Let's talk titles!

Literary Agents

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Jennifer Stone

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Following the recent discussions regarding openings and endings, I got to thinking about titles. Some are based around the theme of the ms, others are central to the characters involved. How do you choose what to call your little darling? Especially if it one in a series of siblings. What makes the perfect title? Enigmatic, yet revealing just enough to lure potential readers into it's pages. (The analogy seems to have switched from children to call girls by itself!)
Mine started life as 'The Ballad of the Mortal Orphan'. The Mortal Orphan is my MC, the ballad part made it sound pompous, almost. Pretentious. So I shortened it, to 'The Mortal Orphan'. Short, yet could stand out on a shelf. Now I wonder if it should change completely? Perhaps it doesn't give enough away about the story within, to really entice someone to pick it up. This, however, begs the further question, what would I change it to?
Any advice on this matter would be appreciated. How did you name yours?
 
The Mortal Orphan sounds like something I would pick right up and look over. Absolutely a good title. Kind of cheating, but what is the theme?

My titles started out so Tolkein-esque as to be unfathomable, centered around a fictitious island-province of the twilight Roman empire named Vornaeathor:
Vornaeathor: Morlokaiym and Cyndaesar
Vornaeathor: Doventym and The Order of Taernas

I wish I had the other three handy to list them — they were bad.

I did a series of six books about fallen angel that spawned vampires as bodyguards while trapped on earth, called The Only Fountain. The idea was vampirism was the only fountain of youth found on earth.

Now I'm in a series of five called The Vision of Arcadia: The First Vision, Across the World, Portent in the Planets, Perpetrator of Inception, and The Murderous Soul
The 'vision' refers to the fact that the characters meet in dreamed visions, that they are afforded a vision of the paradise of the faerie-kingdom of Arcadia, their vision for their own personal Arcadia or paradise in the mortal plain, and that the love interest is in and of herself the vision of Arcadia. So naturally I cannot use the word 'vision' in any context within the stories, except for these.
 
Great topic. I like double meanings and chose idioms for my titles.

Book 1 is Noble beginnings which has two meanings - the obvious and the hidden. The main team are called 'Noble' (group 8 of the periodic table are noble gases - the Elemon creatures that are captured by the 'Noble team'.)
Book 2 Saving Grace - is literally saving Grace.
Book 3 Dead Ringer - first death in plot relating to someone 'identical'..
Etc.

I have got 10 idiom titles ready with story lines. But main ones are the first 3 for now.
 
The Mortal Orphan is a great title, not as lengthy as before, but it captures the imagination. I wouldn't change that.

My first one was 'Ceridwen, Lady of the Myths', which may be a good title, but the book would need a major rework to be any good.
Second was 'Sion's Sword' about her newborn son and a sword, also needs major rewrite.
Third (as mentioned around here several times, is 'Ceridwen and Merlin' and then four more..... ;)
 
This is a tough subject. My first book title is "Displaced" because that is what has happened.
The second book in the series is "Displaced: Civilizations" mainly to tie the two books together and to give a hint to the contained content.
My third book (not associated in any way with the first two) is titled "Blackwing" because that's the name of the main character and it sounds like it may be interesting.

A title is not easy to come up with. I thought about it long and hard and asked a few people who had read enough of it to get the flavor. I also read all the titles of books I have in my library and thought about what each book was about and noticed that most of the titles I have are pretty representative of the content ("Time Enough for Love" was a recurring theme, "Friday" was the main character's name, "Dune" was the planet, etc.) and were simple. I like simple.

That is not to say that if someone wanted to publish any of mine, but wanted to change the title, I'd have to find out what they wanted to change it to and why and would probably let them.
 
Really like Mortal Orphan - I'd definitely pick that one out to read the blurb.

My current WIP is Children of the Equinox. The title reflects the group who must be protected - it's a standalone with series potential.

I love titles - we used to have a chat room running during the radio show, Litopia After Dark. During the course of the show we'd have to suggest titles. It was great fun throwing ideas out there. Peter or one of the guests would choose the show title at the end.... A few of mine were picked!
 
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I do like 'The Mortal Orphan.' It kind of spells it out for you but still makes you question the content, which would make you look. I have to admit, when you first sent me your 1st chapter, I wasn't keen on the title. But I am now. Not sure why.

Mines are pretty self explanatory and I think that's why they work for me: 1.For King and Country - 2.Chains of Blood and Steel - 3.Battle of the Bannockburn - 4.The Highland Queen - 5.Beat the Drums of War.

