People, The War of the Worlds)
- strange - but still readable - names (Count Zero, Watership Down, The Midwich Cuckoos)
- familiar phrases, sometimes twisted (The House Next Door, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Lady In The Lake)
- some kind of dangerous activity or time (A Game of Thrones, The Day of the Jackal, A Feast For Crows)
- menacing words suggestive of violence or death, although this gets cheesy fast (Blood, Assassin, Blade etc)

All of these raise questions and suggest images. Who is Count Zero? Why are these people Smiley's and what are they like? What's so special about this house next door?

It might just be me, but repeated vowel sounds can help. I'm currently trying to write a story called The Sea of Beasts, and for some reason the repeated "ee" sound in "sea" and "beasts" just seems right.


* I justify this to myself because it's a quotation. Not the best justification, but there you go.

 

[alexvss]

One of the best YT channels about writing just posted a video about this. My favorite tip is to straight-up name the book with the theme. For instance, if you're writing about the hedgehog's dilemma, just name it that way; if about jungian archetypes, just give it the name of the archetype.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Second, unless you want it to sound like other stuff (which could actually be a sales advantage) I'd avoid very popular title structures from other books. If I was writing crime, I would avoid "The Girl Who Was X", for instance, as there are plenty of girls on trains, with dragon tattoos etc. The equivalent in SFF would probably be fantasy novels with "fantasy words" in the title: Throne, Sword, Honour, Dragon, Destiny etc - says the man who wrote a book called Up To The Throne*.

Yeah, if you come up with a title, a quick search on Goodreads or Amazon will tell you if it stands a chance of appearing amongst a great many similiarly titled works or will stand out firmly by itself, which is, of course, the preferred option.

However there have been many that have done the searching and come up with some pointers:

Here's Tor having a bit of fun: Best of the Decade Data: Common Words in Titles

Or here is someone who went through Goodreads titles:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/2okk1h

Needless to say, if you come up with Shadow Moon - Book 1: The Vampire Dragon, you are likely to be swamped in a vast tide of other works!

I noticed that @Steve Harrison 's TimeStorm did appear near the top of the Amazon search list which is good!...but only if you typed it as one word. If you search for 'Time Storm' as some might, it gets swallowed up. I imagine that Time is used a lot in many book titles, never mind SF, so it's a word I'd try and avoid for titles unless you are going to be inventive around it.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I agree with Toby's post above, with one exception. I've always found it if not useful then essential to have the novel's title fixed before prep, and certainly before writing, begins. I often do the same with a cover design - wondering what it might look like, an imaginative ploy which fixes the solidity of the book in my mind and serves as a focus, or anchor. I find these useful tactics to make the work of prep and writing more effortless. But, regardless of imagining what the cover might look like, I personally would advise all writers to get the title - a quality title, asking a question, as Toby says - set in mind before work proper begins.

 

[Toby Frost]

That's interesting - it must be one of those "your milage may vary" things. I do find that I'll always have several very clear mental images before I start - a panorama, a character, an important scene - and maybe that's my equivalent: something for my brain to latch onto.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

That's interesting - it must be one of those "your milage may vary" things. I do find that I'll always have several very clear mental images before I start - a panorama, a character, an important scene - and maybe that's my equivalent: something for my brain to latch onto.

Yes, likewise! The one for Memory Seed was one I still can see, as vividly as in 1988, before my mind's eye.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I noticed that @Steve Harrison 's TimeStorm did appear near the top of the Amazon search list which is good!...but only if you typed it as one word. If you search for 'Time Storm' as some might, it gets swallowed up. I imagine that Time is used a lot in many book titles, never mind SF, so it's a word I'd try and avoid for titles unless you are going to be inventive around it.

I had that discussion with the publisher, as this was not the only TimeStorm in print at the time (pardon the pun), but we all eventually agreed that the title was a perfect fit for the novel. I don't know that many people would search for the book on Amazon unless they were specifically looking for it, but I'm just happy sales are still ticking over after several years, so readers are still finding it

 

[Phyrebrat]

Sorry, I'm not a published author outside of a few anthologies, but...

I've always found it if not useful then essential to have the novel's title fixed before prep, and certainly before writing, begins

I do find that I'll always have several very clear mental images before I start - a panorama, a character, an important scene

I relate to this, (and would also say things vary from person to person, of course) but I knew A Sour Ground was going to be called that before I joined Chrons and learnt how to write, because of the several interpretations of those words, and the way they relate to the inciting incident. It almost feels like a spine from which all things hang (no pun intended...)

