All righty then, I’m sure some of you are wondering, I’ve gotten my journals to jot down everything I need to write my story, characters are figured out, worlds created, and the first draft of my story is done, until you realized, what should my title be?
It’s simple really, right now you just finished your first draft of your story, only have a temporary title ready. It isn’t until after you have fully fleshed out your story can you give it a proper title. The temporary title is something you aren’t fully in love with, it is only there as a placement holder nothing more. Just something to let people know that the title right now is just (Blank), I’m hoping to have something later after my story is more polished. I only say this because if you just create a title now while you are writing your story and you let people know what it is, you may get some negative feedback about the title, how it just doesn’t grab them or the title just doesn’t fit the synopsis you gave them.
Here is an example from my experience:
My first title was Valhalla Warrior of the Gods. After I threw my earliest draft of this story on Wattpad, some have come out not liking the title at all. I’ve heard it isn’t grasping, it is unoriginal, and it does nothing for my story. I was bummed out for a while because I liked it of course but I was forced to look for a new title and so far, no it isn’t easy.
My Titles So Far:
Valhalla Warrior of the Gods(The very first title. My character, Valhalla Onnika, lives in Asgard with Gods and sometimes goes on specific errands for them and the Valkyries that guard Valhalla.)
Valhalla The Red Warrior(Not sure about this one because it might be too simple. My character, Valhalla Onnika, wears red.)
Valhalla Lady of Fire(I like this one because it makes mention of what the main character is in a way. My character, Valhalla Onnika, is a fire sage, meaning she has magic over fire.)
Valhalla The Dragon and The Raven(As much as I really like this one, there is all ready an existing book with this exact title. I like this one because I symbolize the two main characters of my story into the title. My first main character, Valhalla Onnika, has magic over fire but it isn’t simple magic it is magic taught to her by dragons. The second main character, Prince Alistair Hilliard II, is a royal and the crest of his family is a raven upon a violet field.)
Valhalla The Fire and the Raven(A different iteration of the last title.)
Valhalla The Red Dragon and the Violet Raven(I basically kept the title I really liked but added colors to it, not sure about this one either.)
Valhalla The Red Fire and the Violet Raven(A different iteration of the last title.)
When titling your story, this is how I do it: If your story is going to be a series of books then come up with a series name first and it WILL be a good idea to look online if another book has the same series name. I only say this because it would be best to avoid a possible lawsuit and to avoid readers getting confused with two different books with the same name. Second, come up with a name for the book itself. Again look online to make sure there is no other book with the same name. Maybe a theme to go along with each book.
For Example: J.K. Rowling has a book series called Harry Potter. The first book is called The Sorcerer Stone. The second book is called The Chamber of Secrets. The third is The Prisoner of Azkaban. The fourth is The Goblet of Fire. The fifth is The Order of the Phoenix. The sixth is The Half-Blood Prince. The seventh is The Deathly Hollows. Each book is titled after a certain object, place, tale or person that is vital in each of those books. The series name, Harry Potter, is after the main character. The first book, The Sorcerer Stone, is titled after a very important object that Lord Voldemort, the villain of the story, is trying to steal to obtain a fully fleshed body. The second, The Chamber of Secrets, is a place hidden deep under the castle that holds a deadly basilisk controlled by the spirit of Voldemort. The third, The Prisoner of Azkaban, is on Harry Potter’s godfather Sirius Black who escapes a prison for Wizards, seeking vengeance on the one who betrayed him and Harry Potter’s parents to Lord Voldemort. Do you see a theme here? Just about each title is connected with something Harry Potter must discover what that is that will inevitably lead him to Voldemort, to either prevent the villain from getting or just discovering what he needs in order to combat the villain.
