Topic: Help with title.

I suck when it comes to titles, so I could use some help. I posted a novel on here called Lost in Darkness about a slayer in medieval times who betrayed her true love but is given a chance to redeem herself. I'm going forward to publish on Kindle as soon as I have a marketing plan and cover. (Probably December.) Themes that play heavily into it are revenge, a dying heart brought to life with the flames of revenge, a silly heart that wants to love but is resolved to kill, a flaming heart of revenge. I plan to publish on Kindle and so need something original that other books don't use while playing on the first title for the next two in the series. The series subtitle should be/reflect: Bavarian slayer. I came up with Ever so Darkly. No Kindle book has that title, but I'm open to better suggestions. Lost in Darkness already had 12 different books on Kindle with that name.

Re: Help with title.

Can you use irony or oxymoron?  Flames of Darkness, Light the Way into Darkness?

Re: Help with title.

Anything that captures the heart of the book.

Re: Help with title.

Hearts of Darkness
Lost Redemption
Revenge of the Lost Heart
Heart's Revenge
Love's Revenge
Flaming Hearts
Dying Flames of Revenge
Lost Opportunities
Revengeful Hearts
Hurtful Hearts

If your main character eventually takes the opportunity for redemption, which is what would make me want to read the book, it seems Redemption should be in the title, or even
Second Chances
Redemption vs Revenge
Lost in the Open

Does any of this appeal?

5 (edited by rhiannon 2017-07-17 16:57:13)

Re: Help with title.

A title is a marketing tool. It doesn't need to capture the heart of the book, or even be very informative.  It just needs to capture the attention.  Do a key word search for the genre that you are publishing in to see which books are popular.  Then devise a title that seems appropriate to you.  This is also true of the cover--it need not have anything to do with the book.  A few years ago, every book that sold well had pictures of women's bare legs on it, even if that didn't fit.  I know all of this because I, too, suck at titles, but my kung fu master, who built hs business from scratch, and boot strapped himself from poverty (literally, trailer trash) to millionaire status taught me this.  (He learned from Kennedy, the master copy writer who started his career in marketing when he noticed all the collection notices he received were in three's . So he devised the rule of three.  However, you market, do it in threes.)  And congratulations on getting your book published.

Re: Help with title.

K L van Kriedt wrote:

Hearts of Darkness
Lost Redemption
Revenge of the Lost Heart
Heart's Revenge
Love's Revenge
Flaming Hearts
Dying Flames of Revenge
Lost Opportunities
Revengeful Hearts
Hurtful Hearts

If your main character eventually takes the opportunity for redemption, which is what would make me want to read the book, it seems Redemption should be in the title, or even
Second Chances
Redemption vs Revenge
Lost in the Open

Does any of this appeal?

You gave me some good ones to chew over! Thanks so much!

Re: Help with title.

Ryan,
I like Lost in Darkness.
smile

8 (edited by TirzahLaughs 2017-07-17 20:51:50)

Re: Help with title.

Ryan Maddux wrote:

I suck when it comes to titles, so I could use some help. I posted a novel on here called Lost in Darkness about a slayer in medieval times who betrayed her true love but is given a chance to redeem herself. I'm going forward to publish on Kindle as soon as I have a marketing plan and cover. (Probably December.) Themes that play heavily into it are revenge, a dying heart brought to life with the flames of revenge, a silly heart that wants to love but is resolved to kill, a flaming heart of revenge. I plan to publish on Kindle and so need something original that other books don't use while playing on the first title for the next two in the series. The series subtitle should be/reflect: Bavarian slayer. I came up with Ever so Darkly. No Kindle book has that title, but I'm open to better suggestions. Lost in Darkness already had 12 different books on Kindle with that name.


Her Dark Heart
A Flame in the Darkness
Shadow Heart
Wicked Hearts
Lost in Shadows
A True and Wicked Love
Shadowed Blades
Stones and Swords
Shadow Lovers
Flames of Black


Personally, I like simple.
After Nightfall: Bavarian Slayer

Re: Help with title.

