A lot of authors like to use patterns in their titles. An obvious example is Paolini who seems to have a fetish for single word titles beginning with the letter "E."

I have always had a liking for one letter titles, based on books I have written and am working on. Hybrid. Wasteland. Republic. Exile. Zero.

Then today the thought struck me, I don't know how other people see my titles. I've always really liked them, personally. But I'm not sure that a single word title, like "Zero," really grabs people's attention.

Now a poll:
Which title grabs your attention more,
Zero
---or---
Point Zero
---or---
Memory
---or---
Point Blank
---or---
Identity
---or---
Identity Crisis (at the risk of sounding Hollywood-cliche)
---or---
Fallen
---or---
Vanishing Point

Possibly (dare I say probably) none of them grab you. However, I like all of them. Order them, please, in order of likeability.

Of course a valid point is the genre your story belongs to, the kind of story you are telling will affect the likeability of the title, I think. So, for the record, the story in question is a science fantasy on a separate world than earth with its own unique and independent history. There is futuristic technology, mixed in with traces of magic, and the theme of the story is finding and establishing identity.

Zero - nothing there to really sink my teeth into.

---or---

Point Zero - a bit better

---or---

Memory - I'd be expecting some type of memoir or Total Recall type story

---or---

Point Blank - reminds me too much of Gross Pointe Blank or a Bond film.

---or---

Identity - possible

---or---

Identity Crisis (at the risk of sounding Hollywood-cliche)- Sounds like a mid-life crisis novel.

---or---

Fallen - I like this

---or---

Vanishing Point - I like this the best as long as the story some how corresponds to the concept. Also there is a 1971 movie by that name.

Two words can flavor the piece and make it a hundred times more interesting.

Now a single word can have more meaning if I know the genre, so it might work in a magazine that limit's the genre expectations.

I would not read any of those titles, they all looked cliche and boring.

I would probably go with something more like:

Identity Zero

You would not read "Vanishing Point?"

In the last 8 years there have been 6 movies and 3 novels titled "Zero"

I personally don't like anything that sounds cliche, although it can be very appropriate sometimes if it evokes the right feelings. Like a detective novel, or something.

These ones seem cliche:
Point Zero
Point Blank
Vanishing Point

Zero - There are too many possibilities with this title, I think. Zero as a number? Zero as the amount of accomplishment in my life? Zero as in the candy bar? There are so many questions - it evokes no focus or curiosity.

On the other hand, I like titles with zero in it:
Zero for Pritchard (Pritchard isn't getting something that he wants/needs)
Zero Sum Magic (What kind of trade-off am I going to read about?)

Point Zero - Besides being cliche, it makes me think of math.

Memory - Vague, but I'm actually okay with this. It isn't quite as broad as Zero, but it's still pretty broad.

Point Blank - Makes me think of sports or shooting.

Identity - Honestly, I think too many books, movies, stories, etc. try to make a big deal out of "identity." Not that it can't be a great topic. It's just that the title makes me think. "Oh. Another one."

Identity Crisis - Funny that this on is obviously a cliche, but it didn't strike me as one. This still has some of the problems like "Identity." I could see you combining something with it to make it seem different. "Zero Sum Identity," or "Vanishing Identity," or "Crisis without Identity."

Fallen - This comes off as trying to be too big to me. It makes me think of the original fallen angels or the fallen state of *all* mankind. "Identity Falls to Zero" ?? Something with the more active "Falling" might grab me more.

Vanishing Point - Makes me think of a suspense novel. And - as noted above - it sounds very cliche.

Zero lacks something. I immediately thought of a Japanese Zero, the WWII fighter. What is it really about? Though I don't necessarily think it's cliche, it has been used in a lot of titles.

Memory sounds like a kids' game. Maybe that's because I have a few. However, it seems lacking, too.

I agree with kings_falcon about Identity Crisis and Point Blank.

And speaking of evoking images of John Cusack :Identity.

I would like The Fallen better than just Fallen--of course, I have no idea what it is about.

Vanishing Point doesn't even look interesting. It reminds me of perspective drawing, and is the most monotonous part of it.

I don't usually have a problem with one-word titles--or the equivalent beginning with the word the.

Identity is an excellent concept, there is, however, a shortage of words in English to express it. Ipseity, nobody will know what that means, singularity, sounds like star trek, etc, etc.

The trick is having a catchy title that is still true to the story and doesn't reveal any of the twists and turns

I like "Vanishing Point" and "Point Zero". Ditto for everyone who said one-word titles are a no-go or a no-no.

For the record, I agree that the above mentioned titles were pretty cliche. I tend to be drawn to titles that not only catch the eye, but have a deaper meaning and infinite portent to the story. Something like Zero says nothing to me. Now, Ender's Game? That's just brilliant.

Maybe a good source for title-looking would be in reading poetry. Sometimes that *just right* phrasing can trigger that just right title. There's a poem called the Echoing Green - titles like that are just pure music.

I'll take a few stabs here, though goodness knows I have no clue what I'm stabbing at. But might inspire???

