In an either/or situation, which do you think is the most important?
When titling a book, do you find it most important to pick a title that draws the reader in or a title that's relevant to the story? If you had to choose between an exciting title and a title that means something (i.e. it might sound boring but during the story you find out it's important), which would it be?
As an example, when I was titling the story I am currently working on, I was dithering between the titles "Heroes and Villains" and "The Man in the Water". Although the second of the two sounds much more compelling, the first has a double meaning when used with the story. (Note: I'm not asking for advice on that; I know which one I'm going to use.)
Anyway, I'm just interested to see if anyone else has ever considered this, and if so, what your opinion is and why. Which do you think is the most important in a title: being interesting or being relevant?
?2010-02-17T21:34:37Z
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I think that you can have interesting and relevant titles. However, to me it's important that it's relevant simply because I'm thinking that if I came across a book entitled "The Last Refuge" and it's talking about eggs and ham, I'm going to be a little miffed. Of course, I would check the synopsis before I bought or checked it out but I would still be really confused. I'd read the book thinking, "When exactly does the last refuge come in?" Then I would think the author or the people in the publishing company weren't very aware when they entitled the book.
When entitling a book, it's important to me that it has a title that will make people skimming the spines of books stop and pick mine up and flip through its pages. Hey, that's how love starts when it comes to books--unless it was recommended, of course. A title catches your eye, you flip through the book, read the synopsis, and BAM! you're in love. However, it's always relevant to the story. To me, I don't want to give it a title that's too obvious, that "gives the story away," so I put a lot of thought into it and pick something that only readers who actually finish the book will understand why it's called this and not that. So, boring but relevant title.
Sweetie, I am so very sorry that you are in this situation. There is nothing that you can do at this very second to change your immediate predicament, you just need to take some time to think about this and do some soul searching. The father has already made it clear that he is not ready, yet it is also his responsibility. It is clear that you will be getting no moral or financial support from him, so moving with your grandmother just may be the best option sweetie. If you give the baby up because of financial reason you WILL regret it and think about it everyday, you will have nightmares, regrets, and shed many tears. If you feel you cannot support the child, Adoption is the only way to go. Someone would love to raise your child, and there are even open adoption in which you can still have contact/visitation with the child. But if finances is the reason you are scared, it's not a good enough reason to abort the baby. And you can do it alone, women are resilient Hun. Would you rather raise this baby alone and give it all of the love in your heart, or not ever see it at all? Love is what it is about, I'm not saying children don't require money to be raised, but being financially unstable is just a stage in your life. When I had my daughter, my income was $250.00 a month! There are agencies that Will help you, and they're there for just that reason, so don't be ashamed . I hope everything works out for you Hun.
I'd rather use a title that's relevant to the story, even though I tend to choose my readings based on how interesting their titles are. For example, I love the book Tuesdays with Morrie. My school assigned it for summer reading last year and I'm glad they did, but I honestly would not have read it on my own based on the title. When started reading the book, I realized that the title was relevant to the chemistry of the characters.
I am struggling with this now. While I have a working title, and it applies well to the story/series, it isn't exactly one that I think will grab a random person's attention at the library or bookstore. I may end up using that "title" as the series name, and giving each book a unique title. I don't know yet, as nothing else has popped into my head for it yet! Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I am also guilt of picking up a book because the title was catchy, and ignoring ones with blah titles. And I almost always ignore those with cover art that looks like a Harlequin novel. fabio never did it for me...
Although I'm a bit embarassed to admit it, I'm one of those people who not only judges a book by its cover, but also by its title. I think that you should try to find a balance. "Heroes and Villians" sounds a bit cliche to me, and, truthfully, I probably wouldn't pick it up. "The Man in the Water" is much more compelling.
Like the book Wicked Lovely. It had a little bit to do with the book itself. But the oxymoron is what originally caught my attention (along with its beautiful cover).
But there are some exceptions to this rule. Like Harry Potter and the (fill in the blank). The titles aren't all that compelling, but they still caught my attention.
You can have a compromise. A lot of wonderful books have titles that are attracting, but also relate to the story (ex. Wicked by Gregory Maguire).