Here’s guest blogger Dorothy Ann Skarles with some: Title Tips
Whether or not you write an article, a book, or a memoir, they will all need a title.
Some titles are so important they become famous.
The novel Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell is a name not only known in Europe but the United States—an American Classic.
A killer title is worth the time it takes to create, so here are some title tips to follow.
I draw on a wide range of sources to compose a title. I try to use a blend of imagination together with inventiveness, because I know an appealing title will often determine if my article, book, or memoir is read. It is the first thing a person sees that says a story is worth reading or buying.
A jump start in helping this author find titles is searching through several books in my office.
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, The Book of Proverbs, Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and my favorite, Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus.
There are many unique ways to find a title designed to capture a reader’s attention or curiosity.
A novel by Toni Morrison titled, Song of Solomon, achieved recognition from the Bible. Out of the nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty came All the Kings Men, by Robert Pen Warren. Not sure, if the authors were helped by their titles to win their Nobel Prize and Pulitzer, but even if it did not, a killer title out of the Bible or a nursery rhyme would put me in good company.
There are times I even twist a familiar phrase to get a title such as “Loser Takes All” instead of “Winner Takes All.” Then there is John Steinbeck’s novel, Winter of Discontent, with a little twist it becomes, A Marriage of Discontent.
Friends who do poetry and have rhythm in their writing words are also good sources to ask for ideas.
Once I think of a brief title, I put a search engine to work on the Internet to see how popular each single or combination of words come up for me to title the cover of a book.
Since titles are not copyrighted, I suppose I can use Gone with the Wind, but I would hope my common sense would say, “No way, Jose. I want my own American Classic.”
My question to both readers and writers is:
How would you go about finding ideas for a title?
Dorothy, what great information on how to choose a title for a book. Clever, but then I always knew you were. bernadine
Greetings from Finland. This blog is a fun, through access to other countries, people, culture and nature. Come see Teuvo pictures on my blog. Tell your friends why he must visit Teuvo pictures on my blog. Therefore, to obtain your country's flag rise higher Teuvo blog pictures of the flag collection. Have a wonderful weekend Teuvo Vehkalahti Finland
Yes, Dorothy, titles are so important and so hard. John Steinbeck's second wife came up with some of his great titles, many of which came from the Bible (East of Eden) or Shakespeare (Winter of Our Discontent). Bartlett's is my favorite for title help, but I do struggle with them. Nice post. Food for thought.
Dorothy. I've found the same goes for blog post titles. Sometimes I write an article I'm proud of, with a mediocre title and it doesn't end up attracting many readers. Then I'll write something I consider mediocre, but with a great title, and many… readers drop in and comment. Yesterday a guest speaker at "e-women network" said that she studies magazine covers for titles and then sees if any could be tweeked to fit her blog articles. Magazines pay big bucks for people to come up with article titles to attract readers, she said, so why not learn from them?See More
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike.
Thanks Bernadine for the nice comment. I hope my title tips help you with your writing.
Hello Teuvo from California USA. I enjoyed your pictures of the birds and rivers of snow and ice. It reminded me of my grandfather who cut ice in the winter for the ice house. I even fell through when I didn't get off the ice fast enough when it cracked. Thank you Finland, it was a joy to hear from you so far away.
Hi Rosi, I'd be interested to know how you get your titles for the books you write. It takes me a long time to think of one and I keep writing titles down until I find one I like. Sometimes even a headline in a Newspaper will help. Thanks for the comment.
Margaret, I think your blog titles are good. But for me, my own blog titles need a lot of work. You are the editor that helps me a lot.