Sep 03 2008
The Perfect Title
Good titles have always escaped me. For my first novel, I went through several titles, all bad. I considered listing about a dozen of them here, but that would be as embarrassing as typing in one of my lame poems.
I certainly know a bad title when I come across one. Consider Deep Impact, for instance. The movie was quite good, but the title could not have had less “impact.” Yet Armageddon, an infinitely worse movie (one of my favorite examples of Hollywood gone wrong) has a much better title, and did far better financially. I’m certain the title was not the only factor, yet it was a factor. It’s only too bad the first movie wasn’t given the second movie’s title. Then audiences would have been more prepared for the movie they were seeing.
So, what can I do about my titles? For my first novel, I actually took a few pages of it to an open mic, read them, and explained the novel. Finally, I asked for suggestions regarding the title, writing down everything people hollered out and using those suggestions to create the title I have now (Really, I did that, I swear!). I still can’t say the title is great, but it’s a vast improvement from the title I started with.
My second novel, at this point still too rough to send off, has only had one title: The Ark. I have no idea whether it’s a good title, and I have no plans to change it, though once I start sending it out to a few readers, I will likely ask them to consider the title as they tear my novel to pieces.
My third novel has already gone through three obnoxiously horrible titles (I changed it just two days ago), and it will likely go the way of my first novel, skipping from title to title without offering anything that would truly catch a reader’s attention.
So, what’s a writer to do? What sells you on a book? The title? The blurb on the inside of the cover? The author’s name? Or is it the picture? What makes you take a chance on an unknown author? Am I doomed because I am incapable of writing a decent title? I’d love to know.
For me it is both the cover art and the title. Sometimes one jumps out more than another and I can forgive one or the other….but I am like you, struggling for a good title….it is an odd feeling that you can create several hundred pages of content but not a few words for the front….
~Kelly
http://www.30somethingandsearching.today.com/
Ironic you should mention this. My Bete novel still is in desperate need of a title and nothing has come to mind. But, after all, its only been two years.
I completely agree on your assessment of Deep Impact and Armageddon (SO agree with you and I was going to write a blog on why), though I think that it was because Deep Impact made sense but wasn’t entirely successful. People prefer mindless escapism with such logical things as a titanium shuttle and a space dune buggy with a MACHINE GUN (ack!)
I don’t think titles really make a difference to me. Blurbs do. Covers can. But nothing works as well as word of mouth. Of course, you gotta get a few readers first for that to work.
The title is not the most important thing … the blurb is the biggest thing for me, in choosing a book to read - if it interests me, will open the book and skim enough to know if I want to buy/read it.
But it can’t be totally lame either
Wow! You are my hero. I could never go to open mike night and let them scream things out at me like that! That was so brave of you!
As for ‘The Ark’, If I saw that on the shelves at Borders, I would definetly be intruiged. It would make me think of Indiana Jones, which would give me tingles, then I’d pick up the book and read the first few pages. So I guess title really has a lot to do with picking out books you’ve never heard of before. The cover might be a factor as well, if it’s too busy I might be turned off. That’s interesting how two things that really don’t have much to do with the entire book within would mean so much. (don’t judge a book by it’s cover OR title, huh?)
I’m bad with titles too. I usually just use a word or two so that I have something to call my baby (book) and then reasses the decision once the book is done. Same with email subjects, blog subjects, poem titles…
Curvvy, I’ve developed an ability to bare my soul in settings like that without embarrassment…besides, most people at an open mic are there to support each other, encourage, not tear down.
“The Ark” is actually based on the Noah story…but if the title gets you to read the inside cover or the first few pages, I might get you to buy the book. That’s encouraging. So if I can get flit to read the blurb and like it, I might also get her to read it.
And Stephanie, the reason I know enough about space to know Armageddon was absolutely bogus was because of you! I think the most ludicrous part was when they broke through the side of the space shuttle like it was a garage door (Ack!).
And keyster (okay, so I feel a bit funny calling you that), sometimes I’ve found, even with a short story, that the title has to change once the story is finished, for what I intended at the beginning is not how the story ended up. Funny, too. Both my first novel and my third have title issues, yet my second novel is the one I never really wrote an outline for. I didn’t know how ‘The Ark’ was going to end until it did. Weird.