What do you call it?

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene II 

Predictably, this principle is not widely embraced by the publishing industry. After all the title of a book sets the tone, hints at its genre and is the first opportunity to draw the reader in.

Word count: 390            Reading time 1-2 minutes

Some members of my Young Writers’ Club were surprised to learn that the author doesn’t always get to name his/her own work but the trend isn’t new. When F. Scott Fitzgerald submitted his novel Trimalchio in West Egg, to Charles Scribner’s Sons, the publishers hated the title. Only at the insistence of editor, Maxwell Perkins, did he change it to The Great Gatsby.

I’m thinking about this a lot lately because my first novel is in the structural editing stage. Once this is completed, I suspect I’ll be asked to offer alternative titles for it. I’m working on that list now and I’ve found several helpful sites:

• I might do what some famous writers have done and take my title from existing literature (examples from that page include: East of Eden, Of Human Bondage, Tender is the Night)
• If my novel were fantasy, I’d go here: Random Fantasy Title Generator. In fact I pushed the generator button several times just for the fun of it.
• I’ll consider Scott Berkun’s hints and keep my titles short, provocative, memorable, and easy and fast to say.

The main thing most sites seem to agree on is the need to create a number of alternatives to work through. Frankly I like Lockdown for my work-in-progress (wip). It’s short and evokes the dystopian theme of the novel. Maybe I can do better though so I’ve started a list and when the novel is ready for the final spit and polish, I’ll have a number of alternatives to offer Great Plains Publications. In the meantime, to quote Raymond Chandler in a letter to Alfred A. Knopf, “I’m trying to think of a good title for you to change.”

Whatever my novel is eventually called, I hope it will be a sweet read.

How do you arrive at the titles for your work? Have you picked a perfect one, only to have it changed? Are you making a list for your wip, or are you waiting until it’s finished for more inspiration?

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Photo of Fragrant Rose Cloud from Wikimedia Commons

Comments

[Lynn Crymble]

I titled my first novel 'Myrtle's Fortune'. Editor suggested a name change for my main character because it 'aged' the demographic. Fair enough. So I changed it to 'Penny's Fortune' which I thought was clever and tied in with the fact she was a financial planner and fortunes and so on. Then some established author at HarperCollins wrote a book with the word 'Fortune' in the title and I basically lost my fortune. I had to respect that this other writer had done her time and, therefore, I gracefully had to bow out. Many more titles batted about. Never heard of these naming sites. Interesting. Is it like those programs where you put in your middle name and address and out pops some funky title? I'll give it a shot. BTW - in the end my book was called 'It Can Happen to You'. My editor came up with that one. Bless her.
And finally, I have to say 'Great Gatsby' totally rules over that 'Egg' thing. Seriuosly.

[Maggie Bolitho]

Lynn - thanks so much for sharing that. It's really important for emerging writers like me to read these reality reminders.

Other titles considered for The Great Gatsby included Under the Red, White and Blue, The High Bouncing Lover and Among the Ashes. The egg thing is a reference to a 1st century story, Satyricon by Petronius. I guess a lot of people would have understood that. I wouldn't have been one of them.

[Allison Doke]

I've stuck with the same title for the last three and a half years since I started writing Portrait, my WIP. At this point I can't imagine calling it anything else, but that could change. I guess it's important not to be married to a name. Lockdown is a perfect name for your book. I've watched your story evolve since its inception as Oliver, and I think the direction you took it needed a change. The random fantasy title generator is loads of fun, although I can't imagine changing my book to: The Ice of the Circus or The Trolls of the Trilogy.

[Maggie Bolitho]

Would you call your book Bugles Sang True or Tote The Weary Load? Those were two of the titles that Margaret Mitchell had for Gone With The Wind, before she was inspired by a poem written by Ernest Dowson.

You're right, an open mind is essential!

Maggie