A word on titles

The most important words of a book?

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Titles are my biggest bugaboo. For occupying such demure parts of the overall writing real estate, they carry a massive weight.

—YI SHUN LAI

It’s odd that a title is sometimes the least considered part of a story, yet it’s arguably the most important part, simply because it is the first thing a reader sees. It can be an invitation, a question, a wink, a provocation, a riddle, and more.

Many a writer titles a story early in the process (sometimes just to name the Word doc) and then doesn’t truly question the title. The working title unfortunately becomes the title not because it’s good but because of inattention (yes, I’ve done this).

A title needs to evoke the story—and do so in a way to make the story stand out. It’s a moment to charm, enchant, seduce, or confront the reader. It establishes a mood and frames the story.

How to create a good title?

“Finding a title can be like a game,” said Jeannine Ouellette. “The more a writer can be expansive, and creative, and playful, and curious about the work, asking what it wants to be called, the better. It’s good to stay limber and be open to the idea that you may have become attached to a working title that would be serviceable, but there may be a really beautiful title lurking just around the corner, so you don’t miss it when it presents itself to you.”

A title can be provocative, like Rachel Khong’s Real Americans. A title can be lyric, like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night or Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. It can be metaphoric, like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A title can be off-kilter, a riddle, such as Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Or it can simply be the name of the main character, like Olive Kitteridge or The Great Gatsby (but then your main character needs to live up to that top billing).

One way to write a good title: think of the title like the perfume of the story, not a description. Suggest, don’t name. After you’ve written a title, ask yourself if you’d read a story with that title? Would it draw you in?

Your story’s title is your siren call, luring readers to your story despite any obstacle in their way.

“I urge my students to think of their titles as the first opportunity to stand out in the slush pile,” said Jacob M. Appel.

One measure of a good title is when the title is redefined by the story and attains more layers of meaning each time you think about the story.

Here’s an exercise to try: Sit down an list your favorite titles, just to know your own title aesthetic, what draws you in and why.

An aside about titles

I have a doc that includes titles I’ve thought of over the years. Titles that aren’t organic to any story. In fact, they lack a story. I’ve never written a story to match a title, so I don’t know why I collect the titles, except that they’re good titles, they deserve a story.

I’ve essentially populated an island of “misfit titles.” In some far-off parallel universe, I hope there’s a Grant writing stories to these titles. I hope they find a home.

Because I’m available for book coaching and editing!

I’ve been a writer, editor, and publisher. I’ve also written extensively about creativity in numerous books and articles, talked with 300 writers on my podcast, Write-minded, led the largest writing event in the world, National Novel Writing Month, and …. well, I’ve just immersed myself in all things writing for a lifetime.

I bring this wisdom and more to my one-on-one work with writers.

Because a quote

"I find that it works much better for me if I grope forward blindly. The less you know about what's going to happen, the more room there is for your imagination."

—Sigrid Nunez

This is true of writing—and life—for me.

Because I joined Litquake’s board of directors!

It’s official—and reported in Publisher’s Weekly!

Litquake is my favorite literary festival because it’s very much of the streets of San Francisco, where I learned to be a writer. So many literary festivals become so much about big-name authors that they lose their spirit. But Litquake still holds the rough edges of DIY punk rock energy, which is why I love it and can’t wait to support it.

Because Write-minded

Brooke Warner

and I had such a fascinating conversation with Shze-Hui Tjoa.

Because a photo from Bellingham …

I was in Bellingham this weekend for the Chuckanut Writers Conference, a splendid affair. The lovely Village Books (now one of my favorite bookstores) was one of the hosts, and … it’s worth coming to Bellingham just for the bookstore.

Bellingham is a scenic town in the middle of a vast Northwestern forest, full of nature, so it’s perhaps a shame I’m posting a photo of the bar I walked by every morning on my way to the Little Cheerful restaurant for breakfast each moment.

But I’m attracted to the dingy, the forlorn, and even the sketchy. Let’s just say the Horseshoe has spawned a lot of stories, and I saw some of them at day break.