At the end of the school year, I visited a friend’s gifted class
to talk to the kids about The Eyes of Pharaoh. One
enthusiastic girl asked how I came up with my titles, because, “Titles are
really hard.” Sometimes they are, sometimes they appear like magic, and
sometimes Circumstances Beyond Your Control interfere.
The Well of Sacrifice, a
middle grade adventure set in ninth-century Mayan Guatemala, had that title
from the start. On a summer-long trip to Mexico and Central America after
college, I had visited many Mayan sites – including Chichen Itza, which had a sacrificial cenote. Imagining a girl tumbling into
that “well” inspired the novel. It’s a dramatic title and along with the cover
art helps suggest a Mayan historical adventure. It’s nice when you find the
right title at the beginning.
An early cover concept |
When I finished editing the book (in other words, the last possible moment to come up with a good title before submissions), I started brainstorming title ideas. I wrote down any word or phrase associated with the novel – setting, characters, plot threads, theme. I probably had 30 or 40 words/phrases, and then I began mixing and matching.
Final cover |
The head of the secret police in ancient Egypt was called “The Eyes of Pharaoh” or “The Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh.” This agent is a minor character in my book, but the character’s role doesn’t really matter – the concept fits with the ideas of spying and politics. The word Pharaoh helps identify the setting, and The Eyes of Pharaoh has a nice mysterious sound. Normally you wouldn’t title a book after a minor character, but in this case I think it works, which shows the advantage of jotting down everything in the brainstorming phase.
I like the title, but there is one problem – everyone, including those who’ve read it
and loved it, calls it “Eyes of the Pharaoh.” Having people get your title
wrong can’t be good. Fortunately, the first four hits from a Google search on
that wording still turn up the book’s page on Amazon, my website,
Goodreads,
and Barnes
& Noble, so I guess the damage can’t be too bad.
When I started my series about a brother and sister who
travel with a ghost hunter TV show, I wanted to call it Ghost Hunters, but that was already taken by a reality TV show, so I used Ghost Trackers. A few months before the
first book’s release, I got an urgent e-mail from my editor. A new Ghost
Trackers TV show was coming out, featuring middle school kids, no less.
We needed a new title.
I brainstormed all kinds of combinations of Ghost This and Haunted That. Finally, in the kind of epiphany that makes you
wonder why you didn’t see it earlier, I realized it didn’t need to be
Haunted-anything – Haunted alone
worked.
But that created another problem. The first book had been
called The Haunted Hotel. Haunted: The Haunted Hotel sounded silly, so we needed a new title for the
first book. After another exhausting round of brainstorming, I came up with The Ghost on the Stairs. (Frankly, I like Haunted: The Ghost on the Stairs a lot better than Ghost Trackers: The Haunted Hotel, so I
guess I should be thankful to the TV show.)
Using a title that referred to the ghost who was featured in
the book set up a pattern for the other books in the series – The Riverboat Phantom, The Knight in the Shadows (that one was
my editor’s suggestion), and The Ghost
Miner’s Treasure.
A title has to do a lot – intrigue, give a sense of the
book, stand out from the crowd. The title may be the hardest words that a
writer writes.
I asked a couple of Project Mayhemers and other writers for
their title processes, and I’ll be sharing those tomorrow. Sophie Masson had a
post on Finding
a Good Title on Writer Unboxed, if you want more examples or advice.
How about you? Do you judge a
book by its title? Do you struggle with your own titles?
I'm definitely struggling with my own title right now, so thanks for this post! I thought I had an awesome one, but then got feedback from agents that it might turn some kids off who aren't familiar with the historical figure it references. *Sigh*
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to mention that Query Tracker's forum has a section just for soliciting title feedback! I might be using that soon...
Historical or even pop-culture references are tricky, especially with kids. Quotes from movies or commercials, political or social concepts, and slang phrases that everybody in our generation knows may be mystifying to a younger crowd. That makes it hard to do a play on words.
DeleteThanks for the tip on Query Tracker!
Yes, I judge a book by its title very often. Same as the cover. I believe I am a part of tomorrow's portion, so I'll hold my tongue for now about how I come up with my titles. *holds tongue*
ReplyDelete