Feature: What Do I Title This Effing Story?!

[chomiji]

The plot's worked out, you have the ending at last, your characters' voices are coming through clearly, and you feel quite positive about your latest piece of fanfiction/original fiction. There's only one problem.

You have not the slightest idea of what to call your work.

It may seem silly to get so worked up over a title, but truthfully, it's a very important part of your story. The title presents, at a minimum, the first impression that other people will get of your story. In some cases, it may be the only piece of information your potential readers will have. Although most dedicated fiction venues - like Archive of Our Own or fanfiction.net - provide additional information, your story may be referenced by its title alone on people's blogs or other sites. In these cases, especially, a title needs the ability to attract and hold the potential reader's attention.

When to Name Your Story

Like so many things in writing, there's no set rule. You may feel that you can't really get your story moving in the first place until you have a title for it, or you may feel that you can't possibly know what you want to call it until you know exactly how it will turn out. There's also the possibility that you have thought of a really great title and are now writing a story to suit it - but that's an entirely different conversation!

Types of Titles

Take a look at the titles of the books in your bookcase, or a list of short story titles in the contents of an anthology, or titles on a fanfiction listing. You'll find that you can group them into broad categories on the basis of how they were constructed. For example, in an article written for the Science Fiction Writer's Association, Brenda W. Clough lists these groupings:

Character names or attributes: For example, David Copperfield, Doctor Zhivago, A Wizard of Earthsea, The Lord of the Rings.

Place names: Peyton Place, Lord Valentine's Castle, Summerland.

Themes: Pride and Prejudice, The Wind in the Willows, or Stranger in a Strange Land (for the latter, also see Literary allusions, below)

Gobbets: By this, Clough means significant phrases that actually occur in the story. Examples include The King Must Die, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Name of the Rose. (She also suggests that you avoid the reverse gobbet, in which you think of a witty title first and then force it into the plot of your story somehow, even if it doesn't really fit.)

Clough groups together as "miscellaneous" a variety of titles that involve clever uses of words and literature, but in an article for Writing-World.com, John Floyd breaks many of these out in more detail:

Popular or common expressions: Good As Gold, The Usual Suspects.

Plays on words: Clough calls these "twist" titles. Examples: Live and Let Die, The War Between the Tates.

Literary allusions: The Bible and Shakespeare's works are common sources for these - and so are nursery rhymes. Think of The Grapes of Wrath, Something Wicked This Way Comes, or Along Came a Spiider. As Clough notes, however, you can waste hours of time going through Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, finding quotes that would seem to have something to do with the theme of your story and yet make really rotten titles for it.

Titles can also be based on actions (Finding Nemo) or events (Star Wars) or any number of other concepts.

Titles to Avoid?

Some of the articles consulted for this feature had very specific advice about avoiding simple titles made up of very common words or, conversely, longer titles that use unique or difficult words. However, a simple title might be the perfect title for a particular story, and a title that's lengthy or hard to spell may be less of an issue for a story posted and linked online than it is for a traditionally published novel. Take absolutes in this sort of advice with a grain of salt: Reader A may think that a story entitled "The Calling" sounds dull, but Reader B might think it sounds completely intriguing. On the other side of the length issue, titles like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad attract some readers even as they repel others.

Do, however, consider the tone of your story when you're choosing a title. A joking or witty title might not be a good idea for a story about the death of a beloved character, and a grim or dark title attached to a humorous story could leave your reader annoyed, at the very least.

Note that some words may have have become completely overused in titles in a particular genre. Science fiction author John Scalzi used this fact when he played an April Fools Day joke on his blog readership this past year by introducing what purported to be his latest work: an epic fantasy novel, The Shadow War of the Night Dragons. It turned out to be a hoax: he'd titled it from a cumulative list of words commonly used in titles of recent fantasy novels. You might want to avoid this kind of title for your story unless you're also making a joke!

Putting the Pieces Together

"That's all very interesting," you may be saying, "but what should I name my story that I have right here?" If none of this discussion has sparked an inspiration, you might try one or more of the following exercises:

• Clough suggests writing key thematic words from your story on index cards and shuffling them. You can get much the same effect by putting the words onto sticky notes and rearranging them in different patterns on a wall, or putting the words into a list in a word processor or text editor and shuffling them there.
   
• Although quotations can be a waste of time, they can also be an inspiration. It can't hurt to try looking up some key concept words from your story on one of the many quotations sites available on the Intarwebs.
   
• Quotations can also come from sources other than literature. Song lyrics and titles can serve the same function as poetry in providing a theme and possibly a title for your work. Is there a particular song that you associate with your story or any of its characters? Can you pick out from the lyrics a phrase that evokes your story?
   
• Freelance writer Chuck Wendig suggests trying to describe your book (or in this case, your story) to a friend, either in reality or your imagination. Do any of the elements that you feel are essential in getting the point of your story across spark any title ideas?
   
• He also suggests re-reading your work and seeing whether any particular words or phrases pop out at you this time around.
   

