forum Story titles

Started February 10, 2018 by @idiotauthor

tune

What do you guys do to name your stories? I feel like I can never find a perfect title for mine, and was wondering if it's super hard for everyone, and if you guys had any resources or strategies for story naming.

i sometimes tend to think of titles before i even write the story (in which case i write the story to match the title). the titles of my trilogy - the fallen star, the last star, and the rising star - are all actually very symbolic of the main characters.

if i can't think of a title, i'll usually pick something in the story and try to make a title from that. realms of day and night (which might change) came about because that's simply what the story is about (two realms where one is always in day and one is always in night). the master came about because that's the name of the main antagonist.

i love thinking of titles so if you need help, let me know!

I keep lists of titles I think sound pretty neat, along with cool quotes from past figures, phrases that really resonate with me from open source books, etc., so I always have titles to choose from ^^; (that, and I can sit all day clicking through generators if I need to until something close to what I want pops up.)

Oh my goodness @Cami you should read "The Day Boy and the Night Girl" by George MacDonald. It's a fairy tail. :D Your two realms thing reminded me of it. Here you go, it's old enough to be in the public domain: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/macdonald/daynight/files/daynight.html

I love that story…

Ahem, but anyway, titles were always hard for me, too. I usually like titles that don't sound cheesy, but at the same time haven't been done before. It's tough. Usually I think it makes sense to take a name or place or something from the story and make it the title, as long as it has importance to the plot.

Titles are hell. I usually just write until I think of something cool that goes along with the story. Mine is "Fracture".

I write down titles I think of just "in passing". A song title that sparks one. Lyrics. A movie scene. Something I read.
For instance, my main WIP is called ESCAPE the STORM. In this case, I think it has two meanings: Get out of the nasty weather, and get away from the bag home situation.

It depends on the story. I've come up with dozens of titles from everyday life, and I hope to write stories that match up a few of them.

Do you need help with a title? Do you have a summary you can share?
If you need my email for that let me know. :)