How do you give titles to your novel?

[Guest]

Hello there, a quick question. How do you give titles to your novel?

[Amy]

May sound silly, but for my last two mystery novels, the titles came to me while I was listening to a local classic rock station. "On a Dark Deadly Highway" was a spin on the first line of "Hotel California" by the Eagles (and fit the storyline perfectly!) and "In the Heat of the Moment" came from the Asia song "Heat of the Moment" and also fit the plotline perfectly!

[Aria]

There are a few general rules. Memorable, easy to spell, ideally not too long, check what other books have the same title and ideally use something original. Your title has to reflect at least one thing about the book. It can be about the story line, your character, a focus idea or even the genre. Most of all, don’t let anyone else choose the title for your book. Use the advice to inspire you but ultimately, you want it to be your own. After you went through the blood and sweat of the writing process, you must treat yourself with your own title.

[Del]

For my Jack the Ripper book my detective hears voices in his head so I called it WHISPERS IN THE WIND and subtitled it The Search for Jack the Ripper. In my new private detective series, I titled the first one very simply -- INTRODUCING FELIX NASH.

[Craig]

I start with a story idea. A germ of an idea. Then I craft a title that is exciting to me and not like every other title I have seen. Something that encompasses that idea. Then I craft the story from that title. Very seldom does the title change from that point.

[Candilyn]

I think of the themes or reoccurring ideas or subjects of the book and make a list of all possible options, even titles that may sound lame. Get the ideas rolling. I like playing around with common sayings as well.

[Darrin]

There is no single method. Throughout the writing process, I usually leave it untitled until an idea jumps out and grabs hold of me.

[Muhammad]

You could name it after the main character. Or the main conflict that it's centered on (e.g, hunger games). Or you could name it after the moral you're trying to give. E.g, if it's about forgiveness, love, etc. then name it something that alludes to those things.

[Wayne]

Sometimes the title comes easy, based on the location, or what happens in the story. Other times, I may hear a phrase and find a way to incorporate it into the dialogue, so I can pluck it out to use as the title. For example, I had a character going deep into the Australian Outback. I had heard the expression "The Back of Beyond" and liked it, so I had a character mention that they were going to the back of beyond, then used it as my title.

[Amrita]

It depends on the concept of your book

[Jay]

Many writers choose a quotation from the accumulated world literature that particularly inspires them and then lift a phrase from that quotation as their book title. This is one of the most common practices you see in studying literature to the phd level at universities. It seems an easy way of tying your contribution to another body work you admire.