Thread: Title Woes

So, you gotta have a title for your story, and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I always figure out the title early on because I type my drafts and I need to save the file as something(besides Untitled...) so that way if my computer shuts down unexpectedly, I have a saved draft...I have so many autosaved drafts of "Document 2" that it's not funny.

My story is about how this 16 year old girl went missing , and was never found, and on the day she would have been 18 the case gets reopened, though not a single soul knows what happened to her. With no information besides what clothes she was last seen in and where she was headed when she left home, they're in trouble. Although they know that this is now a murder investigation. Then the ghost befriends a fourteen-year-old who really wants to become part of something greater than herself, and they work together to help "aid" the murder investigation of Chloe...because Chloe knows what all the clues are, and with a baffled police department, they need to make sure they're found.

So, I've come up with a few titles, but none of them seem to stick:
To Fly on Broken Wings
To Save a Spirit
An Angel to Me
Heaven's Favorite Angel
When The Race is On
Ahead of the Game

So, I need to know either:
1)How to create the perfect title
2)If these titles actually "work" and you like them
-or-
2) Your suggestions on what the title should be.

If I publish this will be self-published...
Thanks in advance

You know what's awesome? when the title gets used somewhere in the story. When I stop and think... "wait... this is the book's title! so that's what it means!" it feels very rewarding. But for this to work, it must be a phrase or word that both fits as a title and is unique enough to stand out when you read it in your book. I write all my titles with that in mind.

Another thing I do when I don't have a title is to use code names. It sounds silly, but it really works. I just pick whatever phrase that fits the overall theme and name my draft "Proyect <phrase>". It helps when identifying, and it gives you the sense that it's by no means permanent and can always change.

Originally Posted by elite

Another thing I do when I don't have a title is to use code names. It sounds silly, but it really works. I just pick whatever phrase that fits the overall theme and name my draft "Proyect <phrase>". It helps when identifying, and it gives you the sense that it's by no means permanent and can always change.

I would go with this if you're stuck for a title now. In the course of writing, you'll more than likley come up with a title you like. My personal opinion on your titles, they don't work for me either.

I understand your worries about an appropriate title, for they are important. A good title may draw the potential reader in to browse, to read the first line, or first paragraph. A good title will probably need to be short and snappy and to the point, but having said that one of my recent titles needed two commas.


BUT

And that's a very big but we've got there

This thread, to me, smells of a Godly-sized portion of the devil that is PROCRASTINATION So write the story, the title will come as you write it, or in your sleep, or listening to a song on the radio.


Meek apology insert in case you already finished the story.

Probably the most important aspect of a title is its marketing appeal. The title is one of those things that will convince a reader to buy your book. Your title must therefore reach out and grab your reader's attention. Imagine a reader passing their eyes down a shelf at a bookstore or over a list of titles in an on-line catalog. Your title must stand out and get that reader's attention. The title should communicate your genre, in this case, a murder mystery/ghost story. There are readers out there who enjoy those kinds of stories, but they will not read your book if they do not know what your book is about. So work that murder mystery/ghost story into your title. Anything else that will convince a reader to buy is a good thing for a title. Among your titles, any references to angels or spirits are pretty good. I do not see how a race or a game will communicate your basic plot/genre to the buyer.

Originally Posted by Bilston Blue

I understand your worries about an appropriate title, for they are important. A good title may draw the potential reader in to browse, to read the first line, or first paragraph. A good title will probably need to be short and snappy and to the point, but having said that one of my recent titles needed two commas.


BUT

And that's a very big but we've got there

This thread, to me, smells of a Godly-sized portion of the devil that is PROCRASTINATION So write the story, the title will come as you write it, or in your sleep, or listening to a song on the radio.


Meek apology insert in case you already finished the story.

I agree with Bilston 100%, mostly because I've been guilty of it myself. While I do have a title for my current WIP, I have no idea if I will keep it by the time I finish draft or if there will be something better somewhere down the road. I have also followed a path similar to elite. I have simply used Manuscript <date begun> and left it at that. You don't necessarily have to use the title of your work as the file name, just something that distinguishes it among your other files on your computer.