The Importance of a Good Title

This famous guy once wrote: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  I think he was like a playwright or something...I dunno.  (I know it was Shakespeare, please refrain from 'Are you dumb?' comments below)Still, what a beautiful sentiment.  Regardless of what name a thing is called, it's nature does not change.  After all, a name is only there so we can quickly recognize and identify things and ideas.But what would happen if a rose was called a 'crap-awful'?  If you came home with a bouquet of crap-awfuls for your anniversary, would your partner say, "Aw gee, thanks"?  While the physical rose itself would not have changed, would the way we perceived it have?Thus is the power of a name.  Especially for authors and other creators, a name/title is usually the first gateway to your art.  If you have a good title, then people will be more willing to pass through that first gateway and proceeding to the next.  However, if you have a terrible title for your work, then people would not want to approach that first gateway.  The nature of your work does not change, but the willingness to approach does."I don't agree," you might say.  "I think the work will speak for itself."  Sure, OK, let's go there.  If you have an established platform and fanbase, then YOUR name sells the work and the title matters less.  But if you don't have that recognition, then the title of your work is truly a gateway. New authors cannot afford bad titles.So what makes a bad title?  Well, I can't speak for everyone, but let me illustrate my experience for you.This first novel of mine, , was not always the well-titled piece that it is today.  In fact, I have gone through a number of titles and sub-titles before I settled on this one. Here's the first title that I can remember.  I was reading an old English history book for one of my college courses and I thought to myself, "Wow, this title is awesome!"  I was inspired.So, in 2012, the first iteration of my book title, which was previously called "The Book", came about.  I settled on the brief and concise "A History of the Peoples of Caltus and the Lands that Surround It".  There were many reasons for this, namely that I thought the story I was writing was a short story, and that there were going to be a series of tales surrounding the same event, just from different perspectives.Besides that being totally wrong and the "short-story" I was writing becoming a 150,000 word epic, that title was terrible.  Do you know how I knew?  I was embarrassed to tell people the title.  I felt like I had to explain it immediately afterwards, and I saw "OK, not for me" flash across their faces.  A good indication that a title is bad is if you are reluctant to tell people it (generally speaking).Still, I was too stubborn to change it.  It stayed for years, until about 2015, when my wife (and at-home editor) said, "Have you thought about changing it?"  I had been, but I didn't want to admit it.  Like I said, stubborn.So I finally did.  To "A History of Caltus".  I figured it was short enough and kept the spirit of my original title intact.  But I had overlooked one thing: did the title reflect my story?  If people saw it, would they say "Oh, I want to read that"?  No, not really.  This whole time, I had been using a subtitle for my story as well, since I had originally imagined that it would be one of a series of short stories.  It too was brief and concise, "The Bravery of the Forlorn Seven at Ridgard Ironwall and the Redemption of Brian O'Connor".  Notice a pattern?By now, I was considering self-publishing seriously, as submitting my work to agents and publishers had not had the desired result (that's for another post).  Once more, my at-home editor said, "But the title..."My stubborn self once more took a look at it, and I reluctantly agreed that the title was not working anymore.  Or ever.  So I mulled some ideas around and finally settled on using a part of the subtitle as the actual title, "The Redemption of Brian O'Connor".I moved forward with that and the result is what you see today.  But it does beg the question: what makes a good title?  There are open ended answers to that, like "make it engaging" and "make it interesting" and that's all well and good.  However, in my experience, the best title says something about your work and can be easily reproduced and marketed.  "The Redemption of Brian O'Connor" sounds much better than "A History of the Peoples of Caltus and the Lands that Surround It", explains my story better, and actually fits on the cover.At the end of the day, the title is your choice.  It's the first thing that people will see, possibly even before they see the cover of the book.  And through the course of writing, which can be tumultuous and painful, the title may change.  That's OK. The most important thing about writing is being flexible with yourself and your story.  If the title no longer fits, be OK to change it.  Don't be stubborn about it (like me), because in the end it will only hold you back.  And if you don't have a title yet, that's OK too. A title shows up precisely when it's needed (LOTR fans know what I mean).Thanks for subscribing to my site (if you haven't yet you can do so here) Tune in for the next post where I will be talking about the joys of cover design.And if you don't mind, leave a comment below or click the share button to tell everybody about how awesome titles are.  I would really appreciate it.Thanks again!  Keep reading!~N.H. RoncolatoTo purchase a copy of the best realistic fantasy epic ever written, check it out in paperback or ebook.  Get yours today!