Thread: Book Title Help

Good day to all,

I am rather new to the site and I will admit I am not even sure I am in the right section for this, but I need some help. I am working on my first book and I just realized that I don't even have a title for it. Is this something I should think about now? Can it wait? If not, any suggestions for ways to come up with a title?

I am horrible at naming things so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Some quick info about the story so far is: Rowen Whelan is a guardian for the Crimson Guard a group that is comprised of the supernatural races of the world. They are the "police force" of the supernatural world and make sure no creatures step out of bounds. Rowen is a lone Guardian who recently found a possible job in a small town in the mountains of Maine. After he arrives he finds more then he was looking for including two threats to the little town and a mysterious girl that seems to be awakening his slumbering heart.

Cliche I know but I like it. It will encompass creatures of many cultures, including goblins, faerie, and even a wendigo or two. Just don't know what to call it. It is the first of at least 3-4 books I am currently in the process of planning out and or writing snippets of.

Thank you in advance. Have a pleasant night/day.

-Xander

I like titles to be short, snappy and to the point. I prefer them fun and different, but not to the point where they're weird and grating. For example, "The Men Who Stare at Goats". I'm not crazy about this title, mainly because it's a little too weird for me, and not in a good way. Weird in a good way: "A Scanner Darkly", but I'll probably have a hard time explaining why the second one is better. Mainly personal taste. The second one is shorter, sounds better, and you won't be as embarrassed saying it. The second one makes no sense and leaves you with kind of a mysterious idea, whereas the first one makes bad sense, because we know what men staring at goats are, and we don't particularly like men who stare at goats. We don't know why the men are staring at goats, but off the bat, and be honest now, how curious are we really to find out? Well—I'm not. Which probably explains why I haven't seen that movie.

Another bad-weird: "Still Life With Woodpecker". Leaves me scratching my head. It's kind of like the author was like, "See! I can make a title that doesn't make any sense, because I just don't care! I'm wild and crazy!" Get over yourself. Give me a reasonable title. I've been a little bit guilty of this sin on ocassion, but I've learned from my mistakes (I hope xD).

My take on a few.
good weird: The Horse Whisperer
bad weird: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (mouthful)
short and sweet: 300
overly simple: Ninja Assassin
walking the line: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
too bold and brazen: Young People F*@&ing (an actual non-porn, artsy comedy film)
lazy: Taken (and any one word movie/book as a simple common word)
epic: Captain Coufoufle Versus the Narwhales
timeless: Star Wars (quite audacious when you think about it, but here's a franchise that can afford it)

It's funny that A Scanner Darkly came to my mind, too, as I was reading the original post, caelum. haha. great minds. The reason that it popped into my head is because a. I'm rereading it right now and it's one of my favorite books and b. it's a good example of my opinion that it's hard to say what to title a book or story without reading it. You wouldn't guess what the title means from reading a synopsis of the book, and the title doesn't appear in the text until halfway through the midway point in an inner monologue that the character has, and if you read the whole book, you get that this title is basically what the book is about.

I can't say that I'm an expert on this, though, because my favorite title of anything, ever, is Snakes On A Plane.

You don't have to name your book yet. Many bestselling authors wait until they have finished a first draft of their book to name it. Until then, they use a working title. When you have at least a finished copy - ready to be edited, of course - in front of you, you may find it easier to name the book. I would suggest just writing on, and when you think you have a good title for it, use it! Until then, use any working title that can be as poor as you choose.

Hope all goes well, William!

Wow thank you all for your responses. I have always had problems naming things so a title seems epic to me. I will just keep writing for now and think about it later. The working title at this minute is simply "The Rowen Whelan Chonricles: Book 1". It seems so intimidating to have to actually name a work. Heck, I have trouble naming my essays and papers for school. Thanks again everyone.

There's no need to name it now, although if you google "book titles", you'll find a lot of blog posts and foum discussions on the subject that could help.

Be aware that if you are aiming for traditional publication, there's a good chance your publisher will change the title anyway.

I haven't even thought about the published accept. I do want to go the publisher route because I have a connection to a agent who works with the genre I am working on.

Thanks to everyone I feel much less stressed on this subject. Thank you all