If people would ask writers where they get their titles, instead of where they get their ideas, they’d probably get a lot more interesting answers much of the time.
In my experience, it’s really difficult for most writers to articulate exactly where they got the idea for something (except in those few cases where it’s blindingly obvious). But titles…that’s another matter. Many of us struggle with titles; after all, the title is supposed to sum up the story somehow, or at least attract the right sort of reader. And there are constraints, at least when you’re talking about novel titles. “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones” works brilliantly for Delany’s short story, but fitting that and the author’s name on the cover of a book gets a bit hard.
The biggest constraint with novel titles, though, is that the publisher has to like it. Which means it has to “sound right” to the marketing department. I found that out the hard way with my second novel. The publisher didn’t like my first title (Night of Two Moons) on the grounds that “it sounds like science fiction, not fantasy” (I guess it was the mention of moons that did it?). I don’t remember how many versions we went through before we settled on Daughter of Witches.
Sometimes, a book has a title that is obviously the right one, right from the very beginning. Talking to Dragons was one of those; so was The Grand Tour. Other times, the author slaps something temporary on the computer file, hoping the right title will come along (or be generated) later on. I have learned that if I don’t want a mediocre temporary title to end up as the actual title, I had better make it an obviously unsuitable one. The result is that several of the early-in-process first-draft manuscripts on my computer were titled things like “The Stupid Book I’m Working On” and “New Fantasy Novel #3”. Such titles don’t usually stick for more than about the first third of the book, for me, because I can’t stand it, but some writers get all the way to the end with a temporary title.
And then there are the books and titles that… Well, take the manuscript that eventually became Dealing with Dragons. I originally called it In the Mountains of Morning, but when I told my editor, she said it wouldn’t work (too long and not snazzy enough for a children’s book, apparently). So I suggested The Dragon’s Princess. Meanwhile, my friend Lois heard me complaining, mis-heard the title and liked it, and asked if she could use it on a novella as “The Mountains of Mourning.” I said yes. She did. Word came back from the publisher: The Dragon’s Princess was a great title (and indeed, got used on at least one of the foreign editions), but it was too similar to the title of another book they had coming out the same month, The Dragon’s Egg. They didn’t want them confused, and first come, first serve.
So we eventually went with something similar to Talking to Dragons, and settled on Dealing with Dragons (if I remember correctly, Difficulties with Dragons was the other leading contender; I don’t recall exactly why we made the final choice).
For that title, I had the pattern (gerund-preposition-Dragons) to follow, but usually when I or one of my friends is generating a title at the last minute, we’re starting from scratch. So what we do is, we ask all our first-readers to suggest words and phrases and titles that they think suit. If we’re lucky, one does; if not, we break them down into words and phrases, use a thesaurus to generate some more words that might fit, and start shuffling them around until something looks reasonably acceptable. Sometimes that process triggers a brainstorm and the perfect title emerges from left field, but usually it’s just a slog.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with problems with titling. The stories never give me nearly as much trouble.
(As an aside, I just finished reading “The 13th Child” and really enjoyed it. Your world-building has always been top-notch.)
I hate coming up with titles. In fact most of my titles come from other people who’ve read the book or story.
I’ve taken to calling my drafts by the first name of my MC so that I don’t confine myself to a bad title.
Fascinating! I’m so glad to learn I’m not the only one who hates inventing titles. Mine always sound dreadful.
A story makes no sense to me unless I can call it something, so this is always a big one for me. ‘Working Title’ would have to be about somebody redrafting their life, or suchlike; ‘That Dumb Fantasy Novel’ would either be about script-abuse, or start trying to be. Hell, I even have trouble relating to other people’s untitled works in non-verbal genres, and some of those are as good as stuff gets!
For my own stuff, I’m quite fond of simple understated titles: the saga that started one sleepless night with a vision of three women all named Katherine riding up over the high pass into Elfland is Three Katherines of Allingdale, and I love that title. I have my suspicions about potential publishers’ sentiments, but at least by then it’ll be safely written.
If Marketing (Night of Two Moons, science fiction? Do us a favour, guv!) absolutely insisted on my calling it Three Cool Kates or something equally horrid , it would be too late to damage the story proper. But any story I deliberately wrote whilst called Three Cool Kates would be a very different proposition, with a very different tone.
I’m in a pretty soft spot for titles right now, because a lot of what I’m doing lately is first cousin to the fairy-story, and those sort of titles more or less invent themselves. When I get back to the other stuff, my naming muscles are going to have to get back into training again…
Gray – You can never tell what a publisher will or won’t like. They pretend it’s all logic and business reasons, but I think it really comes down to intuition and personal taste. I rather like the sound of Three Katherines of Allingdale, myself.
Alex – I hate coming up with titles, too, if they don’t just come with the story.
`Three Cool Kates’ sounds like a book about a rock group trying to make the big-time. I can picture the cover art and everything. 🙂 I love the fairytale flavor of `Three Katherines of Allingdale’.
I like reading random passages of Shakespeare while I’m trying to think up titles. I was severely tempted to use `Lightly to their Deaths’ for the title of a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling I’m working on, but I was afraid people would think it was a murder mystery.
I enjoy coming up with random titles but never have a story to back it up. On the flip side, all the stories I have lack titles, and there’s no way to mix and match. I also enjoy coming up with titles for my autobiography for when I’m rich and famous. At the moment I’m torn between “Tales of a Retail Wage Slave” or “Gofer Broke.”
I’ve learned from fellow writers not to be in love with your title because you don’t necessarily have a say in the matter. I have also heard, which you confirm in your post here, that publishers at least allow a discussion on the topic and don’t totally stonewall the writer. Negotiation, I suppose is the key!
Speaking of “Dealing with Dragons”…HOLY COW I LOVED IT!! Your presentation of typical fairy tales and what is “supposed” to be done compared to what Princess Cimorene wanted was absolutely delightful! It kept me laughing all the time!
The other element I loved about the story was how it turned into a bit of a mystery, which kept me turning the pages to find out how it all ended. Brilliant job of entertaining all around!
My TBR pile is huge and I’m back and forth between reading author friends, romance, fantasy adventure, children’s books and working on my own novel that it will take me a while to get to your other books…but get to them I surely will!
Keep up the great work, Ms. Wrede!!
That’s my two pence…
Arial 😉
chicoy – I should have mentioned Shakespeare (and other classic literature, but Shakespeare is the gold standard) as a source for titles! Thanks for filling it in.
accio_aqualung – Titles with no story attached is how Talking to Dragons started, so you never know what can happen!
Arial – Thanks for the kind words! And you can always argue with the publisher; you just can’t always win.
I can shoot off any interesting title at random, but when it comes to titles for my neverending flow of ideas, I draw a blank or else come up with this completely *awful* title that I immeadiatly discard. (A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty was one… it is painful to even bring that name up! 🙂 )
A Voice from the North was called “The Frozen North thing” until it was almost finished. And perhaps it will pick up another title when I revise it, which seems to be imminent.