What’s it called? Titling tips

Whether you start your next writing project with a title, wait for inspiration to strike or always have a last-minute scramble to name your poems, books or other writing, you’re already aware of how titles can entice the reader, subtly hint at secrets in the text or even conjure up imagery before they’ve opened the book!

But oftentimes authors will struggle to come up with titles, so here are a few tips to hopefully get that creativity flowing. Again, titles come from many places, can be different lengths and are chosen for different reasons, so take these with a pinch of salt!

Theming or keywords

Depending on how much of your book you’ve got written – or even if it’s not fully finished yet, if you have wider ideas about what plot points or twists are in store – you could choose a title that aligns with or foreshadows some of the key themes or events in your work. This is a pretty popular method with authors, and famous examples include Murder on the Orient Express or They Both Die At The End.

Tried and true formulas

Based on fads at the time, there can also be trends in titles and well-used formulas to adhere to. Though there is the risk of becoming cliché, these formulas have worked in the past, and can even be subtle ways of letting the audience know your work is similar in tone or theme to pre-existing works. Try out formulas like ‘the [SOMETHING] of the [OTHER THING]’ or ‘[SOMEONE] and the [SOMETHING]’ or come up with your own!

Names and nouns

Again, often used by writers with well-established novels and usually found in series or sequels, character names can feature in the title. Fans of the series will be immediately drawn to the books and will scour the shelves looking for the next installment – easily found due to the name prominently being displayed. As well as this, with a more unique name, this will act as its own search optimization as characters and the title are tied together so will often be more memorable.

Additionally, proper nouns like ‘detective’ or ‘mystery’ are very clear in conveying the type of subjects the book will be about and can net you a new audience from readers keen to devour more books within the genre they like.

Places and settings

Similar to using character names, using settings or places in your text is a good way of highlighting the area in which the action will happen. For historical or factual books, perhaps people living in those towns or cities will want to read them – and for fantasy authors, using the name of your land is sure to hook in those curious about discovering a new, otherworldly environment.

Subtitles or single words

Another consideration for your writing is the length of the title – some have long, almost stream-of-consciousness like titles which give lots of information about the book and its contents, whereas others will be shorter and can contain only one word, not giving too much away and relying on natural curiosity to snag readers. – like Holes by Louis Sachar.

Named and tamed!

Hopefully those suggestions will be helpful in nailing the perfect title for your upcoming work! It’s usually a decision with a few revisions and plenty of thinking times, so if ruminating is not helpful, consider some of the above ideas and see if they’re of any use – and remember to take inspiration from your surroundings!