The Tintinabulation of Titles
What's the first thing that snatches your attention when you're looking for a book? Is it the name on the spine? The cover? Its position on the best seller list?
Nope- the first thing to get your senses tingling, nine times out of ten, is the title. Whether it's elegant, intriguing or downright bizarre, it's what makes you do a double take in the library, or click on its icon in Kindle. Unsurprisingly, it's also incredibly difficult to come up with one with the appropriate amount of zing.
Some authors like to use quotations; before I learned there was a successful book of the same name, Rose Grubb was very nearly called The Poison Tree. To my way of thinking, it was perfect: the William Blake poem masterfully captures the feelings you have towards your enemies, and how- if you could get away with it- you would bring about their destruction.
Shakespeare, the Bible and poetry are common sources for titles- after all, the Bard has a better way with words than you or I could dream of. It does have the slight drawback that you're suggesting your story belongs up there with Hamlet, Othello and the rest. You could always go in for a bit of self quotation, like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Catcher in the Rye, but it should be sufficiently interesting to grab a reader's notice and not alienate people who haven't read the book.
My personal favourite titles are symbolic- it gives you a far better snapshot of the book than plain old 'A Man on Neptune' or 'The Storyteller's Apprentice'. For example, Frost in May by Antonia White- it's the story of a bright little girl at a convent school, and how her "sinful" pride is her undoing. What could be more damaging to a new plant than frost turning up overnight? And while I'm not a fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Breaking Dawn was a great choice for the instalment where Bella finally becomes a vampire.
Don't commit to a title right away; you don't want to strait jacket your book. Play around, have a good hard think about the themes, the characters and the impression you want your reader to take away. If you know this is something you have difficulties with, ask for a second opinion. If you heard that title or saw it on a shelf, would you want to investigate? Avoid confusion where possible: don't choose one that sounds similar to another novel or mislead people. Thanks to the title 'V for Vendetta', it's often assumed that is the anarchist hero's name, rather than V (the Roman numeral five).
There's bound to be a sublime title for your book out there- it's simply a case of teasing it out!
Nope- the first thing to get your senses tingling, nine times out of ten, is the title. Whether it's elegant, intriguing or downright bizarre, it's what makes you do a double take in the library, or click on its icon in Kindle. Unsurprisingly, it's also incredibly difficult to come up with one with the appropriate amount of zing.
Some authors like to use quotations; before I learned there was a successful book of the same name, Rose Grubb was very nearly called The Poison Tree. To my way of thinking, it was perfect: the William Blake poem masterfully captures the feelings you have towards your enemies, and how- if you could get away with it- you would bring about their destruction.
Shakespeare, the Bible and poetry are common sources for titles- after all, the Bard has a better way with words than you or I could dream of. It does have the slight drawback that you're suggesting your story belongs up there with Hamlet, Othello and the rest. You could always go in for a bit of self quotation, like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Catcher in the Rye, but it should be sufficiently interesting to grab a reader's notice and not alienate people who haven't read the book.
My personal favourite titles are symbolic- it gives you a far better snapshot of the book than plain old 'A Man on Neptune' or 'The Storyteller's Apprentice'. For example, Frost in May by Antonia White- it's the story of a bright little girl at a convent school, and how her "sinful" pride is her undoing. What could be more damaging to a new plant than frost turning up overnight? And while I'm not a fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Breaking Dawn was a great choice for the instalment where Bella finally becomes a vampire.
Don't commit to a title right away; you don't want to strait jacket your book. Play around, have a good hard think about the themes, the characters and the impression you want your reader to take away. If you know this is something you have difficulties with, ask for a second opinion. If you heard that title or saw it on a shelf, would you want to investigate? Avoid confusion where possible: don't choose one that sounds similar to another novel or mislead people. Thanks to the title 'V for Vendetta', it's often assumed that is the anarchist hero's name, rather than V (the Roman numeral five).
There's bound to be a sublime title for your book out there- it's simply a case of teasing it out!
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