Last night I had a dream about origami. I know, it’s not the
normal sort of dream, but in my dream, all the folded cranes and coy and
samurai hats were full sized and battling each other. It was an origami riot.
And I was struck by how great of a title that would be.
Yeah, I know, I’m really tired and sitting in the tire shop, just go with it.
The real question that got me going is why?
I mean, I suck at titles. I’m really good at the straight
forward titles, but the really good titles… yeah, nothing. Origami Riot is a
great title for what was happening because those two words paint the whole
picture. You can see what that story is about.
But how do you describe an 80,000 word book in a title?
I guess the best advice is to capture a sense of the book in
the title. Is it funny? Then the title should have humor. Is it filled with
horror? Then the title should be dark. Outrageous book? Outrageous Title.
Ah, but a word of caution: Titles shouldn’t sound like a gimmick.
Just imagine what that says about your story. If the title is a gimmick, then
is the whole book a gimmick? So yeah gimmicks should be avoided.
This is something I’m terrible at, so let me know: are
titles easy peasy for you, or do you sweat over them? What’s your trick?
