What Makes a Good Title???

[raefinlay]

One of my shorts currently in circulation is titled "The Last Painted Song."

We hatess that title forever, precioussss.

But I can't seem to think of anything. Captive Voices sounds like a bad Harlequin. Broken Voices, Painted Songs, Errik's Last Painted Song, Crazy Dungeon Dude, Whispering Friends, A Muse or Two...

*sporks eyeballs*
*brains explode*

Titles I have seen and loved are Deb Coates' "Magic In a Certain Slant of Light" or sosostris2012's "Wrack," or my own (very unpublished) "A Wish in the Old Hotel Lourdes." These work because they add to or illuminate the story instead of just repeating something that has already been repeated quite enough, thank you.

The worst titles in the UNIVERSE, imho, are the genre romance ones. Immortal Longings/Passions, The (insert adjective) Bride, (some exotic place) Nights, Kiss of the (some studly dude). *wheeze, choke, puke* You could plug them in anywhere. They are, ultimately, forgettable.

So, I'll keep trying. Dangerous Voices, A Little Spot of Light, Taking Up the Song... *sigh*

Comments

Titles

[mrsroberts.livejournal.com]

I recently read a book on writing by Phyllis Whitney. You may not be familiar with her but she wrote a bunch of mystery-romance combo novels and she was my favorite writer when I was a teenager and after college. (It took a year for me to read anything for fun after college.) In her books, she always had some unique object or some interesting flower or something like that in the story. Sometimes it was given to the heroine, other times something she was looking for. This was in addition to the main plot, but it usually tied in somewhere. Most of her books were named after that object. Just an idea. I've got to get my MC something like that.

Re: Titles

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Hi Mom!!!

Re: Titles

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Hi Jodi's mom! And thx for the idea!!

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

"The Last Painted Song" is not a bad title, though I like "Crazy Dungeon Dude" a bit more :)

Maybe you're being too generic with "painted" and "song", and need to explore synonyms. Also, you might consider moving away from that theme altogether, you might be overthinking it.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

hee! yep, definitely overthinking it.

[pjthompson]

Any way to make a play on "motes of light" and "notes of music"? Uhhhhh....okay, maybe not. I always liked The Last Painted Song so what do I know?