Similarly I was maybe a few hours into writing the second book when The Pegge and the Pendrel just came into my mind as it was busy, occupied on some other task. But like Toby, this was informed a bit by the image of a yew tree into which hundreds of wooden pegs had been hammered (where the pendrel is a sledge-hammer of sorts) since medieval times (a central ritual in the stories). But thematically and metaphorically, labour and social mobility are important in the book (set in 1860s) thus The Nail and Hammer is not as catchy to me as The Pegge and the Pendrel.

 

[JS Wiig]

Same way you find a well-fitting hat or a comfortable pair of shoes: keep trying them on ‘till you find one ya like!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Sometimes I have the title before I even start the book, sometimes it comes to me while I am writing it. A couple of times editors have asked me to change a title I had already chosen. When that happened I made suggestions until they found one they liked. (This always came up pretty much at the last minute, with the book already on the schedule and in the later stages of production—that is, when there was little time and a lot of pressure to make a final decision.) In both cases they chose titles pretty far down my list of possible titles, and I regret to this day that I agreed to the change, since I liked my own first ideas much, much better. Since I didn't refuse to make a change, I will never know what would have happened if I had stood firm, but I suspect they would have chosen something arbitrarily themselves and I probably would have liked it even less. ( But ... I don't know ... my editors were reasonable people and maybe they would have said, "If you feel that strongly about it, Teresa, OK.")

 

[sknox]

Coming up with a title is one thing. Coming up with a *good* title is rather another.

How do you, original poster, judge what is good or bad in a title? What are your criteria?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

A couple of times editors have asked me to change a title I had already chosen. When that happened I made suggestions until they found one they liked. (This always came up pretty much at the last minute, with the book already on the schedule and in the later stages of production—that is, when there was little time and a lot of pressure to make a final decision.) In both cases they chose titles pretty far down my list of possible titles, and I regret to this day that I agreed to the change, since I liked my own first ideas much, much better. Since I didn't refuse to make a change, I will never know what would have happened if I had stood firm, but I suspect they would have chosen something arbitrarily themselves and I probably would have liked it even less. ( But ... I don't know ... my editors were reasonable people and maybe they would have said, "If you feel that strongly about it, Teresa, OK.")

This is exactly what happened with Memory Seed. For years, including 1994 and 1995 when the book was being edited and prepared, the novel was called "Kray." Then, three weeks before the deadline, the Orbit marketing department decided the coincidental or confusing identity with the Kray twins would be a problem, so we had twenty days to agree a new title. I couldn't think of anything, and all my suggestions (and my editors') did not seem right. He suggested "Wild," which we liked, but not enough. Eventually a good friend who knew the book and had been a beta reader for some of it came up with "Seeds Of Memory," which we transformed into Memory Seed... just in time. Phew!

 

[Juliana]

Lots of fantastic advice on this thread!

When that happened I made suggestions until they found one they liked.

Teresa was lucky that they asked for suggestions. One friend of mine had her title (that she loved) rejected by Little Brown and they basically just shoved a new one at her and told her the marketing department had chosen it. She hated it. She also hated the first proposed cover, but her agent told her she could only pick one of those fights (it was her first book) so she fought for cover changes…

All that just to say, yes, find a great title, but if you're aiming to get traditionally published just remember that the publisher may have ideas of their own. (So don't get too attached!)

 

[Biskit]

Titles are hard work. I put them alongside cover designs at the top of my hate list. That said, spend the time, do the work, and get the title right before you sub/publish. Especially get it right in advance if you are self-pubbing.

My first book had a seriously rubbish title. Fortunately, one of the first reviewers liked the book and explained to me why the title was rubbish. I then spent a lot of time finding a better title, which is a serious pain, especially when it has existing reviews that reference the original bad title.

You also need to consider whether or not your are/might be writing a series. I wrote a one-off, so there was no need to worry about any sort of consistency of title across the series. Except that by the time I was trying to sort out a better title, I'd been asked about the possibility of a sequel, which suddenly meant a further rethink on that new title. So, even if you are not writing a series, you need to at least consider the possibility that your one-off might be book one of three, or four, or ultimately a trilogy in five parts.

 

[tinkerdan]

I just finished Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things.
The title is from inside when the aliens in the story refer to the bible as The Book of Strange New Things.
Each chapter also has a title that comes from a line within the chapter.

What I'm saying here is that the title often comes from within the writing, usually helps describe the some major theme or even the plot of the story.

I did this with the three volumes I split out of book one from my Hot Electric trilogy.
Anapel's String; Nacre Oxide; Axis Mundi
Are all terms that show up in the books and are supported by a theme within the story.