   opinions on titles
  Hey all.  ^_^  As you may or may not already know, I''m writing a novel.  The thread where I talk about the novel itself is here if you''re curious.  Anyway it''s driving me crazy to not have a working title by which I can refer to my project.  I''ve thought of several but none of them really ''grab'' me.  So all list them here, and you all can say if you like/dislike any (please explain why!) and you can suggest variations and other title ideas if you think of any.Will You Follow My Leader?A Loyal Heart And True  (Attranath''s name means loyal heart)A Thing Worthy Of Loyalty[Name of Attra and Merru''s Troop, e.g. Alpha Company] In Love[Ditto] Goes All the Way[Ditto] Does It AllWhat Breed Is Your Soul?Kissing DragonsLearning to Kiss DragonsAttra Loves Me Night and Day, Lieann When He Can, And Rav When He May  (this is probably too long)The Song Of The Way Of Being Dragon (long)Make Me Loyal Make Me NewA Perfect DragonAlmost A Perfect DragonSunshine Loves Everyone (Merru''s name means sunshine)A Scent Of Dominion  (people hearing this title would confuse it with ''ascent of dominion'')A Scent of Dragons (ditto ''ascent of dragons'')An Instinct For DominionLove And TerritorySo, what do you think? 
  Eh..none of them do anything for me at all. Also, what is the basis of the project? How can anyone make a decision without knowing what the title is of. ;quote:Original post by Salsa   Eh..none of them do anything for me at all. Also, what is the basis of the project? How can anyone make a decision without knowing what the title is of.   Perhaps you should follow the link provided, which gives the gist of the story?Edit: Having read through the thread in the link, I have to agree with Salsa:  none of the titles are particularly striking or catchy enough to be effective. I'm not trying to put you down--I am terrible at making up titles.   [edited by - Mscgamer on December 7, 2003 5:25:44 PM];  Just a suggestion:  Try shorter titles.  They seem to always be the best and in style now a days.  ;  I like name''s that are simple... one or two words. Snow Crash, Armor, Bush, Tool, Meditations; these are all names that distinguish the book or band as being who they are, but all the meaning of the book is contained in that single word or pair of words.Merru''s name mean''s sunshine, so just call it "Sunshine". Somewhere in the book have a discussion between Merru and Attranath and have Attranath ask Merru what his name means in his native tongue and have Merru tell him. Make that the one and only reference to it an then call the book by that meaning.    ---------------------------------------------------laziness is the foundation of efficiencyretrospiral.net | llamas! | megatokyo | gamedev.net | google;  THREE FOOT TELESCOPING DEMON PENIS ;quote:Original post by zer0wolf  I like name''s that are simple... one or two words. Snow Crash, Armor, Bush, Tool, Meditations; these are all names that distinguish the book or band as being who they are, but all the meaning of the book is contained in that single word or pair of words.Merru''s name mean''s sunshine, so just call it "Sunshine". Somewhere in the book have a discussion between Merru and Attranath and have Attranath ask Merru what his name means in his native tongue and have Merru tell him. Make that the one and only reference to it an then call the book by that meaning.    o_O  But... I want the title to communicate the book''s essence!  To intrigue the reader and make them wonder about how the book might elaborate on the title.  I want a title that makes the reader ask how?  who?  literally or metaphorically?  I want a title that is poetic (and it''s damn hard to do poetry in 2-3 words >.< )I want a title that is appropriate to a fantasy/romance novel, and that makes people pick the book up to look at the cover and read the back in hopes of finding out more about the implications of the title.There have been some awesome books with awesome long titles: _The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch_ is the longest one I can think of offhand.  On my bookshelf I have _If I Pay Thee Not In Gold_, _The Cult of Loving Kindness_, _The Unlimited Dream Company_, _The Color Of Distance_, _The Left Hand of Darkness_, and several other books with great long titles.Oh, and there''s already a fantasy novel called _Sunshine_ Amazon Clicky;quote:Original post by Pouya  THREE FOOT TELESCOPING DEMON PENIS   lol Merru''s hung but hes not _that_ hung. ;  What is the overall theme/motif/message that you''re trying to convey through your novel? ;  I''m going to have to agree with zer0wolf. I probably wouldn''t pick up a book with any of the titles you listed except possibly ''Kissing Dragons'', including those that you say are good books. Long titles are for dissertations and educational books, not fantasy novels.If you called it ''What Breed Is Your Soul?'' for ex it sounds like the book is a self-help or something. I recomend at the very least that you leave out any reference to the reader in the title. Also, cut down on words. For example, instead of "A Thing Worthy Of Loyalty", you could just use "Worthy Of Loyalty" and then it begs the question ''what?'' it could be a thing, person, place, event, idea, etc. I also suggest you leave out infinitives and verbs that end in s. 