Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion; what’s in a name? —Helen Hunt Jackson
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I’ve been thinking a lot about book titles lately since my latest book was renamed by the publisher just prior to its release. More on that later.
Coming up with a title for your book may be one of the most important decisions you make. But how do you decide what’s the perfect name?
Blurb.com had a list of criteria that I grabbed from their website and added some of my own comments. A good title would be:
- Concise (3-5 words) – Short titles stand out to readers. Long ones are harder to remember. On the other hand, consider The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. They didn’t do too badly.
- Intriguing – a title that will stand out and make readers want to buy your book. A few that I like are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Remains of the Day, and The Art of Racing in the Rain.
The site also mentioned a good title would be:
- Original
- Informative
- Easy to say
- Attention-grabbing
- Memorable
I considered some of the books I have loved and what their titles were:
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- West With the Night by Beryl Markham
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
All of these meet the requirement of being concise. With the exception of Huckleberry Finn, they are intriguing and original. They are also informative and easy to say. I’m not so sure about attention-grabbing. I guess that depends on the reader. Finally, I suppose a title is memorable only if the book is one you remember.
A couple of other attributes I’ve noticed in the book naming field:
- Trendy – Remember how many books were published with the word “Girl” in the title?
- Play on words – Popular with cozy mysteries.
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Reading about the art and science of naming a book got me thinking about how I had come up with the titles of my five published novels. In the order published, they are:
The Watch on the Fencepost – That was the working title, but I wanted a catchy, clever name for the book. One day when I was about halfway through the writing process, my husband and I took a walk to talk about the title. I tried out a few possibilities (A Watch in Time, Death Watch, etc.), but nothing clicked with us. Finally, Frank said, “Why don’t you just leave it the way it is. It’s unique and intriguing.” So that’s what I did. And there’s a catch at the end of the book that emphasizes the title.
Dead Man’s Watch – The title refers to a watch that was taken off a dead man’s wrist. Finding the watch turned out to be an interesting problem that led to a surprising conclusion. I also liked the trendy “Dead Man” part of the title.
Time After Tyme – After the university librarian Mr. Tyme was found dead, a couple of teams of amateur sleuths spend their time looking for a culprit. This title was inspired by the use of word play in cozy mystery titles.
Lacey’s Star – I thought this title might be too prosaic. I considered All but the Brightest Stars, but opted for the simpler title because it refers to the final clue that leads to a murderer. I like to think that readers will finish one of my books and realize the relevance of the title to the story
That brings me to the fifth book, Another Side of Sunshine.
The working title was The Other Side of Sunshine, which is also the first line of the first clue in the story. Much of the book is a reflection on shadows (pun intended), so the title seemed perfect to me. However, the publisher didn’t want the title to begin with the word “The,” so she suggested Another Side of Sunshine. In the long run, I think it’s just as good, maybe better.
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Speaking of changing titles, The Huffington Post had an article on classic books where the original title was changed. Here are a few:
- Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises was originally titled Fiesta.
- Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage was originally titled Beauty from Ashes.
- Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was going to be Tomorrow Is Another Day, Not In Our Stars, Tote the Weary Load, or Bugles Sang True.
- Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was originally titled simply Atticus.
- Carson McCullers’s The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter was originally titled The Mute.
- John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was originally titled Something That Happened.
- Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was originally titled First Impressions.
- William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was originally titled Strangers From Within.
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So TKZers: How did you determine names for your books? Do you have a favorite title of your books? Would you rename any of them if you could? What are some of your favorite titles from other authors? What do you think about the name changes in the list of classics?
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ANOTHER SIDE OF SUNSHINE
A Middle Grade Mystery Novel
The Reen & Joanie Detective Agency is open for business, and the first assignment is to find a treasure hidden by the mysterious “Mr. Shadow.”
“Fans of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The Westing Game will find familiar pleasures here, wrapped in fresh clues and grounded by a heroine who learns to trust her instincts—and the people around her.” —Prairie Book Reviews
Click the image to go to the Amazon book page.
When you have a series with the hero’s name in the title (ahem) or a repeat word (a la Sandford’s Prey series), it’s just a matter of using a thesaurus. I started a series with Try in the title (Try Dying) and then brainstormed about twenty words to go after it (Darkness, Fear, Justice, etc.) I decided that when I ran out of good words and got to Try The Veal, I’d quit.
