What Did You Just Call Me?

Titles.

That one word can cause a tremble of fear in even the most seasoned authors. How do you portray an entire novel in just a few potent words, or better yet, one teeny tiny word? Not only does the title have to represent your story, it has to put on high heels, a short-hemmed skirt, and foot-long fake eyelashes and grab your potential reader's attention. Your title must entice your reader to pick it up and read the book jacket.

Let's face it. We all do it. We browse through titles until one murmurs, "I'm the one you want. You know you want me. Just put your hands on me, pick me up, and check me out."

Coming up with a perfect title can be hard when you're on your own. You may toss ideas around, play around with words, and narrow down the list. The problem here, at least with me, is that you may get stuck in rut, tossing the same words and ideas like dice and keep coming up snake eyes over and over. You get boxed in by the same tired phrases. The sides of the box are so high, you can't climb out, let alone think your way out.

My critique group just went through an title exercise. When one of our members is in a title-tuttle, we all pitch in. We start by throwing key words from the story onto the table (it helps when you have a critique group, or even beta readers, who have all read the story). These can be as many or as few as you want. Sky's the limit. Then we start tying words together into phrases. Don't hold back. Be silly, go way outside the box, be corny. It doesn't matter, because one person's idea just might trigger something in the author's mind. He/she may not choose that exact title, but something someone suggests could be just enough to make that toss of the die come up with something other than snake eyes.

Some people like the idea of physically writing the words down on cards, and re-arranging the cards on the table to see what comes up.

The exercise can be fun and not daunting at all if you don't hold back, give those die a good shake, and let 'em roll.