Welcome to my message board.

New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.

About Titles

CRinVACRinVA
edited June 2004 in A novel in progress
Titles are funny beasts.



Sometimes they occur spontaneously. Sometimes the title even comes before the story or is integral to story's inception.



Sometimes the story is almost over before the title appears. Sometimes the story is done and desperately in need of a title.



I usually don't have trouble with titles. They just materialize and I've rarely changed one once I come up with it. "Ever Had One of Those Weeks" became "One of Those Weeks" not at my behest but because the editors got used to calling it that and it just sort of stuck.



With novels, authors don't often get to name their books. Even Stephen King got overruled by his wife and publisher over Dreamcatcher, which he wanted to call Cancer. I went to a talk by bestseller John Lescroart who commented that of his dozen or so novels, only one of them has his preferred title.



My novel in progress has no title. Well, it has a title, but it's not the title. No one on earth would give it a second look. The document is called "Boggart" in tribute to one of the mythological elements that forms an important metaphor. Boggarts are like poltergeists, except when you move house they hide among your belongings and go with you.



I think I've come up with a working title, finally. It just popped into my head this morning. I wasn't really thinking about titles, but there it was: Missing Persons. The title works for me on a couple of levels and I think I'm going to apply it to the manuscript when I get back to it tonight.

Comments

  • CRinVACRinVA
    Cool - a title and more information that all the posts on the other thread! :-)



    thanks!
  • DTUKDTUK
    The title has a dynamic suspenseness about it - it's catchy too, not bad, Bev :)
  • Lou_SytsmaLou_Sytsma
    Interesting stuff Bev.  I like the Boggarts title but it may be too obscure.
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    My feeling, too, but maybe a publisher will feel differently.
  • sunny99sunny99
    When it comes to title I am always in awe of Harlan Ellison and how he picks the name for his stories. Who else would put in words like Islet of Langerhan (unless you are a medical student), whimpering dogs, etc into the titles of their works.



    Not to mention The Beast Who Cried Love At The Heart Of The World. That guy, really a supremo of modern fiction ;D
  • DTUKDTUK
    sunny99 wrote:



    The Beast Who Cried Love At The Heart Of The World.


    That is such a cool title :)
  • sunny99sunny99
    Well, it takes a cool guy to appreciate a cool title when he sees one ;D
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I think Boggart is a perfect title - and surely everyone who has read Harry Potter will know what one is - so the word is now firmly rooted in the English language. :)
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    I haven't read any of the HP books, so I have only a general idea of Boggart in her context. Not sure I want to sound like I'm treading into her territory when my novel has nothing in common, at least as far as I can tell. A witch or two, that's all!
  • DTUKDTUK
    A boggart in JKR's Harry Potter context is a creature that shapshifts into the one thing it's creator is truly terrified off.
  • kymattykymatty
    Bev_Vincent wrote: I haven't read any of the HP books, so I have only a general idea of Boggart in her context. Not sure I want to sound like I'm treading into her territory when my novel has nothing in common, at least as far as I can tell. A witch or two, that's all!




    You haven't read the Potter books? :o I'm just surprised!
  • BevVincentBevVincent
    Maybe when all seven are available I'll tackle them from beginning to end.
  • kymattykymatty
    Yeah, cause waiting for her to write each additional volume is like the waiting time between Wastelands and Wizard and Glass!! LOL
Sign In or Register to comment.