When you’re writing a book, you’ll soon find out that writing is more than writing the story. It’s also the title and perhaps the subtitle and the dust jacket (also called a book synopsis) and a synopsis (which is different than the book synopsis) and the list goes on.
When I was on the second or third draft of my YA novel, it was called 30% Chance of Rain. The title, I will unashamedly tell you, was a Karen Smith line at the end of the movie “Mean Girls.” You know the one. It made me laugh, so I kept it as a working title, and as I wrote, I fleshed out some nice, deeper meaning behind the choice. Here’s a scene from an earlier draft that I think made the title work:
“Well isn’t life a box of chocolates,” she muttered. “Or a chance of rain.” Charlie looked at her friend’s quizzical brow and smiled. “It was something my dad used to say. Once time, I must have been six or seven, I came running inside after I had fallen off my bike and skinned my knee on the asphalt. I was crying uncontrollably. My dad set me on the counter and gently cleaned me up, and then said, ‘Charlie, did you see the rainbow?’ At that question I forgot all about my stinging knee and ran to check. And you know what I saw? The most beautiful rainbow ever. He crouched down next to me and said, ‘You know Charlie, there will always be a chance of rain, sometimes life is going to rain down upon you, and if you focus on each drop, it can look like your life is seriously storming. But if you can take the opportunity to shift your gaze up, you’ll find the silver lining.”
But the title continued to fall short. Every time I told people what my book was called, I’d find myself having to repeat myself. They’d stop listening after the first word and it ultimately didn’t do what a title is supposed to, which is to give the reader an idea of what kind of book they are about to read. To brainstorm book titles, I sat down and thought up every book I could think of and tried to reason why that title was chosen. What I found was that most titles followed a pattern: the title used the main character’s name, described their central role, or described the central theme. Which led me down a rabbit hole of answering those questions myself and coming up with a lot of bad ideas for titles including, Beneath the Shadows, Catching Phantoms, The Niceties of Death, Soaked, The Parking Place, and Literary Vision.
After 30% Chance of Rain, the novel became A Chance of Rain, then Watertight, then Shades and Intonations, before finally settling on Dance With Me.
Look at your bookshelf for inspiration or simply write down as many titles as you can think of. If you are an author, think of book titles; if you are a poet, think of poem titles. Then, synthesize your list and see what patterns emerge. Use those to guide your thinking on your own work. Remember, your title is a signpost. Lean on your readers for help. Ask them if the title makes sense or if they know why you chose it. If the reader gets to the end and has no idea why you chose the title you did, then a title change may be in order.
Elegance Press 