Titles (2 Viewers)

[Emph]

What titles are you all playing around with?

So far I have...

* Unvanquished and Unyielding
* Life by Water. Death by Water

 

[orange_blob]

'Twas originally called The Crowd but as of two weeks ago is currently called Freedom. I'm sure it will change again.

 

[passion89]

I can't think of one - it's so hard! The title is by far the hardest bit :mad1:

 

[jhakka]

And if you need one the next day, the name of your main character can always be used.

 

[glitterfairy]

I can't think of one - it's so hard! The title is by far the hardest bit :mad1:

I find with titles that I personally like them to reflect the spirit of the work. It can be a phrase, a quote, VERY short summary of underlying concept/main concept etc.

An exercise which you might find useful is this:

In two minutes, write a list of words which you feel somehow relate to your Major Work. Say I was writing about a boy who reads a newspaper - you might have "glasses", "eyesight", "paper", "papercut", "bored", "annoyed", whatever. You can also use places, names, events... really anything that comes to mind/you think are important.

Next, join a couple of these words using joiners like "and", "from" and "to" etc etc

From these lines normally you can get inspiration for other phrases/quotes etc, which can become a title

 

[jhakka]

Is it directly related to your story?

I always thought Untitled was quite deep.

 

[Emph]

Is it directly related to your story?

I always thought Untitled was quite deep.

very deep indeed

 

[nwatts]

I'll often title pieces with a quote from the text. Elaborate and mystical titles wreak of pretentiousness.

 

[bigwillz]

Elaborate and mystical titles wreak of pretentiousness.

AMEN! pretentious titles make both me and markers vomit violently all over the works. Think, these people have been marking major works for years. They see it every year, "johhny Mc-year-twelve thinks he has gone through the looking glass and been ordained high priest of social commantary and philisophical issues, all in 8000 words, isnt johhny clever!" WRONG! johhny is a self important wanna be literary master who thinks an ambigiously fashionable title is going to make up for the collective drawl of his otherwise amaturish kiddy tale. *ZERO'ED!*

 

[jhakka]

AMEN! pretentious titles make both me and markers vomit violently all over the works. Think, these people have been marking major works for years. They see it every year, "johhny Mc-year-twelve thinks he has gone through the looking glass and been ordained high priest of social commantary and philisophical issues, all in 8000 words, isnt johhny clever!" WRONG! johhny is a self important wanna be literary master who thinks an ambigiously fashionable title is going to make up for the collective drawl of his otherwise amaturish kiddy tale. *ZERO'ED!*

Haha. That made me laugh.

 

[kami]

I'll often title pieces with a quote from the text. Elaborate and mystical titles wreak of pretentiousness.

Or if not a quote, a reference to a character or event can be nice, for example D & L Eddings' Malloreon is a reference to the continent it takes place in(Malorrea). Its simple and it works well when you consider one of the underlying aims of the book is to expand boundaries.

 

[AsyLum]

Just work on this theory:

Pick every 5th word from your first paragraph

 

[nwatts]

Haha I just did that with a few pieces.
"Past 6-o-clock the days showers enigmatic thud it's happening." sounds a bit stream-of-consciousnessy. Or another, "On an electric slide the seat be blue." sounds surprisingly coherent.

Asy's found a winnner.

 

[Emph]

Pick every 5th word from your first paragraph

Dearest I feel another terrible voice

 

[Neea]

I don't know if this title will do justice to my plot, but I wanted something simple, something that captures the eye: It's all about me.
Does that sound lame?

 

[nwatts]

I don't know if this title will do justice to my plot, but I wanted something simple, something that captures the eye: It's all about me.
Does that sound lame?

Yes.

I thought of a better one for you: "Memoirs of a failed Australia's Next Top Model: I should have won, you fascist bitches."

 

[Emph]

Is your protagonist self-righteous and hedonistic?

 

[The Card Cheat]

That's Entertainment.

I thought of my title before I thought of the actual storyline, luckily my story fits with the title.

 

[AsyLum]

Hmm, cliche'd stuff seems to be a minus in this subject

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I love coming up with titles.

99% of the time I come up with it only after the story is finished, so as to reflect the underlying theme.