tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post7782879268131223942..comments2023-10-30T15:13:22.680+00:00Comments on Strictly Writing: What’s in a name? Or: Bane Of My Life. Or: You’re Not Entitled. Or…?????DThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-28572796693188883432009-08-13T13:14:07.238+01:002009-08-13T13:14:07.238+01:00Isn't a worm's eye view from the ground lo...Isn't a worm's eye view from the ground looking upwards?<br /><br />I think that's how the expression's normally used.<br /><br />I suspect 'Love in the Time of Chlamydia' was changed, partly because it could put people off, but mainly because most people wouldn't get the reference to 'Love in the Time of Cholera'.<br /><br />Great title, though!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-80891899602727678722009-07-13T11:19:35.467+01:002009-07-13T11:19:35.467+01:00Great post Geri. I LOVE titles but that's beca...Great post Geri. I LOVE titles but that's becasue I dont have to come up with as many as you do! I do think they're important. It's that first hint/tease, isn't it? The first thing that draws the reader to your story.Fionnualahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275984316414726884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-49565318479194652402009-07-11T15:25:32.413+01:002009-07-11T15:25:32.413+01:00Thanks, Teresa!Thanks, Teresa!Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-22418315536955875412009-07-11T14:37:42.431+01:002009-07-11T14:37:42.431+01:00Great post, Geri!
I have been known to spend lon...Great post, Geri! <br />I have been known to spend longer coming up with a title than it took me to write the story in the first place.<br />Sometimes the titles come first or suggest themselves halfway through.<br />Good luck with the new serial!Teresa Ashbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15350697922935549188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-47036533619961095362009-07-11T10:08:05.769+01:002009-07-11T10:08:05.769+01:00Aaah, Geri, thanks for that. Though I think it sh...Aaah, Geri, thanks for that. Though I think it should really be 'dog'! ;)<br />SusiexSusie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-40844751102525277502009-07-11T04:27:45.924+01:002009-07-11T04:27:45.924+01:00Thanks for all your comments, everyone!
Paula, lo...Thanks for all your comments, everyone!<br /><br />Paula, loved that title! Ditto "Love and Asthma" and "One Apple Tasted", Rosy and Hodmandod. <br /><br />"Home and Dry" is truly worthy of a story, debutnovelist!<br /><br />Susannah, I do the same with short stories! <br /><br />Olivia, I agree with your editor that "passion" and "pudding" together might sound a bit of an oxymoronand love "Sweet Nothings".<br /><br />Susie, it's "God"!<br /><br />Caroline, I wonder about covers too! When I see a great cover AND a great title I reach for my debit card!<br /><br />Green ink, love your user name! Good luck with the novel!Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-34442150942927344382009-07-10T22:16:07.567+01:002009-07-10T22:16:07.567+01:00titles drive me mad too. My first novel has had fo...titles drive me mad too. My first novel has had four 'official' titles. I even polled my writing group and still didn't come up with one I could stick to. My best evert title was not for a book but for a business - a nappy delivery service that never actually got off the ground. 'Home and Dry' like it? Maybe I should write a book to match.<br />AliBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-46222813116126571382009-07-10T18:28:42.374+01:002009-07-10T18:28:42.374+01:00I have called my first published novel, One Apple ...I have called my first published novel, One Apple Tasted, because I am obsessed with Miltonic Grammar (the tutor at Cambridge who taught it was very charismatic). My favourite ever header I did for Vogue was, A Peer Through the Trees, for a piece about the history of Tarzan films. LOVE titles. Lovely piece.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536884736928320856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-6398982486563985732009-07-10T14:58:32.713+01:002009-07-10T14:58:32.713+01:00Enjoyed the post, Geri. I love thinking up titles...Enjoyed the post, Geri. I love thinking up titles, most of the time at least. One of my favourites was the first short story I ever sold, entitled 'Angels on Oil Drums'. It was based on an incident from my childhood. I was a bossy little eight year old at the time. I'd written a pageant and 'persuaded' my four year old twin brothers to take the parts of angels, which involved standing them on oil drums with sheets around their necks (to cover the oil drums), baler twine wigs and welding wire halos. They still haven't forgiven me (a) for the original incident and (b) writing about it in Woman's Weekly!Paula Williamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-1718406089186947782009-07-10T14:31:13.716+01:002009-07-10T14:31:13.716+01:00Sorry - have had a difficult week -that post shoul...Sorry - have had a difficult week -that post should have been addressed to Geraldine in response to her blog, not Helen - apologies, both!Sheila Nortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13997206301877289623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-11518112617058047622009-07-10T14:29:41.599+01:002009-07-10T14:29:41.599+01:00I agree, Helen - a title can sometimes be the most...I agree, Helen - a title can sometimes be the most problematic part of a story! I tend to give my novels a 'working title', as editors have often wanted to change them anyway. For instance, I really wanted to call one of my original novels, written under my real name,'Passion Pudding', but my then-editor said 'pudding' wasn't a good word for a title as it sounded too stodgy! (The book was about a pudding with aphrodisiac qualities). It ended up being called 'Sweet Nothings'.Magazine stories do quite often get re-named by the editor, too, so I tend to think it's not worth wasting too much sleep over them!Sheila Nortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13997206301877289623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-33267902680351668902009-07-10T14:24:34.007+01:002009-07-10T14:24:34.007+01:00Great post, Geri. I agree with others..must be tor...Great post, Geri. I agree with others..must be torture having to do this dreaded process so often. I adore Love in the Time of Chlamydia!!!