CLOG - Comedy Literature Only Group discussion
What's in a name?
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
When I was looking around for possible titles for my last book, I quite liked the idea of some play on words that confused or replaced 'world' with 'words' or vice versa. 'The Written Worlds' was an option, or 'World of the End' - something like that. However, pretty much all those permutations had already been used by someone else.
I don't know that it really matters, though; any pun or any variation on a well known phrase is likely to have been used somewhere else before, but if the title works for your particular work, then why not use it? You're clearly not trying to pass your book off as someone else's, so I doubt there could be any legal reason not to do it.
It happens a lot. This Deceitful Light was initially supposed to be By Treason's Tooth but when it came down to checking the name was already used so we changed it.
I wanted to title my novel about an angry pyromaniac "fire and fury" but some idiot had already used it.
It's worth throwing any title, character name or pen name into google and seeing what comes up. I had to reject one character name because it was coincidentally the name of a notorious murderer. Having the same title as a fellow goodreads author shouldn't be a legal problem as long as you aren't trying to pass off your book as being related to theirs. It might cause some practical problems if readers get confused.
What might be more of an issue is that there are a lot of book and article titles out there which play on the "licence to kill" phrase. I found licensed to drill, spill, chill and frill. I suspect that almost every word that rhymes with "kill" has been used at some point or another.
YMMV might vary, but that would worry me that the title was a little but too obvious and overdone.
When I wrote my Bond spoof I played around with all manner of puns for the title. Shaken not stirred. I've been expecting you. I expect you to die. License to kill. Double Oh. Maybe it's just me, but they all had a distinct whiff of cheese about them.
Hence, the title I choice: "Global Domination for Beginners". Steering well clear of the memes and puns.
My book titles have little chance of anyone else using them. So I suffer the opposite worry: should I make the title more like everyone else's?But: 'Licensed to' ... puns are going to be everywhere. Not a disqualifier if the book just plain wears it proudly.
Still: the motto of m16 is 'Semper Occultus'; 'always secret'.*
You might try a variation on that.
_________________
*please don't ask how I know this.
Yeah there are heaps of books called Bad Business, most with far better sales and reviews than mine. Sometimes I like to pretend I wrote those other ones. I do wish there wasn't an andypaine Wordpress titled: 'it's better to write something badly than not at all.' Not entirely helpful.
Anyway to answer, I think in this day and age, it's most important just to have the title that fits for you and best represents your book. The originality is in the pages.
Will wrote: "It's worth throwing any title, character name or pen name into google and seeing what comes up. I had to reject one character name because it was coincidentally the name of a notorious murderer. ..."
A whiff of Cheese would make a good name for a Bond parody?
I'll get my coat...
In my case the main title is a potted summary of the the principle character who obtains a licence to serve alcohol through doubtful means, and over the evolution of the book I had grown attached to the humour of the skit on Ian Flemings work, and the aptness of the words. It's not an exact match, and the spelling makes it clear that one is a USA author and the other a UK one... but I guess I'll have to have a rethink.
Do any of the rest of you have any similar experiences?