What's in a title?

[John Dean]

Having just finished my latest novel for The Book Folks, my mind turned to its title. I like to have the title fixed before I start writing, as was the case here, but it is always worth going back to it later on to see if it remains relevant and accurately reflects the story you have created. In this case, Kill Shot fits perfectly.

It’s worth spending time on the title. Yes, the story has to be good but a title, like a good opening line, can do a lot of work for the author when it comes to hooking the reader.

For me, it goes deeper than that. In my mind, the title has to be right for me to feel comfortable with the writing process. If it’s wrong, it nags away until I get it right.

So what does a good title need? Well, I would say some of the below would be a good start. A good title should/could:

* Be easy to remember. Yes, I know there have been successful books with long titles but how many can you name? Go for no more than five words and even then you are pushing it (look at best-selling books and you will not see that many long titles). There are exceptions, I know. The Spy who Came in from the Cold springs to mind but for every long title that sticks in the memory, there‘s an awful lot are lost in a morass of wordiness that readers cannot remember.

* Be appropriate to what you are writing. If it’s a crime novel, for example, it must have the feel of a crime novel. My titles include The Long Dead, Thou Shalt Kill and To Die Alone., No mistaking that they are crime novels. Interestingly, during the writing of The Long Dead, the working title was Ghosts but it suggested a different genre and would have confused the reader. The Long Dead is much better.

* Pose questions. Something that makes you wonder. Taking The Long Dead as an example, who are long dead? Why are they long dead? How did they die? If they are long dead, why do we care now? In another case, I wrote a novel called The Secrets Man. Whose secrets? Why is he their custodian? Questions, always questions.

* Or maybe go for a name of a person  - think Harry Potter or Angela’s Ashes. Or maybe a place. Think Northanger Abbey. Or a thing - Diamonds are Forever.

As with everything in writing, there are no golden rules other than, if it works, go for it.