This week the Writers In Residence members answered a “group question.”
How do you choose the titles for your books or stories?
1. Rosemary Lord: For me, titles flow as part of whatever I am writing at the time. Sometimes, the title comes first, maybe snatched from a song title or a poem. But the titles have to fit the setting, period, and essence. The title has to match the “inside” and be intriguing or evocative because it is the first thing that catches the reader’s attention.
Once, I thought a writer friend’s book titles were heavy and pretentious, a bit “off-putting.” I felt bad for her as I thought her big publisher chose them. I was going to make a “diplomatic” suggestion. Then she said SHE had come up with all her titles! Oops!
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2. Maggie King: There are so many ways to choose a title. It’s not my strong suit, so I often collaborate with others. For Murder at the Book Group, my agent helped. When I re-released MABG as Death Turns the Page, my songwriter husband helped. I don’t recall how the title for Laughing Can Kill You came about, but I think “I” thought of it. For Murder at the Moonshine Inn, I brainstormed with a friend and her son. The son suggested the title based on his many visits to redneck bars (much to his mom’s surprise).
I had an easier time coming up with the titles for my short stories on my own. Maybe being “short” made the titles more apparent.
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3. Madeline Gornell: I’m not being flippant, but they seem to come to me out of the blue. Maybe from dreams? Or TV? I say, don’t worry about it, they just come.” Hmmm.
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4. Miko Johnston: For me, a good title hints at the theme and tone of the piece before it’s read and summarizes it afterward. Some titles came easily, like calling my short story, featuring a nameless protagonist who creates “art” By Anonymous. Others took a while to find the right title – years in the case of my series A Petal in the Wind – a perfect metaphor for my character.
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5. Linda O. Johnston: I generally consider titles for any new series and the book I’ll next be working on as I’m starting to plot them. I jot them down, often on the computer, and modify them as new ideas come to me. And, of course, I anticipate that my editors will most likely modify them again once I submit them, although I do get to approve any new ones.
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6. G. B. Pool: This is a fun question. When I’m pondering a new book or short story, the title almost always comes right as I’m coming up with the plot. I couldn’t tell you which came first. This is when I’m actually writing the story, not just tossing around ideas.
I have had a title before I had a plot. I mention this fact in the book of short stories I’m working on right now, called Bits and Pieces. This book is the result of several folders I keep of story ideas I’ve written down, newspaper articles I have saved, or ones a friend like Jackie Houchin has sent me over many years. These “bits and pieces” of ideas just might prompt a story. These are all fragments of an idea, and most have no title listed.
I have changed the title of a story once or twice, but that comes about only if I totally redirect the plot into something entirely different and the title just doesn’t work anymore.
One title I came across in a folder that I haven’t used yet is: “Just Shoot the Archbishop and Pass the Brandy.” All I have is the title. No story. A story may never come of it, but I mention it in this upcoming short story collection just to show how writers work. But I do think the title has to fit the story, the two coming as Siamese twins seems to work.
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7. Jackie Houchin: It’s never been published, but a “woman’s fiction” book I wrote had the title of Sister Secrets. It’s about three women who have the same mother but different fathers. They each have a long-standing “secret” that has returned to haunt them. As the story unfolds, each sister’s strengths and talents help unravel and resolve the secret that is keeping another sister captive.
In my children’s short stories set in Africa I tried to make the titles be “teasers” for stories that middle-grade kids would enjoy. Dead Mice, The Eyes in the Well, and Deek’s Wild Ride were a few.
All my titles come to mind in the process of writing the story. They just fit.
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READERS: If you enjoy these “Group Questions” and have one YOU would like to ask us, please mention it in a comment below or forward it to me at Photojaq@aol.com
Remember, if you comment, first click above on the TITLE of this post. (How do writers….)
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The Writers in Residence 
Thanks WinR writers for sharing your thoughts on Titles. I wonder if any title you chose ever backfired on you. Or if you have ever picked up a book to read and found the title misleading when you started to read.
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I write for fun but what I’ve been told is the shorter the title the better is that true because I always chose by what the book was about?
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Crystal, Short titles can work very well, and they are usually larger on the cover of the book (easier to see). But they need to tell a perspective reader a little about the content. Of course if the author is well known (i.e. Stephen King) then you can choose ANY title. I’m reading a book now with a longer titled – Max in the House of Spies – and it’s very good.
Often a very short title will have a smaller typed sub heading that explains what the book is about. That is helpful. What are some examples YOU like?
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Book titles and even movie titles usually fit the story being told, though a few times I’ve read a book or watched a movie and thought the title just didn’t work. But I do try have my titles say something about the story within.
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Titles are my biggest challenge, along with endings! Sometimes one informs the other, though. My first published novel, now known as Mending Dreams had another working title–until my publisher pointed out the number of published books already titled Remember to Breathe. They were right, and I learned to do a title search before choosing the right one for my books. The second book’s title leaped into my mind while I was working out at the gym, and the third one was easy. My current work in progress, however, has gone through a dozen title changes and remains without a name. I keep hoping the right one will reveal itself as I work through the fourth draft.
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