Titles

[some colour no doubt]

Hey guys, I'm back after a few months break, and i'm getting a new story up and running.
I already have the plot for the first section layed out, and have a good idea what i want to do in the others (I plan to have it split into 4 distinct sections or 'books')The only thing i have a problem with, is the title.
I hav titles for each of the books, yet not the overall thing.
So my question is, how do you decide on your title? And do you do it at the beginning or does it just come to you as your writing?

 

[Hellion]

Oh... I suck at picking titles, though if I had to give you advice, I'd say keep it short and evocative. Too often, you see looooooooooooooong titles that don't really evoke any emotion and just plain tell you what the fic is like...

The Adventures of Malvin Fern and the Purple Dratini: The Quest for the Dragon Starlight

I'd say find 1-2 words that really reflect the plot and/or the mood of your story and that go beyond just stating what's in the story.

Also, don't be too fancy by picking a complicated word and assume that people will get how you came up with the title.

For exemple, I wrote a comashipping fic name Glockenspiel because it's a music instrument whose name is derived from the German to play bells, because I made a reference to the soothe bells Ash and Paul won in the Hearthome tag team competition... Too complicated and not evocative, but I like the word Glockenspiel

Hope that helps!

 

[some colour no doubt]

Thanks, i think i got something, but i need to wrap a few things up in my prologue before i put it up here anyways.

 

[RainbowMoondust]

They either come to me in a flash, or I sit and think about it until I get a good one.

 

[Gama]

It depends. Certain things I come up with the title as part of the concept (eg. Roots and Rival's Story) but others the title takes a lot more work. I had written the entirety of Two's Company before I came up with that rather lacklustre title that I'm still not happy with!

Dragon Days and Are We Heroes? both came to me while I was in the planning stages.

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

I don't really have an inspiration for my stories titles... Some of them are bad puns of the main character's name, while some are just the plot of the story, not much thinking goes into my titles.
But when it comes to chapter names, I take a long time... The same applies for some character names.

 

[Legacy]

For me, 'The Power Inside' came to me because it was a line in the original 'Pokemon Theme' (sort of), plus it accurately sums up the overall main plot idea of my story. Usually, titles are hard for me though.

 

[Kavidun]

Write first chapter, then put a quote as title.

OR Sum up the plot in One/Two/Three MAX words.

 

[RaccoonGoon]

I try to stick to titles that are short and simple. "Look", "Eusine:Mystery Man", "Tycoon"- I made all of these titles with simplicity in mind- I try to avoid sub-titles at all costs, but if I have to include one I would make is simple as well.
You don't need a flashy title, but you need one that makes sense. (Sorta)

 

[Lugion]

They generally relate to the main character or the overall plot.

For example:

Stainless Steel, Steven Stone uses steel-types. Plus, it's some nice alliteration.

Transformers: Hellbound- Everything starts heading toward "Hell".

Transformers: Legion- There are a few cryptic references to an "army" at the end of Hellbound.

 

[Captain GIROG]

Something that can relate to the plot, is simple, and can be easily remembered. I never get titles right the first time, though. Field Research is an abomination of a name, one which I would gladly change if I had the chance. In closing, don't name it something you'll wish you hadn't named it.

 

[an illegible mess.]

Mine are basically words that sum up the plot. Razayka was probably one of the hardest stories I had to come up with a title too (Horrible wording there <_<) I finally decided on just calling the story after the main character.

Time for Change=The Legendaries are changing into humans for the first time.

Taking Chances: The title is also based on the main character, Chance, and his problems in life. He literally takes chances in the story which is how I came up with the name.