This week, let's talk about stories and titles and how they go together (or don't -- I wan't presume your process!).
What comes first for you, the story or the title? How does one drive the other through the process?
Sara Freites Scott: The title comes first but may change after I write the story! (Which actually happened with my first book.)
Bobby Nash: It could happen either way. Most of the time, it’s the story. That said, doing series work, like Snow or Tom Myers, I like to have a page at the end that states, “Tom Myers will return in…” and so I try to have at least a loose idea and a title for the next book ready to go. I have had instances where the title changed in the process.
Sean Taylor: I find it very difficult to write without a title. I'll jot down story notes and hold off actually writing the narrative until the right title falls into place. Yes, I know that (among other things) makes me an odd duck.
Brian K Morris: Most of the time, it's the story, especially when I'm working with someone else's characters. Then again, I've come up with a title that practically writes the story for me. Also, I have to really put on my thinking cap to come up with a halfway pleasing (to me, at least) title.
Kay Iscah: Usually the story comes first, but it depends. Originally Seventh Night was called The Magician's Apprentice, and the story more heavily focused on Phillip. Then I saw a book with the same title at the store and decided I needed a new name. As the best fairytales are named after the princess, I went with *Seventh Night*, but this meant my title character was unconscious for two-thirds of the book. So, I reworked the middle to give her more to do and a bit more of a growth arch. I do think the story works a bit better that way.
When I say the story comes first, I tend to mean the general story. I usually have an idea for the title before I have finished writing. In some cases, it's a working title. I had a story called The Littlest Vampire, which is another title that I discovered was taken. That one has been sitting on my hard drive long that I may have to retitle it again if it ever comes out.
Some titles emerge while the story is still forming. I can be glacially slow from the spark of an idea and finding time to write it. So I have several backburner novels which are partially formed and still in the notes stage. Most of those have working titles.
Danielle Procter Piper: Either may come first. Usually, it's the story, but a cool title can bounce around in my head for a while until pieces start coming together like they're being shaken from a box one by one, and when I feel motivated, I'll string them together to complete the picture. If the story comes first, I'll play with title ideas during the process.
John Morgan Neal: I love a good title. I have read stories and bought books by liking the title. And when I see a good one that was rejected I stubbornly use the rejected title. Such as "The Unreal McCoy" vs "The Man Trap."
I'm also pretty good it I think. So I usually do have a title in place early on. But there have been exceptions. And for me, a good title just helps to focus on the story or characters or theme.
Paul Landri: The story comes first. When we decided to write our superhero epic, we wanted to harken back to the comic book events we grew up with. Think "The Dark Knight Returns" or "The Death of Superman". Originally, the book was called The Crimson Howl Returns but our publisher suggested we change it to Return of the Crimson Howl because it rolled off the tongue a little bit better. From there it was easy to come up with the sequel titles which are like episodes of an adventure serial.
John Hartness: Story. The title is often the last thing I come up with. Character actually comes first, before story.
Ronald Fortier: In regards to titles, they usually pop up in my head during the writing of the story, be prose or comics. Then I vocalize it. Hearing it ring in my ears is the final determination as to whether is a decent title folks will remember, or forgettable. With the latter, I simply try again.
Sean Hillman: The title comes first.
Where do you get your inspiration for your titles? Do they come from inside the story (like a bit of dialogue or a quote from the narrative) or from outside the story? Any examples you can share?
Bobby Nash: Song titles are good inspiration. I want a title that fits the story. Evil Ways was a placeholder title that I intended to change. There’s a scene that takes place in a bar where one of the characters sits in with the house band and I had them do covers of some classic rock tunes. I had them perform the next three songs that played on the radio, one of which was "Evil Ways." I planned to change it, but eventually, it stuck. Deadly Games! was called Games! for the longest time. I planned for Deadly Games! to be the sequel. Go figure. Games! on its own didn’t seem powerful enough so I changed it after the book was written. With Snow and Tom Myers, I tend to have the title early based on the idea or loose plot I have in mind.
Venessa Giunta: I open a vein and bleed onto the title page? I dunno, I always hope that by the time the story is finished, I have inspiration for a title, though if I'm being honest, that only happens sometimes. My preference is to let someone who's good at titles read it and tell me what to call it. 😉
John Hartness: I steal song titles. They can't be copyrighted, and in Urban Fantasy, I tie into the familiar world, so they provide a touchstone for readers.
Paul Landri: The inspiration for the Crimson Howl series comes from the old Golden Age comics. It fits very well and you can glean a bit of what happens in subsequent books. Without going into spoilery details, the titles are Reign of the Crimson Howl, and book 3 is Ruin of the Crimson Howl. Serendipitously, all 3 books start with an R and that was entirely by accident. I reference the titles of each book in their respective narratives.
Sara Freites Scott: The title usually comes from the story line or the main arc of the book to me! So, for my book, the title Rise of Midnight is because the whole main part of my book is that the main character has to turn into a vampire in order to fight the bad guy. It’s explained in the book that people don’t turn when they are bitten until right at midnight!
John Morgan Neal: Songs, albums, books, TV shows, episodes, characters, movies, places, animals, places, people, sayings, slogans, etc. My brain is like a tumbler.
One example I love is a chapter title 'Space: 1899' taken from 'Space: 1999.
