Monday, August 22, 2011

Titles, titles, and more titles.

So you write a book, have it critiqued, revise it to death, then spend countless weeks struggling to come up with the perfect title.  Failing to find that perfect set of cover words, you put out a call to your critique partners, hoping they can come up with something awe inspiring.  Alas they do, and you send them many thanks and ship it off, only to be faced with the sudden realization that there is another book (although nothing like yours) with the exact same title.

This is my writing curse. Does it bother me?  Not so much, anymore.  It's happened to me so often that I no longer become attached to any one working title, willing to toss it aside without a thought when my agent suggests something  less abstract. My published friends say that my nonchalant attitude is a good one, that most books go through numerous title changes before they ever hit the shelves.   I am hoping they are right!

As of now, my WIP has gone through four title changes, and I fully anticipate a few more.  How about you? how many title changes do you usually go through before you settle on the perfect one?






15 comments:

  1. I'm not sure. I've stuck to the same title so far, but we shall see.

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  2. Possibly because I've been published by small publishers, I've only one change made to a title. It does take me a while to settle on a title, but I do a Google search before settling on one.

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  3. I WANT someone to find a title for me as I am horrible at it. I always title everything (essays, novels, lists) after they're written, hoping that a bolt of inspiration will hit and give me the perfect title. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes it doesn't, but I try.

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  4. I usually have a rough draft title and keep it to the end, then I'll concentrate on that.

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  5. Not as many as you. Lol I'm not too attached to them either though.

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  6. This happened to me. I had a short story published, a day later I came across a novel with the same title. ooops.

    I usually like to have a rubbish title from the onset, then the real one emerges from the story.

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  7. I'm not married to any of my titles...especially the WIP that is currently unnamed. I just hope to someday have a publisher who wants to change my title!

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  8. I'm never confident in my titles, so I'm always secretly happy when I have to change it.

    I'm a fellow campaigner in your YA group. Excited to see you around!

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  9. Most of my books have a title I'd like to keep. But some I'd happily trade for something better!

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  10. Hi Trisha! I'm a fellow campaigner in your Dystopia group. Good to meet you!

    Also, the link on Rach's list isn't working. I think you might have put your blog address in wrong.

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  11. I've come to say hello to a fellow campaigner too, and Jen's right, you have a dot missing, but hey I have a screw loose so that should make us friends :)

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  12. A lot! Titling my work is my weakness. Good for you for being so calm about it!

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  13. So far, I haven't had the publishing experience, so couldn't answer that, but I do try to search out possible titles to make sure they don't pop up anywhere first. Doesn't matter if it's someone else about to be published, though, eh?

    Fellow campaigner!

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  14. I'm a title freak. One of my crit partners gave me ta name I really want to stick with on my current book.

    Nice blog you have!

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