Well, I always have this problem, I can never think of a good title. Right now, I'm working on something (no one gets to read it until I'm a lot further!!!) and it doesn't have a title. I would like to have something to call it, right now I simply have it saved under the main character's name, Colette Einsley.

So, how do all of you think of a title? Is there anything in particular that inspires you or is it off the top of your head?

I usually give it a title that is either in the story already or what something in the story reminds me of. Say it's about an apple I might call it The Ruby Fruit.

You know that's a good question. I've got one completed story and two in prog...and they all have titles...but how did I come up with them?

The first one was simple. It covered, basically what the story was about. "Wolf Brothers" It was short and to the point. The second book to that is called "Fighting Chance" I don't know how I got that one.

I guess I just think of it as a song. Picture it in my head and then work out different title names..lol but that's just me and I'm crazy. n_n;;

Ok, I see where both of you are coming from. Titles just elude me for some reason. Maybe I'll find a good one when I get a bit further...

I'm sure you will. Sometimes I won't have a title until I finish something. That's usually poetry though.

You know what else...I forgot to say something n_n;;

Where ever or whatever you find inspiration in turn to that too. Usually that'll do the trick too...

Originally Posted by Rhea Nicola

Well, I always have this problem, I can never think of a good title. Right now, I'm working on something (no one gets to read it until I'm a lot further!!!) and it doesn't have a title. I would like to have something to call it, right now I simply have it saved under the main character's name, Colette Einsley.

So, how do all of you think of a title? Is there anything in particular that inspires you or is it off the top of your head?

It's very rare that an author gets to title their own story if it's going to be published, so, I don't usually name my stories. I hope to be published one day, so I never really bother to title them. But, I do like to think of names for them. Right now, I title most my work " -insert character's name- Story"

@Clair Voyant: I don't particularly want to get it published but I would like to post it on FictionPress eventually.

Oo! I wanna help. ^^

The last time I named a story was like in 7th grade. xDD I'm in 8th grade now. Anyways....

I always look at books I'm reading and tend to notice now it's titled.

The most recent book I read is <u>To Kill a Mocking Bird</u> Most good books are titled in this way...

What they basically do is find the point of the story that is most important...like the meaning of the story, and basically but it in a metaphoric phrase...or whatever it's called.

Like there is another book I'm reading right now. xDD It's by Agatha Christie, and it's called the <u>Sad Cypress</u>. It's about a love triangle, and one of the girls gets shot. And blah, blah, blah. Anyways, it is called the <u>Sad Cypress</u> because there is a quote from William Shakespeare, which I happen to forget...I do not have the book with me right now. And the quote basically correlates with the book, so that's why it got its title.

I hope that helps! =]

Well, usually I myself have themes behind my stories and I use that. Aside from that, I'm the least helpful.

I never thought about that really. When I was younger my English teacher once gave us a list of titles for homework and said we had to write a story to one of them. They were really simple things, but the only one I can remember is "The Fire". Before that I never really titled my stories. Ever since I've done pretty much the same thing. Used a very simple translation of the idea to form a title and write the story around that.

Say I wanted to write about something very common, but I wanted to use tension and surprise. A spooky house is common with tension of surprises. So I named the story "The spooky house" and built it up from there.

I did an assignment sort of like that, but it was called 'The Door'. There's one you can read called 'The Yellow Wallpaper', and it's HELLA creepy.

Most of the time I write the story and then I go back and see if there is anything that really stands out (this could be a name, a place, a line) and then I just add that as the title.

Most of the time, there is a word, or a unifying item/theme that I use.

I've got a few stories;
Chaos - A character has a 'nickname' that means this in a round-about way. And, throughout it, it has a lot of havoc; or Chaos.
Wishing Well - The main character is in a way 'locked' in a well. Of course, he's hopeful to get out, and whatnot.
Experiment - This is actually an 'experiment' story that I'm testing, and the story focuses around a group of medical experiments.

