Our society deals in labels.  Teachers label students as gifted, average and remedial.  (Gees, I hate that.)  Coaches label team members by positions they'll do best at:  center, forward, tackle, quarterback, etc.  Bookstores, publishers and those involved in the creation and distribution of books label novels as suspense, romance, mystery, sci-fi, etc.

One of the most important labels a writer will use in her work is the title of her book.

A title is only a word or two or three or four long in most cases.  Some of my titles include MONTANA MATCH, STOLEN SON, MARI'S MIRACLE, and, my longest, FOR LOVE OF MAGGIE.

Titles, along with cover art, are the first things to attract a reader to a book.  A good title can entice the reader to take a closer look or to reject the novel without any consideration at all.

Consider this title.  MATT'S DAY.  We'll say it's a science fiction novel.  The title sounds a little gentle for sci-fi.  Even an enticing cover may not beef  up a ho-hum title like MATT'S DAY.  Readers want a kick-ass title, something gritty or intriguing or at least interesting.  Perhaps if the title were MATT'S DOOMSDAY or MATT'S LAST DAY or MATT'S DEATH DAY a reader would be a bit more interested in Matt and his impending demise.

Sometimes titles come easily.  They might exist before a writer writes one word of his novel.  Sometimes an author can complete 100,000 words or more before she has any idea what she should call her book.

For me, I usually have a title in mind before I begin a project.  Sometimes it's a the title I end up with, sometimes it's not.

STOLEN SON, a contemporary romance novel which will be re-released this winter/spring, is a perfect title for this book.  The words "Stolen Son" tell exactly what the story is about, a child who was kidnapped.  Those two words also imply intrigue and rouse curiosity about the story.

A good title should invoke images in the reader's mind which relate to the story.  BEHEADED.  ADAM AND STEVE.  THE FORBIDDEN FANTASY.  THE HARLOT.  CAROSELS AND CANNONS. 

Titles should rouse curiosity, intrigue readers, impell them to need to know more.

So how does an author meet the challenge of coming up with a good title?  She takes the meat of the story and condences it into a word or a few words. 

In the case of my books STOLEN SON and MONTANA MATCH, the premise is narrowly given in the two-word titles.  You already understand the significance of the compact STOLEN SON plot implication.  In MONTANA MATCH, another contemporary romance, a Chicago matchmaker ends up falling for her Montana cowboy client.  You can see how the title succinctly hints at the premise of the story.

JAWS is a fine example of a story implied in a single word.  SIGNS is another excellent example.

Use suggestive words to focus on your storyline, words that conjure up images, words that inspire or intrigue.  Words that shock or that tickle the funny bone.  If you saw a book titled "Falling Ass-Backwards into Money" wouldn't you have to know what it was about?  If you enjoy quirky romance, I bet you'd pick up a book titled "Stealing the Groom."

Titles are story labels which fall within sub-genre labels and genre labels.  They are important to your novel.  Choose them thoughtfully, and you'll be pleased you did.

Good luck with your writing, and may you read a great title or two this month.

Fran Shaff
sites.google.com/site/fshaff