For fun, check out a TKZ from 14 years ago when a Twitter hashtag #lessinterestingbooks was lighting things up. The idea was to tweak a famous title into something, well, not so memorable…like:
The Unremarkable Gatsby
Long Day’s Journey Into Lunch
The Prince and the Pooper
From Here to Maternity
The Devil Wears Birkenstocks
Bury My Heart at Dislocated Knee
The Road Less Paved
https://killzoneblog.com/2011/05/procrastination-day.html
Good morning, Jim.
I thought about your Romeo books when I was writing this. You can name a lot of Romeo books with your strategy!
I hopped over to see the TKZ post about #lessinterestingbooks. Hilarious. One that caught my attention was “The Hunt for Beige October.”
“I suppose a title is memorable only if the book is one you remember.” This statement nails it for me. My favorite novel is Zane Grey’s “Forlorn River”. I wouldn’t say that title is the most scintillating ever, but I don’t care. I loved the story.
As for how I determine names for stories–I’m all over the place. Sometimes a title will come to me that I have to write a story to match. Other times I will struggle to come up with a title and it will take finishing the book to finally land on a title I like.
But it’s ironic–I say that as a reader I don’t much care about the title as long as I loved the book–yet looking at that list of famous books and ‘what could have been’ titles, I can definitely see the importance of choosing a title. It makes me shudder to think “Of Mice and Men” could have been “Something That Happened.”
Good morning, Brenda.
I agree with you. The title may catch my attention, but it’s the story that matters.
The only title I can think of would be less inspiring than “Something That Happened” would be “Nothing Happened.”
Have a great week.
Kay, great points about the difficulty of choosing a title and the reasons behind it.
Your publisher’s point that the first word shouldn’t be “The”, “A”, or “An” is a good one to consider b/c titles are listed alphabetically. Your title could easily get lost. Although titles like A Wrinkle in Time and A Time to Kill didn’t do so badly.
But better to avoid that speed bump in the first place.
I hate choosing titles and esp. regret one Stalking Midas. Too vague and oblique.
Best title I ever came up with was Deep Fake but unfortunately another author beat me to it two months before publication. To avoid confusion, I had to change it to Deep Fake Double Down.
Good morning, Debbie.
“Deep Fake” is a great title, but I actually like “Deep Fake Double Down” better. Twice as much, in fact. 🙂
Have a great week.
Would we still be talking about “The Modern Prometheus” if that had been its title? Maybe, it is a thrilling story. How about “Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?” That would have never made it to a movie marque even if it did OK at the book store.
I don’t think titles make a book memorable. A good title will get someone to pick up the book, the first and very important step.
I am sure TKZ regulars won’t need the hint, but The Modern Prometheus is better known by the last name of the villain, Frankenstein.
“A good title will get someone to pick up the book, the first and very important step.” So true. A good title on a good book is unbeatable.
Glad Mary Shelley titled the book “Frankenstein.” It has an impact that “The Modern Prometheus” alone doesn’t have.
Coming up with an effective title is often a challenge for me, but it’s a fun challenge. My first Empowered novel was originally titled “Hothouse” but “Empowered: Agent” worked better, as suggested by an author friend, and also ended up serving as the stylistic basis for the entire series, with each novel having the word “Empowered”, then a colon, and a word which indicated Mat’s situation in that particular book, so book 2 was “Traitor,” 3 was “Outlaw” etc.
Coming up with titles for cozy mysteries is doubly fun—“A Shush Before Dying” is a favorite, being a play off of “A Kiss Before Dying.” “Book Drop Dead” was my own creation. The book I’m currently revising, “Fine Me Deadly,” is a play on “Kiss Me, Deadly,” but I decided not to use the comma.
Hope you have a great week!
Good morning, Dale.
I love your cozy mystery titles. Each one of them has me smiling.
Have a great week.
I’ve always liked titles with numbers. You know: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Catch-22, One Hundred Years of Solitutde, et al. And of course, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, which must have driven publishers and librarians crazy.
So naturally, I gave my inaugural historical-fiction novella series the titles: 1609, 1612, 1625, and 1640. I was in heaven! 😉
(make that: “Solitude”)
Good morning, Harald.
I like your naming system for your novella series. I never thought about using numbers in a book title.
You’d probably love “One Two Three… Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science” by George Garrow. That title pretty much covers all the numbers!
Have a good week.
I think numbers work well for far-future or far-past subjects.
I usually am almost finished with the first draft before a title occurs to me. And I like the ones I came up with.
On another note: I looked up “famous books that changed titles” and saw some hilarious stuff.
Did you know?
Treasure Island was originally The Sea Cook?
And, War and Peace started life as All’s Well That Ends Well?
