posted
I think a writer's working title is a beginning aid for keeping a project manageable and on track. On the other hand, a robust title expresses or implies what a narrative is about. A static, lackluster title might say the writer doesn't know how the narrative's meaning will be received by readers or even know what the narrative is really about.
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posted
Yup, working titles are simply placeholders and folder names in your hard drive to be reconsidered once the story is nearing completion. And, even then, an editor or publisher may, and probably will, want you to change it or, worse, change it for you.
posted
Half the time the title I come up with as a placeholder is still on it when I submit it somewhere...but with the other half it changes before I go beyond the first day of work on it.
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posted
One of the comment responses to Reid's post relates how a working title, among other features, may become so engrained by familiarity that it takes on meaning it doesn't have. Similarly, an invented feature artfully used may become its meaning. "Big Brother" from George Orwell's Nineteen Eight-four is an example of the latter.
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