If there’s one thing that stops me dead in my tracks when I’m writing stories, it’s names.
Honestly, I spend far too much time looking for and picking names that it can derail my whole writing session, so I try and choose these early, in the planning stage. That doesn’t mean I don’t change them as needed but having something to start with really helps.
Character names, locations, and significant events are one thing – but the title of a story or book? That’s something else entirely. Both Reality Check and Recall Order had different names prior to publication. Time will tell whether book 3’s name changes, too.
Until then, I figured that a closer look at why titles are so vital might make for some good reading.
Why does the book title matter?
If we judge a book by its cover, does the title matter? Yes, yes it does.
The title is a part of the cover, and while that imagery may be the first thing that grabs our attention, the name is going to be the second thing people look at – and it has to spark something in a reader. Whether that means the title tells the reader what the genre is, reveals a theme or plot, or alludes to something else in the story does matter at this stage.
Those words, combined with the image on the cover, must make someone want to open the book and start reading. That’s one of the first challenges any writer has.
There are tropes and elements that every genre can utilise, to help sell the book to the reader, but balancing these with your vision, without compromising your story, can be a challenge. It’s something every writer must come to terms with; use what sells or use what’s true to their story. In some cases, that’s clear and easy to do. In others, it’s harder.
While the cover, and the title on it, is a part, is there something else to consider with the title itself?
Should the title make it clear what the book is about?
Here’s the interesting thing.
There are basically two camps when it comes to book titles – for fiction anyway – and those are names that give a clear sense of the story and those that are more obscure. This can be genre dependent in many cases, but not always.
Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings series is a clear example. Not only is the series title obvious, but each book makes it clear a big part of that book. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King are all pretty clear. Think to A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, too, where the series title is less clear at first, but each book is more obvious.
That said, there are plenty of examples in science fiction and fantasy where more obscure titles are. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time is one example. If we’re being literal, it might be a time travel story, but it’s not. The name becomes more obvious as the story goes on, and it is relevant, but that first impression is different.
Looking a bit further beyond, Margaret Atwood, one of my favourite authors, doesn’t always make it clear what her books contain. Oryx and Crake, for example, tells me two of the characters, but nothing else about the story, setting or theme – and that misses one of the main characters completely. Subsequent titles in that series follow a similar pattern of not being obvious but draw upon something in the story. Year of the Flood and Maddaddam are fantastic books, but looking at them on a shelf, what do those things really tell me.
I could go on all day, but you see my point.
How do you choose the right title for your story?
I wish I could tell you there’s a secret rule or guide to creating a title for your story, but there isn’t. All I can tell is how I do it.
Once I’ve planned the story (or series), I’ll look at the major themes and create a working title to use for my own file management. This will remain until a finalised title comes to the fore, which could be after many drafts and edits, where a particular theme, plot, trope, name, event, or phrase stands out as the most obvious or eye-catching.
There are words that can be used to instantly transform a book title, keeping those elements identified while helping them stand out.
In fantasy, for example, especially high or epic fantasy (but not limited to), you might see things such as:
- The legend of XX
- Tales of/from XX
- The XX of XX
- Storm of XX
- XX archives
- Blood
- Throne
- King
- Clash
- Shadow
- War
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but I see something along these lines, and I already have an idea of what to expect, no matter what else the story might hold.
Even if you write in a genre other than fantasy, do some research on what styles, formats and wordings you can use. It might give you the edge, and readers will be able to filter what they’re looking for more easily.
That said, if what you have works best for your story (like my own Reality Check), then go with it, but you might have to work a little harder in convincing readers to take a punt and crack open your book.