Finally, if all else fails, Wendig has kindly supplied a link for a random title generator. Now I'm really psyched to write a story called "The Red Legend." Or perhaps "Nothing in the Wind" would be better.

 

Comments

[lawless523.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I hate coming up with titles if one hasn't already come to me. But I find that I can't write if I don't have a title because the document needs a name before I can save it. Using a name like "untitled vampire story" or "Sanzo/Hakkai" doesn't work for me; it's not inspiring enough.

[chomiji]

I've sometimes limped through the writing process with a temporary name like "shiners" (the temp name of my most recent Abhorsen/Old Kingdom fic). And once or twice, even "585-sk." But I hate doing it. It makes me feel like I don't have a real "center" to my story.

[amai-kaminari.livejournal.com]

OMG, I LOVE YOU! <3 <3 <3

I *HATE* coming up with titles.

Thank you for writing this!

[chomiji]

Awww, thanks. I hope it turns out to be useful for you!

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to write something with the title This Effing Story now :-)

[chomiji]

Hee, yeah! It could be a meta-ish thing where the characters are somewhat aware of their status as characters in a story, no?

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, yes, that would be hilarious! Nagi, for example, would be so annoyed at the plot holes in WK! And OMG, imagine Sanzo's reaction at finding he's not really bad-tempered, he's just drawn that way :-)

OK, now I'm also imagining Sanzo as Jessica Rabbit. This cannot be a good thing.

[rroselavy.livejournal.com]

This is really helpful! Thanks!

[chomiji]

Glad to be of service!

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

As someone who reads a lot a fanfic and is prone to forget if I've read a certain story before, unique, memorable story titles that aptly describe the story help A LOT when I'm later thinking of stories to nominate for fan awards.

"avoiding simple titles made up of very common words"
Agreed. The number of X-Files stories titled "Trust" is embarrassing (http://fluky.gossamer.org/html/title-t-11.html).

Song lyrics/quotations as titles is ONE OF MY PET PEEVES. Not creative enough to come up with your own title? Plagiarize someone else!

READER: The title of your story is lovely & more poetic than the story.
AUTHOR: LOL It's a line from "My Immortal" by Evanescence.
READER: :/

PS: Thanks for the link to Scalzi's hilarious April Fool's Day joke.

[chomiji]

Yes, Floyd made that point with regard to novels: he said it helped people to recommend the book if the title was short-ish but memorable.

That's an interesting viewpoint with regard to titles taken from other sources, such as literature or songs. How do you feel about other forms of writing in which the authors have done the same: for example: Tom Stoppard's famous play "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead," which takes its title from a line in "Hamlet"? Or in another medium, this drawing by artist Paul Kidby (shown here on a T shirt) of Nanny Ogg's cat, paired with a quotation from "Macbeth"?

Or, in a similar scenario, how about an Age of Sail movie (something along the lines of "Master and Commander") in which the background music references a few bars of "Rule Britannia" or an old sea-song like "Leaving Liverpool" at an opportune moment?

My point is that when such referential material is chosen thoughtfully, it brings along a host of associations that can enhance the reader's or viewer's perception of the story. Although not every writer (or artist, or film maker) makes intelligent choices (and the audience doesn't always have the background to appreciate it when s/he does), I've seen it work again and again. One of my favorite Saiyuki fanfics, "Home from the Sea, Home from the Hill," references a Housman poem in a way that really cut to my heart the first time I encountered the story. Of course, it only worked that well because I recognized the reference (which was paraphrased, in this case).

Finally, it's rather interesting that the issue of "not creative enough to come up with your own [whatever]" is coming up here, in a venue in which many of the readers are working on derivative or transformational works: specifically, fanfiction. I do believe that just as one can be creative in using another creator's character and plot elements in a piece of fanfiction, one can be creative in selecting and using a few words of another's writing as the title of a work. And like anything else, it can be done well or it can be done badly.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

I'd agree that titles that quote other works can bring a host of resonances to the reader (if they know the work quoted - which is one reason that well-known works are usually the source. It's only part of the reason, I think,and another part is that stories, poems, plays, music are all in conversation with other, riffing off each other and reflecting each other back. For fanfic authors to use that method of titles is simply to be part of that conversation (which of course fanfic has always been part of). The words used are either so familiar at the time the work is written that no attribution is needed, or if possibly unfamiliar, are attributed, because part of the point is that readers/listeners know what's being referred to. It's not plagiarism, it's talking to the neighbours.

[igbc.livejournal.com]

I have a terrible habit of using one-word titles. "Honesty," "Homecoming," "Dream," "Substitute," etc., etc., etc. This usually sounds either pretentious or just boring, but I seem to have trouble coming up with longer titles. I'm definitely checking out the Random Title Generator. :D

[chomiji]

Re one-word titles: I have a strong tendency to do that myself, and when I think it's appropriate, I also try to make them droll at the same time. I'm not sure whether that makes the idea any better, though ... . I did make my beta chuckle with one of them recently.

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

That random generator is addictive! Moons in the Window! The Silken Slave! (I'm pretty sure I've read that fic). The Naked Lover! (We've ALL read that one).

[china_shop]

Thank you for this!