The Bard is always a source of inspiration for titles:

My Thing of Darkness ("This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine.")
The Darkness of my Thoughts. ("Who are you? Why do you hide in the darkness and listen to my private thoughts?")
The Instruments of Darkness ("And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence.")
Revenge Should Have no Bounds (Hamlet (4.7.143))
Comet of Revenge or The Fall of all Our Foes ("Charles Now shine it like a comet of revenge, a prophet to the fall of all our foes!" 1 Henry VI (3.2.30-3))

My two cents.

Kiss,

Gacela

10 (edited by vern 2017-07-17 22:11:54)

Re: Help with title.

Uncover the Dark
Clothes of Darkness
Peel Away the Dark
Arc of Darkness
Stir the Darkness
The Dark Comes Home
Enter the Dark
Forgive My Dark Side
Redemption of Darkness

Re: Help with title.

I especially like After Nightfall. I also like...Comes the Night, Darkness Descends, Poisoned Heart, Heart of Stone, ...titles are hard. Luckily, I usually have a title before I start a story. Usually. With one, I had to have help. Dags, here on the site came up with it. Tied With a Bow and No Place to Go. It's a humorous mystery. So like me,  you may just get a suggestion that will work! Good luck.

12

Re: Help with title.

My point is that irony and oxymoron can make a strong title.

13

Re: Help with title.

Fell Night --a multiple entendre, 'fell' as verb or adjective.  Another title tool.

Re: Help with title.

Thank you, everyone. You've given me a lot of great suggestions. I really can't thank you enough.

Re: Help with title.

Mariana Reuter wrote:

The Bard is always a source of inspiration for titles:

Gacela

What a great idea, Gacela.  I may change some of my chapter titles to fit the Bard (Bob Dylan) or Shakespeare.

Re: Help with title.

rhiannon wrote:
Mariana Reuter wrote:

The Bard is always a source of inspiration for titles:

Gacela

What a great idea, Gacela.  I may change some of my chapter titles to fit the Bard (Bob Dylan) or Shakespeare.

I was thinking of John Lennon, but I think Shakespeare is okay.

Kiss

Re: Help with title.

I'm a big believer in good, original, meaningful titles. It's so useful in drawing potential readers in.

In my opinion Lost in Darkness is very cliche sounding, so perhaps it's a good thing you feel forced to rename it.
"Ever so Darkly" doesn't sound great either.
Take out "dark" if you want to stand out among the pack.

I haven't read your book, but from reading your post it sounds like revenge is a key element.
You could incorporate "revenge" into your title somehow.
Personally, I like to give the reader a hint of the content in my titles. Mention the knight/slayer directly maybe?
You might like "A Vengeful Knight Reborn" or you can go the Crime and Punishment route and call it "Betrayal and Redemption" though
that runs the risk of giving away some of the plot in the title.

Honestly, I like Bavarian Slayer. It's simple, cool, interesting and tells me what to expect. I'm not into vague sounding titles much.

Re: Help with title.

I want to give everyone who responded a huge thanks. I felt the magic and was properly inspired.

The final title will be: Rekindled Vengeance.

Re: Help with title.

I think you came up with a winner.

I just have to put my two cents in on what one person said--Your title is MORE than a marketing tool & if it has nothing to do with the story, you have lied to your readers and I would likely chunk the book across the room for feeling duped. Your title and cover are the first thing your reader sees. Make it catchy AND applicable to the story. Second thing a reader looks at is the teaser (synopsis) on the back or on the about the book for kindle. No more than 200 words and make ME the reader want to open to the text. Then your first paragraph should draw me in. And if you need a good cover guy, go to juroddesigns.com.  Give Christopher the gist of the book, & he will create you something fantastic!

20 (edited by rhiannon 2017-07-19 17:29:42)

Re: Help with title.

