It's Guest Blog Friday, and here's Dorothy Ann Skarles with some TITLE TIPS.
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Some titles are so important they become famous.
The novel Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell is a name not only known in Europe but the United States—an American Classic.
A killer title is worth the time it takes to create.
I draw on a wide range of sources to compose a title. I try to use a blend of imagination together with inventiveness, because I know an appealing title will often determine if my article, book, or memoir is read. It is the first thing a person sees that says a story is worth reading or buying.
A jump start in helping this author find titles is searching through several books in my office.
There are many unique ways to find a title designed to capture a reader’s attention or curiosity.
A novel by Toni Morrison titled, Song of Solomon, achieved recognition from the Bible. Out of the nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty came All the Kings Men, by Robert Pen Warren. Not sure, if the authors were helped by their titles to win their Nobel Prize and Pulitzer, but even if it did not, a killer title out of the Bible or a nursery rhyme would put me in good company.
There are times I even twist a familiar phrase to get a title such as “Loser Takes All” instead of “Winner Takes All.” Then there is John Steinbeck’s novel, Winter of Discontent, with a little twist it becomes, A Marriage of Discontent.
Friends who do poetry and have rhythm in their writing words are also good sources to ask for ideas.
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| Photo credit: KW Reinsch |
Once I think of a brief title, I put a search engine to work on the Internet to see how popular each single or combination of words come up for me to title the cover of a book.
Since titles are not copyrighted, I suppose I can use Gone with the Wind, but I would hope my common sense would say, “No way, Jose. I want my own American Classic.”
My question to both readers and writers is:
How would you go about finding ideas for a title?
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Thanks Dorothy!
