How do you title a book?

The writing process, writing advice, and updates on your work in progress
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BetweenTwoWorlds
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Re: How do you title a book?

Post by BetweenTwoWorlds » January 30th, 2011, 12:43 pm

The only thing I can say about titles is that I need one for the book, and I have to pick something that helps me during the writing, but I have to be careful that the title doesn't control the book. I mean, I get this idea, and I get a title, and that starts the book. But as I write and the story develops, the title seems to describe only a part of the story now. That's when I switch to a less descriptive title but one that works as a placeholder. When I'm done, I review the synopsis and find the common threads and themes, and then pick a title from the themes.

Then the publisher's cousin's daughter sends him a text on his iPhone and he finds a brilliant insightful blurb and that's what gets used.

At least, that's how it seems.

I'm not bitter.
----------------------
WIP1-4: Dead, and buried, and lost in time
WIP5: Finished, but hidden in a drawer
WIP6: 72k YA/MG. Working on 3nd edit.

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dios4vida
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Joined: February 22nd, 2010, 4:08 pm
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
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Re: How do you title a book?

Post by dios4vida » February 1st, 2011, 7:12 pm

I have two novels "finished". One has a name that I hate because it's generic and not very inspiring. I can't come up with a good title for it to save my life. The other has a title that I'm so proud of, because it speaks to a loose theme I have in the book. I wrote an ancient saying that this religion uses often, related it to my protag and as a key to find something important, and then named the book after a part of it - NO HILL WITHOUT TREASURE. It's one of the only things I've actually gotten compliments on.
Brenda :)

Inspiration isn't about the muse. Inspiration is working until something clicks. ~Brandon Sanderson

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