<br />I'm not sure, as a buyer of books, whether the cover isn't just as important to me - maybe more - than the title. I'll have to muse on that a bit...Caroline Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04708248040141519582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-39487537575479309702009-07-10T14:05:10.541+01:002009-07-10T14:05:10.541+01:00I'm with Sam on this. Thinking up a title for ...I'm with Sam on this. Thinking up a title for a novel once a year or so is more than enough for me - so I'm very admiring of you coming up with them all the time, Geri.<br /><br />The process drives me nuts, actually. I sit there with my Oxford Book of Quotations looking up likely words, and trying out variants on phrases until all of them sound completely weird!<br /><br />One of my favourite titles (a book I bought for the title alone) was 'Of Love and Asthma'.Rosy Thttp://www.rosythornton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-14383283345358137112009-07-10T13:45:42.732+01:002009-07-10T13:45:42.732+01:00Sometimes I come up with the title first, but I fi...Sometimes I come up with the title first, but I find that sometimes makes the story less authentic because I am writing it to fit the title, not the other way round.<br /><br />The title for my (still unfinished!) novel came to my while I was asleep. I'd been writing it for over a year at that point and hadn't come up with anything! I woke with a start and, reaching for a notebook and pen by the bed, wrote the title over and over, half asleep, terrified I would forget it.green inkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10955967846673578879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-59046672861398031782009-07-10T11:49:22.026+01:002009-07-10T11:49:22.026+01:00'A whistling woman, like a crowing hen, is nei...'A whistling woman, like a crowing hen, is neither use to (something) or men.' My gran used to say that to me when I whistled. <br />I agree, a title with layers is a good title. <br />Good luck with the new serial, Geri!Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-38360045677175551872009-07-10T11:04:38.968+01:002009-07-10T11:04:38.968+01:00Thank you!Thank you!Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-72154016121406315012009-07-10T11:04:19.751+01:002009-07-10T11:04:19.751+01:00Great post Jem.
I'm useless at titles and usu...Great post Jem.<br /><br />I'm useless at titles and usually come up with a one word very blunt encapsulation of the piece, where something more elliptical would appeal.<br /><br />I'm interested you plunder Shakespeare, as so many authors do. I think good titles are almost like mini poems - they give the mood of the piece, which is why poetry quotes can work so well.<br /><br /> Whenever I get a new collection of short stories I always scan the titles page and start with the one that attracts me most, rather than beginning on p1.Susannah Rickardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14533371458667245083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-65499527863287445632009-07-10T10:50:31.880+01:002009-07-10T10:50:31.880+01:00I think that's a fabuous title, Sam!I think that's a fabuous title, Sam!Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-84571826281484755062009-07-10T10:49:13.198+01:002009-07-10T10:49:13.198+01:00That was fascinating, Geri, and i love all of thos...That was fascinating, Geri, and i love all of those titles. Don't know how you do it though, i have enough trouble just thinking up one for a novel!<br /><br />I think, certainly for novels, the title must also reflect the tone of the book. My chick litty wip was originally called 'Egyptian Sweetheart' but this made it sound like a catalogue Romance, so i eventually changed it to 'Lunch Date with a Tomb Robber', which is a better match for the humorous flavour of the story.Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-32927488302797293562009-07-10T10:18:24.705+01:002009-07-10T10:18:24.705+01:00Helen, I agree entirely! I like both those titles...Helen, I agree entirely! I like both those titles, but Damaged Goods suggests layers, and I think that as we write (and read) the more layers we can peel back, the better the story and the longer it stays in the reader's memory.<br /><br />Maybe the title crystallises the story for a writer - in the same way that trying to describe your story in one sentence will keep your focus as you go. But in the end you may have to abandon it, as you say.Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-45296660637869688312009-07-10T10:00:31.323+01:002009-07-10T10:00:31.323+01:00Good post.
And I love so many of your titles.
I re...Good post.<br />And I love so many of your titles.<br />I remember giving my frst title a lot of thought.<br />Too much. I came up with Client Confidentiality, which is a legal term, and sums up the idea of how lawyers are bound by their clients secrets.<br />My ed changed it before the first round of edits. And book onwe became Damaged Goods.<br />Since then I advise new writers to remain pragmatic and entirely unattached to their titles.Helen Blackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00266205672947750373noreply@blogger.com