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Post by Athaia on Jun 25, 2017 8:01:24 GMT
Do you have a trick, a process, or do you just throw a dice? I have that problem right now with the original sci fi story I'm preparing. The central problem for the protagonist (apart from all the adventures she has to survive) is that she's been forced to take on the identity of a notorious criminal and must now clean up their messes and in a way, atone for their sins. And I want to capture that central dilemma in the title somehow, but I'm at a total loss.
So I'm curious how you came up with your titles.
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Post by Chiefy on Jun 25, 2017 11:19:36 GMT
I'm working on a series, so the easy part is naming everything from book 2 onwards because it follows a common theme. And it's all undergone a name change, actually. So I started with 'Rise of Darkness' which is pretty cheesy but it was a placeholder/test, and the other books followed a similar pattern. What happens here is the title is pretty literal. Satan's army - Darkness Army, as they're called in the story (which, again, I may or may not change), and they take over the world. As the trilogy progresses, they gain more power, hence 'reign' and 'age'.
But then I was like, 'nah, we can do better', and I settled with a more symbolic meaning. The Council's mark is a burning fire. The IDU is a representation of them, as are Valatrak, Bridges, Shadow and Barbatos, who are some of the last soldiers still fighting Satan in the demon world. That brings us to our first title - Blazing Fires. The inspiration for this comes from 'To Kill a Mockingbird', where the symbolic representation of the mockingbird is the overall theme, rather than what the book is about.
By the second book, things aren't looking so great anymore, what with *SPOILERS* Shadow having shot Valatrak and everything. The Army has taken over the world, they might destroy the universe, etc. etc. The fire's kinda starting to die down, which gives the second title - Burning Embers.
The third book has quite a bit of a different theme to it. It's a lot darker, for one, since half the main cast is dead/gets killed off and everyone's despairing, and even though they win at the end, it's a bit of a hollow victory. Third book - Fading Ashes.
The prequel takes the same name as the series - The Demons' War. Why? Because I named IT first and it's the first book chronologically. And it IS about the Demons' War.
The sequel is going to be something along the lines of 'Eternal Flames' because of how the Council has been rebuilt, showing that it's indestructible etc. and that they will defend their worlds no matter what.
There might be a spinoff/continuation series. I don't know yet, but it'd follow a sorta similar pattern again.
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Post by joyrachsis6 on Jun 25, 2017 17:16:41 GMT
Well, for my first book, I decided on "A House Divided" because the Agelard family is fighting each other-Cohen takes over the throne and tries to kill Camryn before SPOILER ALERT everyone finds out that Athena (the oldest child) was mind-controlling Cohen the whole time. For the second book, I chose "The Mythica Mission", because that's the main plot of the book-they go to Mythica to stop an invasion of Tarn (3/4 of the book is set there). The third book is going to be titled "The Great Sickness" because of the illness that is running rampant in the country, and because it will-hopefully-remind people of the Black Plague, which was one of my inspirations for the book.
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Jamie
Inkslinger
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Post by Jamie on Jan 22, 2018 0:15:05 GMT
For me, book titles either come extremely hard or extremely easy. There's no middle ground for me. I'm still working on names for my zombie apocalypse book and some other book ideas. But I did get The Change and The Mates pretty easily and that's only because I thought of something really simple. Pretty sure The Mates will change at one point.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2018 1:06:21 GMT
I'm the worst when it comes to coming up with titles. I usually go for something that's symbolic of the story or is short and sweet.
Mors Terra is kinda of a cop-out because it's literally latin for "Dead Earth" or in this case "Dead Planet". (I thought myself so clever and if I had to take three years of Latin for language credits I was going to put it to some use darnit). I think I'm going to clarify in Editing, through worldbuilding, that any planet discovered to be inhabitable is labelled a "Mors Terra" planet by scientists. Originally the novel's name was "Marooned on Mors Terra" but I dropped the "marooned" part because Marooned is typically when someone is left intentionally stranded by their ship. Which doesn't happen in Mors Terra.
Never-Last is unique in that it comes from a series of random sentences I thought up that's related to the idea. For example, one of them was, “Growing up doesn’t mean end of all fun. Growing up is just the beginning of it.”
Never Last's sentence (which is a part of its' summary) is: “Because that’s the beauty of life. It never lasts longer than what is allotted.”
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2018 3:04:26 GMT
I...usually just cycle through a bunch of words that more or less reflect the image I'm going for, until something feels right. I chose Starfall for my first series because I wanted some image of light burning in darkness, but also a sense of doom. Also, the idea of a star falling is a recurring theme.
Kate, I have to say, I LOVE the titles Mors Terra and Never Last. That symbolism is just awesome! I also love the Earth parallel with Mors Terra, especially since the planet and the animals seem to be Earth-like. It really hammers in the idea that humans have something to do with it!
I LOVE that Never-Last quote. I would read the hell out of that.
Hell, I love what I've seen of Mors Terra - I would read the hell out of that too!
1) Nameless looks to the stars for comfort, because he thinks that they are truth, and pure, unlike people and gods, who are corrupt.
2) Stars have special symbolism to the people.
3) A falling star is an omen of doom that is reflective of the times - truth crashing down to the people, or people perverting what is good.
4) Starfall is the name of a place.
5) Sapphire is, literally, a fallen star. She's kind of an oddball because her story is so out there that nobody quite knows what to do with her.
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Post by naynish on Jan 22, 2018 11:05:03 GMT
I think I tend to share Jamie's experience with titling - either it comes super easy or it's like pulling teeth! My current WIP series, Starchaser, had that as a banner saga title from the beginning, but the individual book titles themselves have undergone SO MANY changes. The first book alone has been called "Song of Three Sisters," "Wayfinder's Song," "Wayfinder's Crown," and just "Wayfinder". It literally took me about nine months to title the books, and I landed on one of the secret Names of each main character, as revealed in the respective books. And at last, I am satisfied xDDD
You guys all have some seriously amazing titles, though, and I love hearing the origins behind them - like Mors Terra, omg!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 0:09:15 GMT
Thanks guys!
J.A Rama, I have to say, I really like Star Fall's title, it sounds so dreamy and intriguing--not to mention it holds so much symbolism for the story itself!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 1:40:59 GMT
Yesssssss that was my intention!
I also wanted the theme of light to reflect (pun intended) on the individual book titles too - hence, Into the Dead Red Light.
Of course, I have no idea what the other two books will be called... XD
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