Into the Fire

5 responses to “Choosing titles . . .”

1. 

   BK Jackson

   November 17, 2016

   Titles are very hard to choose, at least to me. As a writer, they seldom come to me easily and often don’t happen for eons. I’m a slow writer, and often my books have some cheesy working title for years as I work on the book. My first novel, Principle Engagement, is the only title I have that I like and plan to keep because I feel it fits the genre. For one of the book series I’m working on, the title character’s first name is Jake so my books are consecutively and cleverly named “Jake1”, “Jake2”, “Jake Hauling” etc. LOL!
   Some genres seem to lend themselves to faster, easier titles–thinking of Vince Flynn and short and sweet titles like “Kill Shot” or “American Assassin”. I don’t know what suspense/thriller writers would say, but I think they have the easiest pickins’ title wise.
   I would think the Hardy Boys franchise and all those wonderful blue spine book were easier to title as well thematically such as “The Tower Treasure” and many others.
   As a reader, I am not drawn to authors who try to get cutesy with their titles. The best books have simplistic titles. Zane Grey’s “Forlorn River”, Nancy Turner’s “These Is My Words,” Star Trek’s “Ishmael” etc.
   But it’ll be a long time if ever before I find the process of choosing titles to be easy.

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2. 

   Nicole Petrino-Salter

   November 17, 2016

   I love good titles and Vince Flynn’s that you mentioned were both appealing and stark. Loved them. Robert Liparulo had some great titles for his thrillers. You might be right about thrillers having an easier time selecting their titles.
   I confess my titles often just come to me and usually carry some inspiration with them. I’m content with my titles. Only have had to ponder and wait on a couple of them. Two songs were the inspiration for both titles and books (one of which is not finished yet).
   Another note – I’ve read a couple of books where I loved the titles – they drew me in, but the books didn’t mesh with the titles and I was really disappointed in the stories. A title carries a lot of weight with me.

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3. 

   Brenda S. Anderson

   November 17, 2016

   I don’t think a lot about titles when choosing books to read, so I had to scan my bookshelves for titles that stood out.
   All of Charles Martin’s books have great titles: The Dead Don’t Dance and When Crickets Cry are two faves. Also, Athol Dickson’s The Opposite of Art, Linda Nichols In Search of Eden, Susan Meissner’s The Shape of Mercy, They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti, Still Life in Shadows by Alice Wisler. As you can see, my favorites tend to belong to more literary works.
   Of my own books, I like Chain of Mercy and Hungry for Home.

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4. 

   Nicole Petrino-Salter

   November 17, 2016

   Also very good titles you listed, Bren. Yeah, titles matter to me and draw me to a book if I’m not familiar with an author. I agree on Charles Martin’s titles. Would be interesting to know if he wrote them. Did you pick your titles? You have some good ones.

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5. 

   Brenda S. Anderson

   November 18, 2016

   Yep, picked my own titles. Would definitely change “Pieces of Granite”, but it is what it is.

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