I'm in the midst of the Great Title Debate. (Or trying to put off cleaning a house, which considering this last week I've done very little but write and play with the kids, is in an interesting state.)
Having my manuscript in a (semi) finished state I'm second guessing all the details. Of which the title is the biggest.
What's in a title? How much depends on it? How much should you disclose of the contents of the novel in a title - or should it just sound interesting and different? And how different can it sound when there are already so many millions of books out there!
Sigh.
So far with this book, a young adult fantasy adventure, I've gone through a multitude of various titles.
South Sea Secrets (& the variant South Sea Magic) when I was taking it in a different, doomed, direction.
Guardians of the Lands of Lost Lore,
Gatekeepers of the Lands of Lost Lore,
A Gratitude of Dragons,
Scheherezade's Legacy,
The Storyteller's Legacy,
Nell in the Lands of Lost Lore,
An Emporium Sisters Escapade, Book One, Spice, (Okay, I was getting desperate)
The Phoenix Feather
and the current title Dragons' Nests and Fire Berries which I only changed back to very late last night, although it means I need to beef up the role of the fireberries. Okay. Add them in from the side notes. I suggested to my Beloved that I use Dragons' Nests and Fire Birds, as there is a central phoenix, but he said it wasn't as catchy. Is he right? And I recently added a werewolf element in... should I try to use that?
Anyone got any ideas? As you can see, I'm still floundering...
Having my manuscript in a (semi) finished state I'm second guessing all the details. Of which the title is the biggest.
What's in a title? How much depends on it? How much should you disclose of the contents of the novel in a title - or should it just sound interesting and different? And how different can it sound when there are already so many millions of books out there!
Sigh.
So far with this book, a young adult fantasy adventure, I've gone through a multitude of various titles.
South Sea Secrets (& the variant South Sea Magic) when I was taking it in a different, doomed, direction.
Guardians of the Lands of Lost Lore,
Gatekeepers of the Lands of Lost Lore,
A Gratitude of Dragons,
Scheherezade's Legacy,
The Storyteller's Legacy,
Nell in the Lands of Lost Lore,
An Emporium Sisters Escapade, Book One, Spice, (Okay, I was getting desperate)
The Phoenix Feather
and the current title Dragons' Nests and Fire Berries which I only changed back to very late last night, although it means I need to beef up the role of the fireberries. Okay. Add them in from the side notes. I suggested to my Beloved that I use Dragons' Nests and Fire Birds, as there is a central phoenix, but he said it wasn't as catchy. Is he right? And I recently added a werewolf element in... should I try to use that?
Anyone got any ideas? As you can see, I'm still floundering...
I actually like Dragon Nests and Fire Birds...then again, I'm a bit of a dork and I like the sort of musical overtones of that. Guardians of anything is a little too reminiscent of that owl movie, I think. Or of the Kingdom Keepers novels about DisneyWorld. Both of which are wonderful, but probably not exactly where you're going.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I also really like South Sea Secrets. lol.
In terms of what would make me want to read the book, my third choice would be The Storyteller's Legacy. It also depends for me on the cover art, though...
So...I'm not helpful. :-)
Thankyou, Teri! That is helpful - I'm glad you like the Dragon's Nest bit... and I do like the Firebirds (the Firebird is favourite character...) -so... definitely something I'll be thinking on! ... Musical overtones... hm...
ReplyDeleteI like "Pheonix Feather". It is also really popular at the moment to have a name title. Simply "Nell" or "Nell: an emporium sisters Novel".
ReplyDeleteNell:an Emporium Sisters Novel would be an idea - although that would leave a lot up to the cover art to get the type of book it is across.. and what if they stuff up! People buying the book expecting lots of shopping might be perplexed with the other-world adventure! I do like it though, and it would make the other books in the series very easy to name...
ReplyDeleteMore things to ponder on! Thankyou!
I like Scheherezade (tho I can't spell it) ... also Gatekeepers.. also Phoenix feather. I'd avoid dragons because it gives too much away. You start reading expecting dragons. I prefer the dragon as a surprise
ReplyDeleteI like Scheherezade too (although according to spell check I've spelt it wrong every time!) but I'm worried people won't know who she is! Or maybe it doesn't matter... That's two for the phoenix feather though...
ReplyDelete