How do you name your stories?

[rdhopeca]

Hey there,

I'm struggling to give a true name to the story I am putting the finishing touches on KW Anthology 4. I've had several different names but none seem right to me.

How do you generally go about naming your works?

[aliantha]

It varies. Sometimes I start with the title. Sometimes it suggests itself to me along the way. Sometimes I just label the darn thing with something not-too-lame in the hopes that I'll think of something better later.

None of which helps you, I bet. Sorry...

[Demondime-a-dozen-spawn]

I generally start with a title and hope to wrap a story around it. It's easier than it looks. Sometimes it takes two or three or ten different wrappings though.

But one or two of those wrappings becomes a differently titled story in its own right. Then, one of Aliantha's methods comes into play. Titles suggest themselves along the way.

[wayfriend]

IMO, the only guideline to use when choosing a title is picking something that will make the potential reader interested in reading. And not being the title of something else. So two guidelines. Something interesting, and something not used by something else. And something which is relevant to the story. So three...

[aliantha]

You forgot the almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, WF.

[rdhopeca]

Thanks for the suggestions. During a re-read I found something a character said and came up with "The Blood of Your Brethren." Seems to fit, and not too specific.

[Demondime-a-dozen-spawn]

Good title.

-----

No character of mine will ever utter such drivel.

[Avatar]

I almost always make something that actually appears in the text the title. (As you've done.) It's a lot easier for poetry though.

--A

[rdhopeca]

No character of mine will ever utter such drivel.

You don't even know what the character said.

[wayfriend]

Like it. Would like it better without the "Your", not because it's extraneous, but because "Your Brethren" is somewhat tongue-tying.

Four things!

[Worm of Despite]

Titles I'm proud of:

Heaven's Center
Fear of God
The Infinite Truth
Flat Earth
The New World
The Transient
Adrift
Scatterbrain (zombie story)
2014 (worst-case economic scenario)

Heaven's Center and Fear of God are without a doubt my favorite story titles, as they're perfect for the story, nice to read and pretty damn sinister (Heaven's Center is set two years after total nuclear annihilation, where men go up in oxygen suits to gather resources and the world is covered in pitch-black, wind, and lightning; Fear of God is about an insane man who crafts a cult of personality in the ruins of Salt Lake City, calling himself God).

Infinite Truth I've always liked for some reason. Not sure where I got it. Flat Earth is the overall book's title (and the title of its last part), and it also has a non-literal, double-meaning. The only one I remember coming to me is The New World. It's the part of the novel where a civilian takes a hallucinogen right before a nuke hits his town. Lots of surreal imagery and flattened cityscape.

It was early 2006, March, and because I was going to England and Italy in the summer, my grandmother bought a clear shower curtain with a map of the world on it. She's hilarious sometimes! I was standing in the shower, trying to think of a title for this upfront and brutal story that peels the reality and security off the world, when I looked at the name of the curtain's map: "The New World". So that was that. It had a promise in it, an almost sarcastic gibe to it.

[sgt.null]

i usually wake up screaming the title...

no - actually a phrase will occur to me during the writing, sometimes before the writing. and sometimes after.

hope that helps