Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Once again, a titles thread

This is topic Once again, a titles thread in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Kazuo (Member # 5374) on :

Hey, Id like to know what you think about a few possible titles for the novel I'm writing. Heres what I got so far:

The Hole in the Universe
The Hatch
The Basement Castle
Paleberry Ale
A world of Words
The Ink of Titans
Titan's Ink
The Shadow of the World

I think a few have potential. Shadow of the World and Titan's Ink are my favorites, but I'd appreciate any imput

Posted by lehollis (Member # 2883) on :

The Shadow of the World, doesn't interest me. Titan's Ink and Ink of Titans are mildly interesting. I'm unsure about a World of Words. I had to read it twice to make sure I had it right. Paleberry Ale, actually, sounds interesting to me but it sounds like it might be a light tale. The Basement Castle sounds a bit light-hearted, too--like I might expect to see "Harry Potter and the Basement Castle" somehow. The Hatch, I'm not sure. It sounds a bit ambiguous--what am I going to read about? The Hole in the Universe sounds a bit bland, to me.

Overall, I think I would be most interesting in The Basement Castle or Paleberry Ale, or the Titan ones.

Perhaps we should have a single thread to discuss titles of various works. We seem to have a few people curious about their titles--and I am suddenly unsure of my title "Virgin Sacrifice". In the context of the book, it is rather brilliant because it is a play on words--but a reader won't get that until half way through the book, and that's not what a title is for. I guess I need to consider other possibilities as I write it.

Posted by mfreivald (Member # 3413) on :

These are kneejerk reactions only. (And, of course, having no idea what kind of character your story will have.)

The Hole in the Universe - I kind of like this. It makes me think of a giant wound - not anything like a wormhole. If it was a wormhole type thing, I would probably be disappointed. The wound entrigues me more.

The Hatch - Okay. I'm thinking Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe - sort of.

The Basement Castle - This one confuses me, but doesn't put me off. (The confusion might actually encourage me to read the back of the book.)

Paleberry Ale - You have my attention. The unpretentiousness of it makes me want to dr... er... check it out.

A world of Words - Not sure what that means; not sure I care. I would probably read the back of the book just to see if there were some philosophical thing going on, and I would probably prejudge the writer based upon very little info.

The Ink of Titans - This, in spite of being very similar to the previous, grabs me some. Instead of hinting at some plenary textual existence, it makes me think of capricious demi-gods.

Titan's Ink - I think I like the previous one better.

The Shadow of the World - Sounds like it is trying to hard to be dramatic.

I'm not taking any time to really evaluate or think about these things because I think the immediate reaction is more valuable to you.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

All the titles actually seem too big for a novel. They seem to be about the setting more than the story. If I saw a title like that on the bookstore shelf, I'd be waiting to see the whole series before I bought the first one. (I learned to never assume that a series started will have an end, so I don't invest my reading time in incomplete stories.)

Posted by DebbieKW (Member # 5058) on :

Looking back over all the titles on my bookshelves, I've actual come to the conclusion that titles weren't the main reason that I picked most of them up, anyway. So if you've got a working title that you enjoy and that fits with the style of your story, I'd recommend just sticking with it.

The following are the titles that I would pull out the book to read the back cover:

The Hole in the Universe
The Ink of Titans
The Shadow of the World

However, I've learned from experience that long titles aren't as desirable as they sound. I'd recommend dropping the "The" off of all of these.

The reason I'm not interested in the others are:
The Hatch - sounds like a mystery to me
The Basement Castle - sounds like a kid's story to me
Paleberry Ale - cool, but sounds like a drunken story to me
A world of Words - can't figure out what you mean

Just my 2 cents.

Posted by Kazuo (Member # 5374) on :

Thanks to everyone for your responses.

I think I'll go with Titan's Ink for now. The book isn't nearly finished, though, so know knows if inspiration for another title will grab me.