And I have to say... If someone wanted to change one of my titles they would be left hanging lol Ain't no one messing with my babies' names :p
 
I was worried my title was a bit too vague.
The Mortal Orphan, to explain it is to read it really, but I'll give it the short version.
Gods of Light and Dark have a longstanding rivalry (as they would), Light turns the people against the Dark, God of Dark and Goddess of Water have a child together, the people confront Dark forcing him to flee, his child is passed into the hands of Water's priestess to be raised as a mortal. One day the descendant of this child will return to restore the old ways of worship.
Enter my MC, a serving woman, raised in a convent orphanage, outcast due to her exotic looks (her hair is dark her eyes are grey, where those around her are blond and blue eyed). Taya is the Mortal Orphan, she has to learn a little independence, a little self confidence, whilst trying to locate a nest of dragons, and being hunted by a mad priest.
Just when she thinks her work is done, she's been reunited with her mothers, both biological and divine, awoken the serpents and now she has to save the world. The Earth Goddess has been forgotten for too long, threatening to take back the life she gave to all living beings, even the other Gods, themselves, are in the cross-hairs! Can she be turned from her vengeance? Can Taya persuade the Goddess to give humanity another chance?
You'll just have to buy my book, when it gets published!
 
I like The Mortal Orphan. It has a good ring to it. Even if that's what your character is called, it makes the reader wonder if there are immortal orphans (a cool thought) or if there are mortal/immortal people-that-aren't-orphans :)

Short titles are common in thrillers, so my first one started out as Hunted because I liked the sound of it and it fit the original premise of the book, but the story changed, so it became Deception, which is the main theme throughout the book: people are lying. Some the readers are aware of. Some they aren't.

My second one started as Blackout, which, again fit the story when it was first conceived, but minor tweaks made the story focus on different aspects, so it became The Grudge. This one serves a couple purposes: there's a dude who definitely holds a grudge (think seventy-ish years). His last name is Groll, which is German for "grudge," which also is his nickname: The Grudge.
 
I like the title of The Mortal Orphan. Very evocative of the MC's situation.

Me, I'm terrible with titles. I have thought of a few good ones, but I find that unless they come to me out of the blue, then I have to really work to come up with one, and it usually ends up being too difficult and precious. This is because I sometimes pull a book of poetry off the shelf and leaf through it looking at turns of phrase for inspiration for the story titles. After many labyrinthine turns, I come up with something that I think is awesome but that others don't get . . . Ugh, I don't know how other writers do it!
 
And the annoying thing is that I suspect a lot of places (magazines, in my case) don't even look at the story if the title isn't interesting.

I just finished reading an issue of my favorite short-story magazine, and I found myself noticing the titles. Several of them came from the text itself -- phrases or such used in the story. I might try that.
 
I was worried my title was a bit too vague.
The Mortal Orphan, to explain it is to read it really, but I'll give it the short version.
Gods of Light and Dark have a longstanding rivalry (as they would), Light turns the people against the Dark, God of Dark and Goddess of Water have a child together, the people confront Dark forcing him to flee, his child is passed into the hands of Water's priestess to be raised as a mortal. One day the descendant of this child will return to restore the old ways of worship.
Enter my MC, a serving woman, raised in a convent orphanage, outcast due to her exotic looks (her hair is dark her eyes are grey, where those around her are blond and blue eyed). Taya is the Mortal Orphan, she has to learn a little independence, a little self confidence, whilst trying to locate a nest of dragons, and being hunted by a mad priest.
Just when she thinks her work is done, she's been reunited with her mothers, both biological and divine, awoken the serpents and now she has to save the world. The Earth Goddess has been forgotten for too long, threatening to take back the life she gave to all living beings, even the other Gods, themselves, are in the cross-hairs! Can she be turned from her vengeance? Can Taya persuade the Goddess to give humanity another chance?
You'll just have to buy my book, when it gets published!
Yeah, The Mortal Orphan is evocative of the bleak world, interaction with darkness, and the gods, etc. I wouldn't change it unless someone's paying you to.
 
Yeah, The Mortal Orphan is evocative of the bleak world, interaction with darkness, and the gods, etc. I wouldn't change it unless someone's paying you to.

Wow! When i started this thread, i certainly didn't expect responses like this. The general consensus is to keep it, and who am i to quibble with the masses? If it's what you want, so shall you have it!
 
I like The Mortal Orphans as a title. It's a little close to Mortal Instruments.

I don't like picking names or titles. Sometimes a title will just occur to me. The other day I had an idea for a story about with an empath. I'm calling it Feel Me. I have another story where the title showed up somewhat organically. It's called Daughter of the Night.

