What's in a title, well, for me, quite a lot actually. A title can be many things. It can be a statement. It can invoke a feeling. It can set the tone, and it can ignite the imagination and the curiosity, or it can sum up the story you're telling in a few simple words.
So once you have a good idea of what it is you're writing and what it's all about then coming up with a suitable title should be easy right? Yeah, if only it were that simple.
This age old problem has been brought into sharp focus again for me lately while i've been working on the possibility of a comic book anthology of origin stories. The ideas and the characters for each of the five series to be included came pretty fast and surprsingly easy, but the titles, oh the titles, they were a different story altogether.
The title of the anthology was also problematic as i wanted to invoke the feeling of those classic anthology series such as Detective Comics and Amazing Fantasy. I wanted to invoke a certain feeling. I came up with numerous titles, most of which were awful, titles which ranged from the uninspired 'Comic Anthology' to the more interesting 'Amazing Worlds', 'Universal Stories' and 'Tales of the Modern Age.'
I had all of these titles bubbling away in my head for days. Most of them were interesting, but none of them were right. And they weren't right because they didn't feel right, they didn't bring to life what i was aiming for. Nothing worked, not until the moment i was doing something else entirely and two little words popped into my head.
' Tommorrow's Tales.' They were perfect. They felt right. Somehow these two words together perfectly invoked what i was after. Somehow it told you what i was aiming for.
I'd love to say this has just been an isolated case, but oh no, every single time i put myself through the same thing, whether it's an overall title, an issue or chaper title or even the name of every character within them.
So what's in a title? For me,
everything ...
James
So once you have a good idea of what it is you're writing and what it's all about then coming up with a suitable title should be easy right? Yeah, if only it were that simple.
This age old problem has been brought into sharp focus again for me lately while i've been working on the possibility of a comic book anthology of origin stories. The ideas and the characters for each of the five series to be included came pretty fast and surprsingly easy, but the titles, oh the titles, they were a different story altogether.
The title of the anthology was also problematic as i wanted to invoke the feeling of those classic anthology series such as Detective Comics and Amazing Fantasy. I wanted to invoke a certain feeling. I came up with numerous titles, most of which were awful, titles which ranged from the uninspired 'Comic Anthology' to the more interesting 'Amazing Worlds', 'Universal Stories' and 'Tales of the Modern Age.'
I had all of these titles bubbling away in my head for days. Most of them were interesting, but none of them were right. And they weren't right because they didn't feel right, they didn't bring to life what i was aiming for. Nothing worked, not until the moment i was doing something else entirely and two little words popped into my head.
' Tommorrow's Tales.' They were perfect. They felt right. Somehow these two words together perfectly invoked what i was after. Somehow it told you what i was aiming for.
I'd love to say this has just been an isolated case, but oh no, every single time i put myself through the same thing, whether it's an overall title, an issue or chaper title or even the name of every character within them.
So what's in a title? For me,
everything ...
James
