Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Naming your Work

You have been laboring over your writing for days, months and even years but you have finally finished it. Now you have to decide what to name it. You want it to be something classy that will jump up and take people’s notice. Unfortunately, all the good titles have been used. So how do you come up with a title that will grab your readers’ interest, be memorable and fit your story?

The first thing you need to do is brainstorm. Sit down and try and think of as many words or phrases as you can that come into your mind while you are thinking about your book. Make sure you write them all down, no matter how stupid or lame your think they might be. Once you have finished writing them down, look them over again and see if anything else comes to mind. Then take the list and talk to a friend or family member and ask them for help.

Have the friends or family members read through you list and even if they haven’t read your book, have them pick out the words or phrases that jump out at them. This will help you narrow down the field and work on coming up with the phrase that will finish off your work. You also will want to ask them any words or phrases that come to mind for them when they read over your list. They might come up with the word or phrase that is exactly what you are looking for.

You have created your list and had it either embellished or diminished with the help of family and friends, now you need to decide which phrase or word best describe your masterpiece. Which entry on your list jumps out at you? Once you have decided put it aside for a couple of days and then come back to it. If the word still jumps out at you and you still like it that just might be the title you were looking for. Try it out on different people, see if they like it, but ultimately the title of your work comes to you. You have to decide which phrase or word is the title that finishes off your work to perfection.

2 comments:

morgetron said...

I have found that when I am writing something, or immediately after I write something a title usually emerges. I have tried starting with a title and it never sticks. It always changes by the time it's over. I have always believed that my writing names itself.

;)

fangers said...

Sometimes the title tells me a story, and sometimes a story tells me a title.