A king without a sword, a book without a title...

Good title? Bad title? You decide.I really, really, really need to come up with a title for this new book. I’m not sure what my major malfunction is. Heck, I had an easier time naming my children. I made it easy and named them all after relatives. Hmmm, let’s see, there’s Blender, Quetzalcoatl, Kokaine and my youngest son, Andy, Jr. (On a weirdly serious note, there was a baby born here last year on 7/7/07—her parents named her, you guessed it––Sevyn).

With HOTEL, the book started as a short story and then grew up. THE PANAMA HOTEL seemed to fit for a while, except that the hotel is set in Chinatown and has nothing to do with tropical countries or strong-armed dictators in need of Proactiv. So I came up with HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, which seemed to work. It touched on the non-fiction hotel and also the emotional territory the novel swims around in.

But now I’ve got this new book.

My protagonists are young (again), so I thought I might be drifting into YA territory (again). But, I don’t think so (again). But it’s still somewhat nameless.

The first thought was RANDORI, which roughly means “chaos taker,” in Japanese. Then someone aptly suggested GAMAN, which means, “to endure,” and is actually more appropriate, but no less confusing. For now I’ve settled on THE DIVINE, which I am painfully aware will emote thoughts of Ya-Ya Sisterhoods and Dante’s Inferno.

Meanwhile, I’ve sketched out the next book, which, ta-da, I have the perfect title for.

If you’re a writer, do you come up with the title first? Or after? And if you’re not a writer (especially if you’re not a writer) what are some titles that jumped off the shelf at you?

Comments

[Rob in Denver]

My current WIP was untitled until I hit about 2000 words or so. I'm not ashamed to admit I lifted it from a song I really like. Theme's different, but the title's nonetheless apropos.

[Carrie Ryan]

I have to come up with a title just to save the file for the first time -- for some reason I'm supersticious about changing the file name (authors are weird folk!). I named my file FHT (short for The Forest of Hands and Teeth) and then when it came time to query I stuck that title on it because I couldn't come up with anything else. I figured it would get changed, but it's stuck with me the whole time -- through submission and sale, etc.

Same thing with book 2 -- the file name is DTW. I emailed the file to my editor and she loves the actual title it stands for so it might stick too!

[kathie]

Hey Jamie,
titles are killer in my book--hahahaha--book, get it. But my first book that didn't sell--the title was fantastic--Cul-de-Sacked, but a friend of mine made it up. The second one that went no where, had a great title, and I actually made it up, same with another that was a false start...but my current, nearly ready to be sent out into the world, book, the best one of all so far, the biggest plot, the greatest characters, etc. has no title. I have one that I'm lukewarm on. I've heard you shouldn't get tied to a title anyway, because editors have their way with them, but let's just say, no one will ever hire me to title things. I won't ever say "I'm a titler. Yes, it's a fine trade to have and it's all mine..."

[Seth Fleisher]

I've always thought a title along the lines of "Free Beer" could help boost sales. (Maybe that's giving too much away about my personal literary interests.)

With short stories, a good title sometimes hits me very early on, and in other cases I have to keep hunting for the right one for quite a while.

[jamie]

Along the lines of FREE BEER maybe the title should just be STEPHEN KING.

[Rob in Denver]

Or James Patterson... or Lee Child... or Dan Brown... etc.

[Jaye Wells]

Usually by the time I'm about a quarter of the way into the book it hits me. By then I'm familiar with the book's personality. Until then, I'm getting to know it and naming seems premature.

[ello]

I had no title for my first manuscript and then the secon WIP had a title before I even wrote one word. Go figure!

[Helen]

I prefer having titles as soon as possible. Sometimes they change over the course of the book, other times not. If I can't think of one, I name it according to the theme or main character just for something to save with. That's very much a last resort option, though, because I never feel right until I have a title.

[Eric]

"The Aristocrats."

[Katie Alender]

Choosing my title was actually agonizing and took forever. But it's settled on now, and everyone is happy. My next few projects were born with titles. So that's good.

[Andy]

As a non-author-but-book-person, I've always thought that an evocative title is best. I mean, a book that captures both the essence of the book as well as the attention of the potential reader/buyer. I've always thought Abbie Hoffman's book titled, "Steal This Book" is the best book title ever - it represents the heart of what Hoffman stood for, evokes the essence of the book, and, certainly, grabs the attention of the potential buyer.

But perhaps you're searching for something more than shock impact. Here's an idea - how about a book title that's simply gibberish? You know, a random assemblage of letters. Or maybe NO title at all. Like recording artist's self-titled album. Your first book would be Jamie Ford, the next one Jamie Ford II, or maybe it would be referred to by fans by the color of it's jacket - like the Beatles' White Album.

Let me know if you want any other great ideas. I've got lots...

[Elizabeth]

I always have a working title than morphs when the project is done. I have titles picked for everything I write even journal entries. Huh, I guess that makes me a title tight ass. Sigh, I digress, titles that have jumped out at me are:... hmm... can't think of any. But ok, there are titles I don't like, for instance I don't like an overly flowery title nor one I can't pronounce. Also ones that are misleading. Well, good luck, I really love the cooking with poo BTW.

[Trish]

I was well into my first novel before I thought of a title. As it turns out, my editor is not very excited about UNBECOMING as a title. Too literary/quiet for a book about a road trip. So I'm back to the drawing board.

For my second book, the title came first and I don't anticipate having to change it.

[Sandra Cormier]

With my first book The Space Between, the title came to me with no difficulty. It played on physical space and the space of time.

The second one was harder. It involved ice, so I played around with the word and came up with Bad Ice because Thin Ice was overused. Then Evil Editor said the title sucked so I changed it to The Lost Season. But after toggling back and forth I settled back to Bad Ice.

My two WIPs had several titles till I settled. I simply named the McGuffin in both of them: The Yearbook and The Weeping Woman.

I have one book that is titled but not written, because I think the title rocks: The Toast Bitches. Wouldn't you buy that one?

[C. Rooney]

Can I have the RANDORI title? It'd be first for this little something or other that would like to become a novel (if I ever get to it.)

My titles used to be one word, usually a name or concept. Now they contain the word "of" a lot. O_o

[David I]

Best title I've seen is Jincy Willett's "Winner of the National Book Award".

I don't settle on titles until quite late in the first draft. I file everything under a single-word concept or sometimes a working title.

My current working title is "Lights Out." No way will that be my final title--too many books with that title already.

[Carleen]

Titles come hard for me so no suggestions, but I send you good luck.Wait I do have a suggestion: Don't make it about anybody's daughter! Please!

[m.g. tarquini]

I like The Divine. Kinda sounds like it's about a speakeasy. Randori and Gaman sound like video games, or maybe some kind of highly processed cheap noodle that comes dehydrated in a cup.

I've got a great title for my second book. Titles drive my story engine, not the other way around. There's probably something really wrong with that.