Title Troubles

[thedarknessrising]

I was on the fence about asking this question, because I thought it was kind of stupid. But I guess it can't really hurt to try.

My WIP is written in the form of journal, a memoir in particular. The book covers My MC's career as a wizard, from the moment he became a wizard, to the end with a Revenge of the Sith like final duel with his mentor. It's also written as a sort of warning for others about an apocalypse that few know about.

Should I title this book something like "The Chronicles of Everen"? Or should I go ahead and stick with the name "Call of the Fallen?" I know this is probably a stupid post, but I figured I should go ahead and ask.

 

[MineOwnKing]

If you are thinking at all about self-publishing, I highly recommend avoiding any title without key words in it.

Key words can help keep your title at the top of most popular searches.

Words like: magic, wizard and sorcery will outperform obscure words like Everen.

If you want to keep a title like Call of the Fallen, just make a simple title like 'Wizard' and then bellow it you can write: The Chronicles of Dragon Moss, or whatever your book is called.

Titles that begin with 'The' are frowned upon.

The trendy thing to do is come up with a one word title like, Singularity, etc.

 

[Ban]

While i find titles with overly used words incredibly boring, i have to agree with MineOwnKing. These stories are just more marketable. Commonly used words in fantasy also do well. King, kingdom, prince, night, dark, ice, shadow, moon, star etc..

 

[Heliotrope]

I agree with MOK and Banten,

I read an interesting article about titles recently, so I will relay what I remember from that…

Like MOK noted, it should be specific, with key words that are specific to the genre.. Using the name of a character in the title is not recommended, as the reader doesn't yet know the character and so could care less.

Try to create a 'hook' or 'question' in the title to lure the reader in… Rothfuss is excellent at this.

The Name of the Wind… "ohhhh? The wind has a name? I didn't know that… what is this about?"
The Wise Man's Fear… "Ohhhhh, what are wise men afraid of?"

Another strategy that is popular right now is using a title that alludes to conflict. The biggest ones are:

A Game of Thrones Game immediately makes the reader think of competition.
The Hunger Games Again, use of 'game' to allude to competition, and hunger is very primal.
The Maze Runner A maze makes you think of choices, being trapped, being lost, but also 'running'… having to do all these very quickly, figure it out quickly. James Dashner has great titles, such as:

The Fever Code - creating a question or a hook, what is a fever code? What does it do?
The Scorch Trials- Trial makes you think of being put on trial, for what? What happened? Who is on trial? And why 'scorch'? Burning. Primal again, like Hunger.
The Death Cure
The Kill Order

So with all that said, I'm not sure that Chronicles of Everen works, because it might as well be Chronicles of Jennifer. If you don't yet know Everen it doesn't matter. Who cares?

The other one, Call of the Fallen is better, IMO, but still could be more specific.

I hope that helps!

 

[Russ]

But don't miss the wave and time it wrong. For instance putting "The Girl" in your title seems a tad overdone at the moment!

 

[Chessie]

Titles are hard to come up with, so your question isn't stupid at all. However, I think your book should be named whatever you believe best describes the content inside. I'm tired of this line of thinking: everyone do it this way. It's your story, your message, so name it according to what feels right. Be an individual and don't do it the way everyone else is doing it. Just my 2 cents.

That said, with the exception of one book, my titles are typically short and to the point. I think it's easier than reading a sentence long title, which is annoying. I do like the idea you posted but without knowing specifically what the story is about, I can't comment either way on whether it's appropriate or not. Good luck.

 

[NerdyCavegirl]

I read through the iris catalogs at my mate's friend's house and keep a list of cool sounding names. I always find some story or chapter they'll fit eventually.

 

[Miskatonic]

But don't miss the wave and time it wrong. For instance putting "The Girl" in your title seems a tad overdone at the moment!

What about "The Girl with the Octopus Earrings?"

 

[Caged Maiden]

I like Call of... better than Chronicles of...

To me, Chronicles of...feels like a long-running series and I'd bypass it just because I'm maybe not interested in committing to a whole series.

I don't like the word "wizard" as a title element, except for perhaps Wizard's First Rule, which I think is clever and catchy.

I agree that a word that expresses conflict is best, which I felt you accomplished in "call of" because you're raising the question what is calling, and who is it calling, and how will the character respond.

I'm not great at making titles, so I wish I had better advice to give.

 

[Reilith]

You said it is in journal form. So maybe it could incorporate the word "journal" in it, if you are not planing to write more about the same character. Chronicles does make it sound like an ongoing thing, a trilogy at least. Not knowing much about your story I can't give you one exact idea to hang on...
Hmm, maybe something like: "Call of the Fallen: A Wizarding Journal" or "Call of the Fallen: Journal of Everen" or something of the sorts.

 

[skip.knox]

I've seen people use a bracket system. Haven't tried it myself, but I thought I'd throw it out.

Think brackets as in sports playoffs. In this case, start with eight different titles (you have to come up with eight!). Write a short(!) summary of the book, then let some people choose between Title 1 and Title 2. Let other people choose between Title 3 and 4, and so on. That will give you four winners. Pair Winner 1 against Winner 2 and repeat.

The two keys here are first, that other people are choosing the title (the author having already confessed to being unable to decide); and, second, that they never have to decide amongst the whole field but need only choose between two. If you are lucky, and the participants are willing, they will tell you why they chose one over another.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

How about something with a sort of twist in it:

Memoires of the Coming Fall.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Addison]

To me, Chronicles of...feels like a long-running series and I'd bypass it just because I'm maybe not interested in committing to a whole series. .

Well that give my working title a hip-check. True I had a nice little list but the number one title started with "Chronicle".