Go figure!
Hi Deb!
I enjoy reading about some of the title changes of famous works. Treasure Island sounds a lot more intriguing than The Sea Cook!
I like the book titles you’ve come up with, especially The Fig Leaf Chronicles. That’s an attention-getter.
Have a great week.
🙂
Make it easy to spell for folks typing it into an Amazon search. This is particularly useful if your name is hard to spell. I used STAR-CROSSED with a hyphen because that’s the way Shakespeare coined it, and I was writing Romeo and Juliet in Space. It won book of the year on some site, and I received my trophy with my name and the book title misspelled. Sigh.
My contemporary romances were all pop standard song titles. JUST IN TIME was changed to TIME AFTER TIME because the publisher had a kid’s book with that name. The book was a reincarnation romance, hence TIME. GUARDIAN ANGEL was a song title. The hero was Gabriel “Gard” Gardner, a former FBI agent, hired to protect the heroine from a killer.
Good point about having a title that’s easy to spell. I can identify with names that are hard to spell. 🙂
I like GUARDIAN ANGEL. Great way to connect the character with a concept.
I write horror so my titles are a little harsh. My new book will be coming in a month. It is call Careless Sheep, It come from this quote, Careless sheep make a fine meal for the wolf, I found the tile before I wrote the story and it inspired the whole enchilada. By the way, it is a werewolf story.
Careless Sheep. I love that title, Brian.
Good luck with the new book.
This is fun, Kay. I just read that THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was originally called MEN WHO HATE WOMEN, which sounds like a self-help book.
The working title for my new book was supposed to be FLORODORA, except too many people didn’t know what a Florodora Girl was. It was changed to SEX AND DEATH ON THE BEACH.
I wouldn’t have known what a Florodora Girl was either.
Having the words SEX, DEATH, and BEACH all in the same title looks like a guarantee for success!
My mainstream trilogy is a modern retelling of the biblical Book of Job, with twists (the Job character is a woman with a chronic illness…).
The actual title came from a quote toward the end of Job in the King James version of the bible:
‘He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride,’ Job 41:34.
Except that I wanted to use ‘pride’ in the sense both of a group of lionesses and lion cubs headed by an alpha lion, and in the sense of the ‘sin of pride,’ as highly relevant to the story. So it became Pride’s Children, which covers both, instead of Children of Pride, which doesn’t.
This was all long ago, in the early part of this century.
A third use has become very strong – used by the LGBTQIA+ community – in the meantime, and there is actually another book entitled Pride’s Children (no subtitles), the story of a lovely gay couple who adopt two children. I’m honored to share the title with them – and don’t think it’s a problem for readers of either. I had been using the title for years, and writing about it on my blog, but that book came out right before my Pride’s Children: PURGATORY!
But I still wanted mine. After all, I’d already done the kerning on the title on the cover! 🙂 And use several quotations from Job, among other sources.
It hasn’t been a problem. Sadly, the other author hasn’t published a sequel.
A LOT of thinking goes into titles. And if your book is ever translated, it all starts again.
Hi Alicia,
I like the title Pride’s Children, and I like even more hearing about how you came up with it.
My publisher has only used three of my titles. Counter Attack, Deception and Obsession. My very first book, they changed from Shadows From the Past to Shadows of the Past. But I’ve been happy with the ones they came up with.
I like this titles, Patricia. Not surprising that the publisher used them.
Kay, I do the same as Jim for my Mayhem Series. Because Mayhem is the name of a character, I keep a list of words that go with Mayhem. So far, I’ve used: Wings of Mayhem, Blessed Mayhem, Silent Mayhem, I Am Mayhem, Unnatural Mayhem, Restless Mayhem, Tracking Mayhem, Merciless Mayhem, and Savage Mayhem. I have about thirty more titles for this series on my phone.
With my other series, because I used a one-word title for the first book, the publisher insisted I continue with one-word titles. That wasn’t easy. I dreaded finding the right word to encapsulate the story. Thankfully, the marketing department came up with my narrative nonfiction/true crime book title before approaching me, so I didn’t need to worry about it.
You can keep going for a long time on the Mayhem series, Sue!
Good luck with that true crime book!
My “Sorcerer of Deathbird Mountain” is now in the hands of a publisher* who intends to release it this year. I think the title clearly indicates what the book is about and the genre.
* She also published my first book, “Sail Away on My Silver Dream,” a coming-of-age story.
I like that “Sorcerer of Deathbird Mountain.” Best of luck with the book.