I also be sure to keep them short. You don't need a paragraph-long title.

I usually give it a name after it's written but until then I give it a working title. Usually the title is something that stands in line with the story itself, the genre it's written in and relates to the main character.

I have trouble with titles as well. Most of the time I will just call name it after the character or race that I've created for the story. My latest working title is The Lost Race of Almorah...I'll probably change that because the race isn't really lost, it's just in hiding. So yeah. I need to work on titles myself.
Just keep writing, sooner or later some inspiration will hit you and you'll get a title. That's usually what happens to me.

I give them really weird names that have a vague connection to the plot, haha.

I just give things titles I like. Example: Card House Rape, the title came about because I wanted the word card. I sat and stared and thought 'what word would make people stare at the title and think WTF MATE. Then go and see what the hell it's a title for!' So I added rape, knowing people would think the title unusual. But Card Rape didn't sound right, and I thought 'what goes with the word card . . . ' and house came to mind. BAM I had a title!

Others I simple made up, because I liked the sound of it. [Fagera] [Matona] [Arketure].

For the most part I simple make shit up. If it has anything to do with the story or not! Doesn't matter to me. Card House Rape had NOTHING what so ever to do with the story (actually role play but same different).

There's a little exercise we did in English back in freshman year of high school. Starting with the full story you write a paragraph or two summarizing what the story/writing peice is about. Then you cut that down to three sentences that summarize that. Then just one sentence. Then three words.
It's a good way to find the underlying theme, or just good words that describe the story.

Most of my stories are short and absurd, with almost arbitrary titles that I chose mostly because the words sound nice together. But I write more plays. Which don't often get to the point of gaining titles if they suck. The ideas I finish in playwriting usually come to me as a whole. Theme/plot/title together.

Sometimes I come up with the title before the story. I use sort of high-concept "artsy" titles, generally long and intriguing, because I write to submit to competition and if you have an interesting title then you catch the judge's interest right from the start.

Occasionally my titles have absolutely nothing to do with the play.

I actually don't like using titles to summarize a story. I think resonance is more important than information, especially since published works often have summaries on the inside of the book jacket anyway. A title that sticks in the memory not only leaves an impression, but has its uses as a covert marketing tool. Metaphors and allusions to legend or famous poetic works are my favorite kinds of titles.

It's true that authors rarely have a choice in their works' final titles, though. You can offer ideas, but editors often want to change them to make books more marketable.

Hmm, I'm thinking of the titles of past stories I've written... and most of them are what the story's about.
One was about a boy who had a silverfish in his brain that was making him sort of go crazy at times.... that one was called Silverfish.
There was one about an apocalyptic storm. That was called The Storm.
And the one I'm writing now is based around this virtual reality simulator called the Virtral. So the story is called Virtral.
I'm not very creative, am I? XDD

While choosing a title, think about the most important thing you wrote about in the story. Is it one character, his/her relationship, attributes, maybe one or more events or anything like that. Then try to find a catchy way to phase it, most not more than 4 words because otherwise it looks so long and might lose interest.
You can always use non-English (or whatever language you're writing in) words, it would create some interest but most probably since people didn't understand what it says, it wouldn't be as effective as a meaningful title.
There are also some very cliche titles, try to get away from them; many people wouldn't even read your summary if your title is like that.

I know exactly how you feel. I sometimes have a hard time naming my stories as well.

I've found I use two ways of giving my stories titles. The first is taking a central theme of the story (ie: a name of the school that characters all meet at, a glass mask, etc) and use that. The second has been a recurring theme of titles from songs that I'm listening to while I write. So, things like Libra, Ibitsu, Ghost, etc. ended up becoming titles for several of my stories.

The titles for my works usually come about after many months of reflection and one or two other working titles. Oftentimes, though, they start out with really stupid names I settle for just so I know what to call it. And half of the time I refer to them by setting or some plot point because I dislike using the working title.

But at some point, I usually figure out something that would work given the subject matter and what not.