It's not either/or.  It's not choosing a title that sells well and has nothing to do with the book or choose a title that tells what the book is about.  Don't title your book "10 Ways to Winning Poker," if it's about murder in medieval times. But I had a publisher who titled a book I submitted "Rhiannon's World."  It didn't sell, but that perhaps is because the publisher died and the press fizzled before it hit the market. (It was an anthology, and there was only one new story in it, so I didn't search for another publisher.)  I wrote another book, sold some, and it was entitled "The Assassin's Daughter."  It didn't make the best seller list, but it had a couple of things going for it:  the term 'assassin' which tested well for attracting readers and 'Daughter,' which at the time was almost as popular to put in a book as women's bare legs.  The book was about a woman who just happened to find out her best male friend was a) an assassin and b) her real father.  It was not the crux of the story. Think of it:  "The King's Daughter,"  "The Daughter of the Fairy King."  These are thoughts for my novel.  My rule of thumb is:  if the publisher wants it, I'll do what the publisher wants because, as I mentioned, I too suck at titles (and covers).  I'm not going to use "The Daughter of the Fairy King" though as that stresses her relation to her father, not her quest to get home, which is the crux of the book. "The Sword of Rhiannon" seems good, although the sword is not the crux of the story either.  Other thoughts include "The Fairy Princess' Quest."  Hey, a thought that just popped out.  "Out of Exile."  Yes, that happens, in the literal sense, in the first few chapters, but the whole quest is to no longer be in exile, literally or metaphorically.  (Like the Jews were in their homeland at Jesus' time, but felt they were still in exile, as they weren't in control of their nation, the Romans were. Rhiannon doesn't feel like she's him (out of exile) until the last page or two.) It's Ryan's Forum, but I could use the help too (obviously). Thanks for the suggestion about juroddesigns.com

Re: Help with title.

I like Out of Exile. It would draw my attention; whereas, The Fairy Anything might make me think, same-old-stuff. And If I saw The Fairy Princess' Quest, I wouldn't even look at it since it should be Princess's. Princess is NOT plural. I'm old-school English teacher on possessives. Go to my website and look at Christopher's covers. janettaylorperry.com

22 (edited by rhiannon 2017-07-20 04:25:38)

Re: Help with title.

"Out of Exile" tested strong, and I think it does draw attention.  One person in "Close Friends" thought it implied banishment, but Rhiannon, in the prequel, was basically being forced to marry a king for the sake of the kingdom and that involved banishment or exile.  Another character's uncle is banished.  There are races in the kingdom that aren't acknowledged as citizens, and that counts as a kind of internal banishment.  The novel, now that I think about it, reeks of exile. The main novel starts with her escape from that exile, and, in the metaphorical sense, the novel ends when she realizes, deep down inside, that she has really, truly come home. (For most of the book, she does not feel that, even after moving back home, fighting a civil war, marriage, etc.). The plot is a quest one, with the quest being, well, to come out of exile, both literally and metaphorically. Oh, and if you want to be really, really old school, it is 'princess''  Before 1972, grammarians were saying that you don't add the s after the apostrophe in possessives for words  that end with 's.' It has only been since then that they allow the double s. I think you're right that the use of 'Fairy' in front of anything would have the reaction--same old, same old.  As I envision a four to five book series (for now), I thought at one point that everything should be '______of Rhiannon.'  But there is another series about the original Rhiannon, and I don't want to confuse the two.  Besides, that didn't test strong.  I think 'exile' has some archetypal qualities to it; after all, our civilization is built on Jewish and Christian foundations (yes, and pagan and scientific ones as well), and 'exile' is deeply embedded in our psyches.  It is a metaphor for alienation, sin, abandonment, and all of those weave into my story.  Well, as you may be my publisher, we may have hit upon a title that both reflects the book and is a good marketing tool.  I'll look at Christopher's covers at your website.  Cheers.