Most of the time I can't think of a name or a title to save my life. I've started using the Scrivener tool to pick names. It seems I also unwittingly steal names. I was talking to a friend of mine about djinn the other day and then when it came time to name a character, I named her Gin. I have another writer friend and she tells me I took one of her characters names after a critique session and used it in my work. She pretends she's not angry about it but it seems I've broken some sort of trust. She keeps what she is writing pretty close to the vest these days.
 
Mortal Orphan - brilliant
Perpetrator of Inception - brilliant
Murderous Soul - brilliant
Noble Beginnings - ditto
Children of the Equinox - ditto

Great titles here, they'd all make me want to pick up and read
 
I like The Mortal Orphans as a title. It's a little close to Mortal Instruments.

I don't like picking names or titles. Sometimes a title will just occur to me. The other day I had an idea for a story about with an empath. I'm calling it Feel Me. I have another story where the title showed up somewhat organically. It's called Daughter of the Night.

Most of the time I can't think of a name or a title to save my life. I've started using the Scrivener tool to pick names. It seems I also unwittingly steal names. I was talking to a friend of mine about djinn the other day and then when it came time to name a character, I named her Gin. I have another writer friend and she tells me I took one of her characters names after a critique session and used it in my work. She pretends she's not angry about it but it seems I've broken some sort of trust. She keeps what she is writing pretty close to the vest these days.

Scrivener tool? What is this? My titles desperately need help.
 
Titles need help? Ok, a few of you have said that, but I can no such problem. Either that, or my titles are crap... er, can I say that? lol
 
Scrivener tool? What is this? My titles desperately need help.

I use it for mostly for names of people, not usually titles or places. It's a tool within Scrivener and you basically pick the base language (Arabic, English....whatever) and then I put in some words that make me think of the character and hit search. Then I get a list and I just pick one that sounds good to me. If you have Scrivener it's under the tools section. If you don't have scrivener you can wait for nanowrimo and get a discount. I got a discount on Aeon Timeline just this month because I was signed up for nanowrimo last year. So, maybe it can still be used to get Scrivener. I believe it's 40 retail .... (no I'm not pimping software, I get no commission) .... and 20 with the discount. I really love it. Oh - they also have a FREE TRIAL. This free trial is good for 30 uses instead of 30 days.

Also .... We have to give what we write a title, in part because we can't say to an editor or an agent, 'I wrote this thing." But every published author I have ever spoken to has told me they don't get to pick their titles. Which doesn't apply to self-pubbed people or indie pubbed authors I suppose.

At a conference I went to I was surprised to hear an agent say that when she gets submissions, she scrolls down what's in her inbox and looks at the subject line. She says she is looking for a title that catches her attention. I thought that was really interesting.
 
I use it for mostly for names of people, not usually titles or places. It's a tool within Scrivener and you basically pick the base language (Arabic, English....whatever) and then I put in some words that make me think of the character and hit search. Then I get a list and I just pick one that sounds good to me. If you have Scrivener it's under the tools section. If you don't have scrivener you can wait for nanowrimo and get a discount. I got a discount on Aeon Timeline just this month because I was signed up for nanowrimo last year. So, maybe it can still be used to get Scrivener. I believe it's 40 retail .... (no I'm not pimping software, I get no commission) .... and 20 with the discount. I really love it. Oh - they also have a FREE TRIAL. This free trial is good for 30 uses instead of 30 days.

Also .... We have to give what we write a title, in part because we can't say to an editor or an agent, 'I wrote this thing." But every published author I have ever spoken to has told me they don't get to pick their titles. Which doesn't apply to self-pubbed people or indie pubbed authors I suppose.

At a conference I went to I was surprised to hear an agent say that when she gets submissions, she scrolls down what's in her inbox and looks at the subject line. She says she is looking for a title that catches her attention. I thought that was really interesting.
All very interesting, and unfamiliar to me. Thank you, Amber.
 
