![]() I HATE opening my manuscript called "Untitled" because it just doesn't seem right. It's like having a baby that's several months old and still calling him "Baby." Come on already! Give the kid a name! I want to give this new work in progress of mine a title and yet, I'm struggling to find one. This is why: Every name I think is perfect for my new book, some other author is already using. Going back to the "Baby" example, I'm one of those people who like their kids to have unique names. I grew up always being referred to as Angela S. because there were other Angela's in my class. I didn't like it. So my three kiddos have some pretty unique names (okay, my oldest's name is not too unique because EVERYONE started naming their kid Caden around that same time). My other two, so far so good. Anyhoo...I don't want to give my book the exact same name as several other books already out on the market. ![]() I actually found a title I loved, taking it from the text in my manuscript, but there just so happens to be one book out there with the same exact title. And since I'm writing a clean romance, having my book titled Sand and Water linked to a male/male romance/erotica book called Sand and Water might not be such a good idea. Had it been about building sandcastles, then maybe I could've gotten away with it. But in this case, where both are in the romance genre, I need to move on and find something else. (Maybe I could just call my book Dirt and H20). So what am I to do? The only thing I can...keep writing my "Untitled" book until another possible title jumps out at me from the text. I've never had this kind of difficulty in titling my books before, so this is new to me. Hopefully a title will show itself soon. I want to have a better connection to the story I'm writing, and for me, a name does just that. How do you go about giving a title to your story? What is your process? Do you struggle or does it just seem to come naturally? Leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.
7 Comments
Carol Fowler
9/27/2013 06:08:09 am
Reverse Sand and Water to Water and Sand. Don't know if that works but to me it sounds ok.
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Angela Scott
9/28/2013 03:13:40 am
Even if I reverse it and make it 'Water and Sand' the other book STILL comes up in the Amazon search. So I'm thinking I'm going to have to keep looking. My publisher is saying no go, so I've got to come up with something different.
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9/27/2013 04:43:10 pm
Titles are always tricky for me. I am lucky that I'm writing mostly short stories right now, so adding "A Short Story" makes the title a little more unique, but it's a cheap trick.
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Angela Scott
9/28/2013 03:18:50 am
Thanks for sharing your process with me. So I'm not alone, huh? For me, most of the time the title just jumps out at me and I've had no problems with it being duplicated by another author out there. But for some weird reason, this particular WIP is being difficult. I think it has to do with jumping into the romance genre. I don't want corny or cutsie, but I do want it to say romance, if that makes sense. I will keep looking and not worry about it too much. A title will come, right? How many books are published without a title? None. (Now I'm curious....I bet someone did publish a book with no title. I'm going to have to go research that :)
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9/28/2013 02:41:33 am
I'm with you. I keep thinking that once I read over my manuscript (I've been reporting and writing a creative nonfiction book for 4 years now, and am about 3/4 done with the first draft), it will come to me. But everything I've thought of up to this point just doesn't seem to do the story justice. So I don't have advice, but I can relate. Much luck to you in your search!
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Angela Scott
9/28/2013 03:20:30 am
We're twins! Okay, we're more like comrades with the same problem :)
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4/14/2014 12:21:10 pm
Normally, I don't have trouble titling things either. It might take a little, teeny tiny bit of brainstorming, but that's it. However, my last NaNo project is being difficult. :/
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