Second Example: George R.R. Martin has a book series called A Song of Ice and Fire, some of you may know it as A Game of Thrones. However A Game of Thrones is the name of the first book, not the series. The second is called A Clash of Kings. The third is A Storm of Swords. The fourth is A Feast for Crows. The fifth is A Dance With Dragons. The sixth is The Winds of Winter with the final book not released yet being called A Dream of Spring. Each book is titled after certain events and historic tales that took place in the past. The first book, A Game of Thrones, is based on an event between specific key characters planning, scheming, and conniving for the right and ability to sit on the iron throne. A line in the book is when you play the game of thrones, you play to win or you die there is no middle ground. The fifth book, A Dance With Dragons, is titled after a book in the story. The book is about a war with dragons where the Targaryan royal family are thrusted in a war with each other for the right to sit on the iron throne. The Targaryan’s ride actual dragons that no longer “exist” in the world of Westeros. The theme for these titles so far is being able to sit on the iron throne or fighting to sit on it to be the true ruler of Westeros. The series name has been theorized since its inception. The series name, A Song of Ice and Fire, may be Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryan, two of the many main characters in the story, coming together but as for how it was titled may be Samwell Tarly, another main character in the story who wanted to be a Maester, a teaching like person that is a witness and discoverer of history, being in his old age wrote or is writing the actual history of what is going on in the books and titling the book the history is written in A Song of Ice and Fire. Pretty interesting huh?
Third example: Morgan Rhodes has a book series called Falling Kingdom which is a little funny because it is also the name of the first book. She is using the book title, Falling Kingdom, as a series title as well which is fine, she is not the only author to do that. The second book is called Rebel Spring. The third is Gathering Darkness. The fourth is Frozen tides. The fifth is Crystal Storm while the sixth book that will be released soon is going to be called Immortal Reign. Seeing as the series title and book one title is the same, we will skip over the reason for a series title here. The first book, Falling Kingdom, is what you expected, A kingdom falls by the hands of another for reasons of keeping the wealth for themselves as other kingdoms struggle to carry on. There is also some jealousy there too. The second book, Rebel Spring, is a group of characters from the fallen kingdom gathering in secret along with a third kingdom that was betrayed coming together to fight back against the kingdom that ruined and possibly destroyed their lives. The third book, Gathering Darkness, may be about a terrible force coming to destroy the land or possibly the world. I am only guessing the third title because I have yet read the series as a whole but I am working on that.
So after your story has been polished enough to where it is time to think up a title, come up with a series name first IF the story is going to be a series of books and/or think up of a title for the books and those after. Right now I am not sure if I should keep the series name Valhalla because, like with The Dragon and the Raven, their is another book series with the name Valhalla but the author has it as The Valhalla Series. The series is not named after a character but it seems to be a Historical Fiction based on Norse Mythology.
Here are some examples I found when I was venturing through a book store. It was completely by chance and threw me off for a bit. Here I would hear about Production Companies, whether movies or video games, and Musicians freaking out about their products having the same name as something else suddenly start throwing lawsuits at each other to gain royalty fees or just force the other to change the name but here are books keeping the same name. J.R.R. Tolkien has The Return of the King and Brian Windhorst has Return of the King. The difference here is the “The” in the titles, one of them doesn’t have it and of course the covers and genre themselves are also different. Perhaps these two titles can get away with it but what about these other two books, Christopher Paolini has The Inheritance Cycle and N.K. Jemisin has The Inheritance Trilogy. Clearly one has more books then the other but both are in the genre of fantasy with very different book covers and titles. The difference here is one series is a cycle while the other is a trilogy. This is what I mean by things could get confusing especially to readers looking to read one of these books for the first time. At most I can call my series the Valhalla Chronicles but I am still not sure. I tried looking up another series name but I can’t think of anything else besides Valhalla especially when she is very much the forefront of my story. For now I will keep Valhalla as the series name but the first book title is still being a big work in progress.
Be patient and research your title well. I think title generators are pointless especially as it is literally throwing random words together to make a title that may have nothing to do with your story. For now if you are still writing your story then just focus on your story and your characters, the title can come later and it is not something you need to worry about right now. I say this because if you decide to look for a book agent, all fiction stories must be done before they will even read it or even consider representing you. So as I said, take your time, think, and write, write, write.
If you guys have any questions about what I just went over please feel free to ask. I hope you liked my little insight on titles, I honestly can’t wait to hear about your title ideas. Please stay tune for next Wednesday for another post. Thank you all so much for reading and please have a wonderful day.
Fantasy Worlds of A.J. Torres 