Danielle Procter Piper: Titles can simply be a cunning play of words that popped in my head unexpectedly or triggered by something I heard or misheard. Occasionally, they'll reveal themselves slowly after I've been working on the story. Trumpet of the Unicorn refers to both a horn and a sound of alarm an animal may make, and both a horn and alarming things are featured in that story. Divergence was tricky because I had to do research on the word to be certain I was using it correctly as the title of a sci-fi story about a possible divergent line of human evolution. Spiritual Concerns got its title from the hero's business card, which has the line, "Spiritual Concerns a Specialty." Indian Chief is meant to be provocative as it's about a legend involving an Ute hunter that was badly mangled over time by all the white people retelling it.
Kay Iscah: Most of my titles reflect either a main character or key idea, something I hope is memorable about the book or story. *The Girl With No Name* is about a shape-shifting girl who has no name, and very much about trying to form an identity when the things that normally define us, like a family or looks or a home, are absent. Horse Feathers is a tame double entendre. It's a phrase that implies nonsense, and the lead character is often criticized by others as having foolish notions. But it's also literal in the setting as Phillip's main objective in that early stage of life is getting a pegasus. Both stories are part of what will eventually be a set of four (I swear, I'm writing the fourth one now) called Before the Fairytale, as they are prequels to Seventh Night, and the first Act in Seventh Night is called "The Fairytale".
I don't generally title chapters, but in Seventh Night, I felt like it helped frame the story better and draw attention to certain elements as well as set the tone. I broke the book into Acts because the main theme of the story is not quite fitting in the role you have been assigned to play, and I wanted to emphasize how everyone was playing a part. Phillip is my callous, callow youth. No one can be the perfect prince charming, so that's a role played by two men. The strange old hermit really wants to be a heroine and find love. Seventh Night is trying very hard to be the perfect princess and want the right things, and she's chafing in the role.
Brian K Morris: Sometimes, it's a phrase I overhear. Frequently, I've gotten titles from puns, twisting phrases around, and trying to come up with bad names for Sixties and Seventies rock groups. Don't judge what I find amusing, okay?
Sean Taylor: My title inspiration comes from all over the place. I particularly love bits of dialogue or narrative from classic fiction -- or quotes from classic authors. That's where the titles for the Show Me a Hero collection came from, as well as my short story, "The Divine Nimbus." (Yes, I'm a snob, I know.) Other than that, I love to reference song lyrics, old movies, and that sort of thing. Song lyrics inspired the stories "Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too" and "Said the Joker to the Thief." At other times, I'll have a bit of dialogue in my head or a bit or description that is the kernel that triggered the book idea, and the title will come from that, such as "There's Always a Woman Involved," the story I wrote for Armless O'Neil. Or, for Rick Ruby stories I like for the title to drive the plot of the story in unexpected ways, almost like subtle hints to the mystery ("Die Giftig Lilie" or "the deadly lily"; "A Tree Falls in a Forest" for the death of a black musician in the 1930s).
Alan J. Porter: Title ideas come from all sorts of places but usually outside the story, phrases I’ve read, song or movie titles, or even overheard snatches of conversation.
Jerry Motyka: Songs, movies, books, everywhere. Sometimes from inside the story. I just wrote a fantasy horror short story ( words) about the Mary Celeste and the song "Home By The Sea" (by Genesis).
Do you find it easier to write once you have a title? Or does it not matter to you? Are the story and title symbiotic for you as you write or can they be separated?
Kay Iscah: I believe book titles, like book cover,s are more about marketing and helping the book find its audience. As such, it's often the last element to really be settled, but it does help having a title to connect the story notes and ideas together. There is something about having a title that feels right,t which makes the project a little more tangible and exciting. In a sense, it's like naming your children. How they grow infuses meaning into the name. Sometimes they grow up and reject the name you chose for them. Other times it seems to embody them well.
Sara Freites Scott: Yes, for me, the title helps remind me where I’m going with the story. The story and the title definitely have to go together for me, or else it will not feel “right.”
John Hartness: Titles are a marketing thing that I come up with at the end, and they're mutable until the book is published. They're not a part of the story to me, they're a way to get eyes on the story.
Sean Hillman: It does not entirely matter, but I usually get a title first.
Sean Taylor: Like I responded above, I often can't write the story without the title to drive me. Not only that, I've also been known to make mock covers to help me stay focused on the story. They're totally symbiotic for me. My titles only change if something changes in the story to precipitate that change.
Bobby Nash: I don’t think it makes a difference to me. My focus is on writing the story. If the story changes or the title needs to be tweaked, then I do that. I can write a book with a temp title.
John Morgan Neal: As I mentioned above it does help focus on the project. But nothing is set in stone until the writing is done. I've changed titles. Heck, I like making titles. So, sometimes a better one will occur during the process. Sometimes I like the title to fit the story but nowhere are the words in the title in the story. I learned that from Michael Nesmith song titles. I think that's nifty keen.
Alan J. Porter: I like to start any piece of writing with two things in place - a working title, and an only line description of what the piece is about (not the plot, but what’s the theme.) They provide a constant reference point as the piece develops. As these are working titles I will occasionally (but not often) go back and revise the title once the piece is finished.
Brian K Morris: Once I have a title, I often have a plot to go along with it. And when I have a story idea, the plot will often follow before I reach the end of the tale (sometimes not too far from that point). I don't always need a title to write a story, but I need that idea to propel my writing, which often generates the title.
As long as I have a story in mind, how I get it matters little, until I'm inspired to contribute to such fine, fine blogs as this and I share my process, such as it is.
Jerry Motyka: It honestly doesn't matter. Sometimes they are symbiotic, sometimes parasitic, other times they are monolithic. Thumtimes they are jutht thilly.
Venessa Giunta: I think the stress of figuring out the title lifts once I have one. That will help with story-writing just from a mental health standpoint, but for me, they're not connected in regards to the actual creation process.
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