Wednesday, November 17, 2004
You called it what?
Coming up with just the right title for your work can be tough. But regardless of whether your penning an article or non-fiction book, a short story or a novel, or just a blog entry a good title can make or break your work.
Every writer wants his or her title to be both clever and effective. But the title should also say something about the work in question. Take the titles of a couple of my favourite books: Gravity's Rainbow and A Soldier of the Great War. The titles are simple, but they grab you. A lot of years ago, there was a "Talk of the Town" piece in The New Yorker titled "Guitar String". It was an engrossing short piece about a small firm that made some of the best guitar strings in the world.
So, where does a good (or even decent) title come from? Some writers I know get lazy and either let their editors come up with a title or tack on a lame title and hope the editors change it. Depending on what I'm writing, I generally come up with a title based on 1) the purpose of what I'm writing, or 2) a line or quote from the piece. Take, for example, an article I wrote called "Creating Presentations with OperaShow". The title was a tad bland, but it got right to the point and managed to attract a lot of readers.
Like anything else in the wacky, wonderful world or writing, you'll find that the more you work at it the easier coming up with a good title becomes. Every so often you'll struggle to find a good title, but getting over that block will be easier.
Every writer wants his or her title to be both clever and effective. But the title should also say something about the work in question. Take the titles of a couple of my favourite books: Gravity's Rainbow and A Soldier of the Great War. The titles are simple, but they grab you. A lot of years ago, there was a "Talk of the Town" piece in The New Yorker titled "Guitar String". It was an engrossing short piece about a small firm that made some of the best guitar strings in the world.
So, where does a good (or even decent) title come from? Some writers I know get lazy and either let their editors come up with a title or tack on a lame title and hope the editors change it. Depending on what I'm writing, I generally come up with a title based on 1) the purpose of what I'm writing, or 2) a line or quote from the piece. Take, for example, an article I wrote called "Creating Presentations with OperaShow". The title was a tad bland, but it got right to the point and managed to attract a lot of readers.
Like anything else in the wacky, wonderful world or writing, you'll find that the more you work at it the easier coming up with a good title becomes. Every so often you'll struggle to find a good title, but getting over that block will be easier.