Holding Nothing
The House of the Shattered
Breaking the Dawn
The Overquiet Heart
Interline

For me some that just the title not the cover reached out to me are

Princes of the Air
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Cafe on the Nile
Snowblind
The Mamur Zapt and the Donkey Vous (the what and the who? I asked and reached out for the book)
Resonance
Permanence
The Fire Engine That Disappeared
Pushing Ice
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril
Speak of the Devil
Parallel Lies (with a picture of a train track on the cover -- very effective!)

I guess my one reaction is - if one word titles are limiting, two word titles can be too. Don't be afraid of using a longer title if it's meaningful.

And I'd be really suspicious of a title that gave away the secret in a book...maybe the secret/the twist/the fun part wasn't deep enough if it can be given away in a couple word title.

Other random comments - Identity Crisis sounds like contemporary fiction, not necessarily sci fi, though I could be convinced, I agree with others on some of the limitations of the other names. Zero isn't bad, I don't think there's a problem with it...but things like Zero Point or Point Zero - unless there's a geographical landmark called Point Zero featured prominently in the book, well, it seems like a silly string of words together.

Maybe try a mind map: put what is most important to the story in the centre (the main character's anme for exapmle) and around that, any important, relevent or interesting points, plots or names from the story. It worked for me when I was stuck for a title.

I thought "Eragon" and "Eldest" were picked to give the series some sort of identifiable unity in titles.

I've bought a couple of books because the title spoke to me in some way...unfortunately, I can't remember any. Probably it's less important to me than writer's track record or cover art.

I'd go with "Vanishing Point" as the most dynamic of the titles.

I've sometimes (not as much lately) picked out titles by taking down books on my shelves, sticking my finger on a page-at-random, and writing down a list of what's what. Certain, er, writers of flamboyant style have provided the best titles. And they usually stimulate their own ideas. (There's a downside---one title I picked out about twenty-five years before has haunted me, but I've never been able to write more than two pages of the story 'cause it keeps dying on me.)

Maybe Zero has Fallen

Or less likely, but possibly, the Unknown Zero

Zero Unknown?
the Fallen Zero

ideas, thoughts, comments...?

Zerofall

All the way to Zero

From Zero

The Unknowable

Something like "Identity Point" might hint in the other direction. I'm sure there are other possibilities, but in general if the story is about finding something, I don't think you want your title to focus on the loss. Of the titles you gave, "Vanishing Point" is probably the one most likely to catch my eye (and, used figuratively, scores very well on LuLu), but if your book is more about finding than losing I don't think it's that great a title for it, even though it might be a very good title for some other work.

JMO, of course....

Regards,

quote:

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I would like The Fallen better than just Fallen

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quote:

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Already a book.

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You're fooling yourself if you think all of us can come up with an original title. Seriously do you know how many titles there are???

I think, as far as a title goes, it's okay if a book of the same name already exists. So long as the plots are different, and it's not cliche.

I could get past it. And have. Both John Saul and Richard Patterson have used the title When the Wind Blows. One is a psychological horror, the other a mystery. How many times has Fire and Ice, or a variant, been used?

I've seen a lot of titles that that have been used more than once.

Edited bacause I can't spell conference Doh!...

One word can have so many different meanings and in the context of your story: all, some or none might fit.

I'm currently working on a short story titled "Birth". I'm not completely wedded to it yet; however, there are different elements to the story that could be considered a type of birth. Maybe, that's why I haven't changed the title yet.

I liked "Fallen". "The Fallen" is good too; However, "The Fallen" now implies that the story is about a group or individual rather than a state of being. So, it would depend on where you were trying to go with the story.

Generally I don't go for titles that are too wordy. I'd say between 1 - 4 words maximum is all you need as a general rule. Of course then there are the exceptions which is what I love about writing. Example: "The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse" By Robert Rankin. The sole reason I read that book was the title--how can you not want to read a book with title like that?

Only you can prevent forest fires...oops wrong topic. Only you can be the ultimate judge of what title works best for your story. Until its published and the editor decides "Zero Blank" works better. ;p

edit: are you including the other titles in the bulk of this topic or just the ones in the original post?

Deleters

or:

Bio-delete

or:

Ex-zero

and for a latin-bent:

ex-nemo

or even:

tabula rasa

How about:

Escape key

or one for the brainiacs:

the palimpsest

2c

how about
brainiaxe ?

Can you tell that I've chosen a new place to babble?
More doodle-titles:

Memory X

Forsaken

Edited to add: You do know that if an editor buys it, there's a good chance the editor will want to change the title anyway?

Why such a big deal about something that may not be all that permanent?

If you're interested in why people like certain titles, then you're going about it all the wrong way. Unless it's a Harlan Ellison story, most titles aren't enjoyable in-themselves. It's only after reading the story that the title begins to make sense, to have any kind of meaning. For example, the title Lost Boys doesn't tell you anything about the story. The OSC story (and I've only read the story, not the novel) is really about lost boys, but the vampire movie that has the same title is about lost boys in a figurative sense.

The best titles are those that have deep meaning once you finish the story. James Joyce "The Dead" stands out as a great title because the story gives it layers of meaning. Another great title is Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, which also is given meaning once you've read the novel. Another is Harlan Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs."

But these are special cases. Most titles are nothing to write home about.

[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited April 17, 2007).]