Kelly McClymer's Blog

I’ve been writing an article on great titles, and consequently have been looking at a lot of ….ummm….great titles. Time Traveler’s Wife anyone?

Coming up with the perfect title isn’t easy, which is why most books have enticingly designed covers, prominently displayed big author’s name (tell me, really, wouldn’t you buy a cookbook that had J.K. Rowling’s name on it in big type?) and a blurb on the back cover or cover flap.

I love all my titles, but my favorite is The Salem Witch Tryouts because it came about when I misheard someone who was really saying “the Salem witch trials.” My protagonist Pru immediately attached herself to the title and began to insist that cheerleading witch was worth writing about. So I gave in and wrote about her.

When you get the title first, it can be easier to stay true to it. For SWT, there was no way the book was going to be dark or gloomy. The title was fun and the book needed to match that sensibility.

The more usual way to come up with a title is to think of a fitting title after the story idea has developed a little. For example, when I wanted to write a teen version of my favorite gothic novels by authors like Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart, I had the plot and the characters before I came up with the title Must Love Black. The title suggested itself because of the job ad that starts our teen nanny’s journey, which insists the summer nanny must love black.

I’ve been watching my kids (all officially out of their teens as of this year!) develop through the years and I think about how my dh and I just randomly stuck a name on them before we even knew them. Oddly enough, the names all still fit perfectly (but maybe I’m prejudiced).

What if instead of naming people, we had to title them. Could we do that accurately? Would I have known to name my daughter Changing the World Can Be Fun? Or my sons My Way (a trilogy, Get Outta, Or the Highway, third book yet to be named) and Follow the Wandering Path?

If I remember correctly, the Native American custom was to wait until a child becomes an official man or woman to bestow a fitting adult name.

So why, when I think about what my title would be, do I find I’m torn between Ask and You Shall Annoy and Running in Flip Flops?

I would, of course, have chosen completely different titles if I were writing this tomorrow.

DISCLAIMER: This post has nothing to do with the fact that my current opus has gone through four title changes so far. The newest one is perfect and will not change. Just like the names dh and I picked out for our wonderful progeny when they were blindly blue-eyed bundles that looked very much like every other infant ever born.

Kelly