Titles are the least of my problems with the writing process. In fact, they occur to me often, as do names for characters - all of which I make a note of in appropriately labelled documents. It's always a worry that I'll find out that I've chosen a title which is that of a well-known work that I haven't heard of, or worse, just as I'm about to publish, another book appears with the same title - imagine how maddening that would be...
I discovered recently, that quite by chance, the title of my novel The Perfect Murderer mimicked that of a crime story by the renowned twentieth century writer H.R.F. Keating, who wrote a book called The Perfect Murder. This featured his Inspector Ghote, a detective who works in India. His story was published in 1964, and though I read a few in this series thirty years ago, I don't recall this specific book.
The importance of having a memorable title cannot be understated, but I had a profoundly revealing experience last year when I overheard four women talking about books. To set the scene, I was in my local library using their computer to access the internet as my laptop had been stricken with a ghastly virus, and I was searching for solutions. This malware infection happened when I was one month into writing my novel, so you can imagine how annoyed I was, as it effectively seized control of my computer, stopping me from writing.
As I sat at the monitor, two ladies of mature years came across to the library assistants to have their books date-stamped. One was carrying a copy of Jo Nesbo's latest crime novel. This Norwegian writer pens rather gory stories, so I was a bit surprised by the choice of a pensioner who looked like she'd be a fan of nothing more bloody than an Agatha Christie whodunnit. Then I saw that her friend was carrying American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, so I decided that I didn't know anything, and that these ladies who looked like they'd be at home crocheting or icing cakes, probably knew more ways to kill someone than Jack the Ripper.
As the library assistants approved of their customers' choices, they started to talk about how they chose a book when searching the shelves for something to read. I've always been suspicious of surveys, as I tend to think that people say what they think they're expected to say when questioned, but this was eavesdropping, so bound to be more truthful!
I was expecting them to say things about having favourite authors who they always read, or liking intricate plotting, great locations, strong characterisation or even how an attractive book cover influenced them. These were all factors that I'd been taking into account while writing my short stories, novellas and the new novel. You could have knocked me over with a feather, when one of them said that she chose her books primarily by a catchy title - and the other three ladies all agreed that this was the best method by far, and it was what they did too!
I wish now that I'd gone over to close-question them, but at the time I was so shocked that I doubted why I was bothering to perfect my craft. It helps to explain why some books and films are re-released under a fresh title, as well as how most successful products have just one, or at the most, two short words to identify them.
 
Titles are the least of my problems with the writing process. In fact, they occur to me often, as do names for characters - all of which I make a note of in appropriately labelled documents. It's always a worry that I'll find out that I've chosen a title which is that of a well-known work that I haven't heard of, or worse, just as I'm about to publish, another book appears with the same title - imagine how maddening that would be...
I discovered recently, that quite by chance, the title of my novel The Perfect Murderer mimicked that of a crime story by the renowned twentieth century writer H.R.F. Keating, who wrote a book called The Perfect Murder. This featured his Inspector Ghote, a detective who works in India. His story was published in 1964, and though I read a few in this series thirty years ago, I don't recall this specific book.
The importance of having a memorable title cannot be understated, but I had a profoundly revealing experience last year when I overheard four women talking about books. To set the scene, I was in my local library using their computer to access the internet as my laptop had been stricken with a ghastly virus, and I was searching for solutions. This malware infection happened when I was one month into writing my novel, so you can imagine how annoyed I was, as it effectively seized control of my computer, stopping me from writing.
As I sat at the monitor, two ladies of mature years came across to the library assistants to have their books date-stamped. One was carrying a copy of Jo Nesbo's latest crime novel. This Norwegian writer pens rather gory stories, so I was a bit surprised by the choice of a pensioner who looked like she'd be a fan of nothing more bloody than an Agatha Christie whodunnit. Then I saw that her friend was carrying American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, so I decided that I didn't know anything, and that these ladies who looked like they'd be at home crocheting or icing cakes, probably knew more ways to kill someone than Jack the Ripper.
As the library assistants approved of their customers' choices, they started to talk about how they chose a book when searching the shelves for something to read. I've always been suspicious of surveys, as I tend to think that people say what they think they're expected to say when questioned, but this was eavesdropping, so bound to be more truthful!
I was expecting them to say things about having favourite authors who they always read, or liking intricate plotting, great locations, strong characterisation or even how an attractive book cover influenced them. These were all factors that I'd been taking into account while writing my short stories, novellas and the new novel. You could have knocked me over with a feather, when one of them said that she chose her books primarily by a catchy title - and the other three ladies all agreed that this was the best method by far, and it was what they did too!
I wish now that I'd gone over to close-question them, but at the time I was so shocked that I doubted why I was bothering to perfect my craft. It helps to explain why some books and films are re-released under a fresh title, as well as how most successful products have just one, or at the most, two short words to identify them.

You know that adage "don't judge a book by its cover"? Heh, yeeeaaaahhhh ... I do that all the time. The cover and the title are really important to me in finding a new book by an author I don't already know. There are just too many good books out there to deal with those that don't have effort put into a good cover and title.
 
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