Comments on: Questing For Titles

By: Zoe

Zoe — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:21:16 +0000

Depends. Sometimes titles come to me easily, and sometimes finding a decent title is like pulling teeth… hens’ teeth. My current WIP used to have a fairly bland title that I knew I would have to change; then I was listening to a song that contained the line “I’m nothing so good,” and for some reason, my mind translated that as “Nothing so pure,” which I then realized would work very well as a title for this novel. In contrast, I was able to come up with a title for the sequel fairly easily; I was looking up phrases I would need for a particular scene, and one of them jumped out at me as a possible title.

One of my WIPs started life with the horrid title Lessons I Never Wanted to Learn. Thankfully, I changed that one fast.

By: Nonny

Nonny — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:47:59 +0000

Yeah, me too. Usually, they just kind of “come” to me — I stumbled on the title for Stronger than the Night completely by accident. I was glancing over my playlist for the novel soundtrack, and my eyes caught sight of two songs: “Stronger” and “The Light.” At first, I misread the name as “Stranger” and my mind filled in Stranger to the Light — but that didn’t quite fit. Thought about it a couple minutes longer and Stronger than the Night hit me. (Though SttL is the second book in the series.)

If I can’t figure out a title, though, usually it gets called [mc's name]WIP, or something else. The opening scenario in A Passion Draconic was originally the heroine resurrecting the hero from the dead, hence Resurrection — but with the rewrites, that really doesn’t fit. (And Resurrection is pretty common as a title in the first place.)

By: Angelle Trieste

Angelle Trieste — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:36:49 +0000

I’m awful with titles. They either come or won’t come. And when they won’t come, I just call it WIP#1, WIP #2, etc. (Or call it by my h/H names)

By: Nonny

Nonny — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:12:52 +0000

Thanks! The setting is full of shapeshifters, actually. It’s a lot of fun.

I like the title Stacking the Deck. Goes well with the Vegas theme, I think.

By: Sara Dennis

Sara Dennis — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:44:24 +0000

I’m terrible about titles. I know a few people who come up with them way before the book is written, but I usually don’t get there until I’m at least halfway through. I like titles that have the same sort of pattern, though, particularly in series, so I like A Passion Draconic and A Caress Vampiric. Also, shapeshifting dragons! Woohoo!

I’m very proud of my theoretical title for my Vegas Magic book: Stacking the Deck.