The Delicate (and Frustrating) Art of Choosing a Title
There are some writers who have the ability to come up with the perfect title for their story/novel right as the writing process begins. Lucky ducks that they are.
Sad to say, I am not one of those writers. Actually, I hate coming up with titles. To the point where I've gone through the entire process of outlining, writing, editing, critique partner sharing, more editing/re-writing, and entering the beta-reader stage without a title because...eh, me no likey. Finally, I ended up begging my critique group for suggestions so I could slap a title on this thing and send it to the betas. (Thanks friends!)
The biggest problem, in my own experience, is narrowing down the relative key words that could be used to create a decent title that makes sense to the plot/characters. I also put a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to come up with a title before I even finish the first draft.
(Stop it!)
And, of course, there's the obstacle that all writers face: Coming up with a title that doesn't already exist! Or at least won't get your work confused with another author's. There are some words that you know, without a doubt, won't help set your book apart from the pack. (*cough* twilight *cough*)
In an effort to reduce my level of title-related stress, I turned to one of my favorite writerly advice people: Jenna Moreci!
In case you're new to the blog, I've shared Jenna's work here on The Writing Desk before. She's also listed as a writing resource!
Taking video-Jenna's advice, I took a good look at my current WIP (Work In Progress) and, after noting a few options that would make sense to the plot/story, trotted over to Amazon to search for each of the titles I'd listed so far.
And you know what?
They were ALL taken!
Well, shit. Nobody said this was going to be easy.
The good news is that I'm still currently still in the outlining process for this manuscript, so it's not like there's a rush to have a title right away. This might be one of those times when the right key word or phrase doesn't come along until the writing itself is done. We shall see.
Let's discuss! Do titles come easily to you, or do you struggle (like I do) to come up with something half-way coherent? Have you tried any of the methods suggested in Jenna's video, or have you come up with your own system?
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| We don't need no stinkin' titles... |
The biggest problem, in my own experience, is narrowing down the relative key words that could be used to create a decent title that makes sense to the plot/characters. I also put a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to come up with a title before I even finish the first draft.
(Stop it!)
And, of course, there's the obstacle that all writers face: Coming up with a title that doesn't already exist! Or at least won't get your work confused with another author's. There are some words that you know, without a doubt, won't help set your book apart from the pack. (*cough* twilight *cough*)
In an effort to reduce my level of title-related stress, I turned to one of my favorite writerly advice people: Jenna Moreci!
In case you're new to the blog, I've shared Jenna's work here on The Writing Desk before. She's also listed as a writing resource!
Taking video-Jenna's advice, I took a good look at my current WIP (Work In Progress) and, after noting a few options that would make sense to the plot/story, trotted over to Amazon to search for each of the titles I'd listed so far.
And you know what?
They were ALL taken!
Well, shit. Nobody said this was going to be easy.
The good news is that I'm still currently still in the outlining process for this manuscript, so it's not like there's a rush to have a title right away. This might be one of those times when the right key word or phrase doesn't come along until the writing itself is done. We shall see.
Let's discuss! Do titles come easily to you, or do you struggle (like I do) to come up with something half-way coherent? Have you tried any of the methods suggested in Jenna's video, or have you come up with your own system?
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