My first novel, a middle grade adventure,
started out as Fire Walker. I thought
the title was punchy, enticing and reflected a theme in the story. My workshop tutors
and peers liked it, as did everyone else I told about it. But then my agent,
Sallyanne Sweeney, pitched the novel to editors and received feedback that the
title made it sound like a fantasy, which it wasn’t.
So
I went back to my notebook and brainstormed new ideas. I decided on Meet Me at the Vulture Tree. Sallyanne tested
it on a few people and the response this time was that it sounded too grown up,
like a book for adults and not for middle grade.
I
felt unsure of where to go from there, so Sallyanne helped me pull lines from
the story that could be potential titles. For one draft, the book was called How to be a Snow Lion. By the next draft
it became When the Flames Roared,
then Mapping the Stars, before On the Roof of the World.
It
quickly felt like I had a different title every few days and I didn’t know how
to choose between them. I sent Sallyanne a list of my favourites and she suggested
adding a verb in front of On the Roof of
the World. My main character opens the story running through fields on the
Tibetan plateau, and Running on the Roof
of the World suddenly felt like the perfect fit. It seemed as if it had
always existed, fully formed and just waiting to be discovered.
I’ve just finished my second book and am now
searching for its title too. For anyone else also going through this process, these suggestions are helping me:
1.
Unless you know it’s perfect, try
not to grow too attached to a title as the chances are it will change.
2.
Wander around libraries and
bookshops to get a feel for the titles that are out there. What hooks you? What
doesn’t?
3.
Are there any lines/words/phrases
from the story itself that would make a good title?
4.
What are the themes of the book?
Are there any key words from them that could be incorporated into the title?
5.
Are there geographical
landmarks, like mountains or deserts, that could be suggested by the title?
6.
Could it be a character? Or an antagonist’s
trait?
7.
Does your title reflect the
genre of the book?
8.
Will it appeal to your intended
readership?
Happy title hunting!
Jess Butterworth
@j_t_butterworth
7 comments:
Excellent post, Jess! I find that titles either come to me immediately (though that's quite rare!) or take forever as I make lists and lists of possible ideas. I love your suggestion that the right one is waiting in the ether to be found - must remember that next time!
I've always thought it was toss-up whether endings or titles were the bigger b**ch. Well done on finding yours, Jess.
That's a really useful list, Jess - thanks - and your eventual title is fabulous!
Thanks, Lynne! It's reassuring to hear that they can sometimes come to you immediately, as I embark on the list stage! Fingers crossed!
Thanks, Susan! I agree, endings can be tricky too.
Thanks, Joan!
Great tips, Jess. And your title sings! I read entire anthologies of WW1 poetry to try to find a new one on advice from my editor, then stumbled across the latest (hopefully final) title in a book I was reading for an entirely different story.
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