how do you choosing titles for your work?

[KT Wagner]

“As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.” G C Litchenberg

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to convey it all in one word. My reference library could be reduced to a single book - a dictionary.

[C.W. LaSart]

Totally true. I write in a similar way Nik. Sometimes my characters even make decisions for me. In fact, while writing the sequel to my 1st book, one of the characters suddenly decided to reveal a deep secret to me that changed the entire outcome of the story I had in mind. Sometimes, its more fun that way.

My characters drag me all over Hell and back-they do what they want. I rarely have any influence over the outcome of my stories-they come to me-I write them to stop the itch-I move on. It's a very schizophrenic process for me.

[ozmosis7]

Totally true. I write in a similar way Nik. Sometimes my characters even make decisions for me. In fact, while writing the sequel to my 1st book, one of the characters suddenly decided to reveal a deep secret to me that changed the entire outcome of the story I had in mind. Sometimes, its more fun that way.

[Craig Wallwork]

You're not wrong, Nik. You're not wrong.

[Nik Houser]

“As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.” G C Litchenberg

What an amazing quote. Doesn't apply that often to me, though, much to my chagrin. I sit down with a pretty clear vision, but mostly the theatrical trailer form of what's going to happen in the story. So often the story decides to do something I didn't anticipate. I'm sure you guys no stranger to this phenomenon. And when the writing is going REALLY well, the story takes that left turn you didn't expect and begins to unearth something so unplanned, yet so seemingly whole and unique unto itself, that it appears as though it's been there this whole time, and that I'm not writing the story, but rather, unearthing it. Oh man, those moments can make it all worth it. Am I right?

[Craig Wallwork]

I had that quote in my signature for a long time over at Write Club. I think it resonates with most writers. i also quite liked, “Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity” – Charles Bukowski.

[RJHubbard53]

“As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.” G C Litchenberg

Heh, well there ya go. I think mr. Litchenbrg was a little mor eloquent than I in stating that.

[Craig Wallwork]

What I struggle with is that I know the beginning, end, and most of in between; however, I don't seem to Have the patience to get the story out. I'm thinking quicker than I can write and I lose stuff because I don't get words to paper soon enough.

“As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.” G C Litchenberg

[RJHubbard53]

What I struggle with is that I know the beginning, end, and most of in between; however, I don't seem to Have the patience to get the story out. I'm thinking quicker than I can write and I lose stuff because I don't get words to paper soon enough.

[Randy D. Rubin]

For me, titles are the easy part. Its that hurdle from the middle of the story to the end where one can't leave any ragged edges or stones unturned that I struggle with sometimes, in my yarns.

[Draven Ames]

Usually it is a line from the story that seemed to sum it all up. For this contest, I had a real hard time picking out a title. Often times, I'll pull the line from the story and keep it as the title. Theme has a lot to do with it to, as the word(s) should sum up the theme.

That's me. I try to stay away from using names in titles. Something about it.

[portrait in flesh]

For me, titles are usually tougher to come up with than the actual stories. I try to find ones that don't give too much away but which still have some kind of hook. It really depends on the individual piece. So far, I've yet to really craft a story just to fit a particular title, though.

[blasko66]

I usually have a working title first that's very, very basic. Something to just remind me what's what. Often it's from a song title. For instance, the last novel-length work I finished (and got rejected from Leisure's Fresh Blood contest) was titled Murder for the longest time. This was after the Ours song which was on my playlist that I listened to while writing it. (The Ours album Mercy. . . Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Friend was a hugely inspirational album for that.) I was almost finished writing (and gearing up for revising and editing) before I changed the title to Music for the Dead and the Dying.
In the Trenches, my contest entry, had no other title. I thought it fit alright and the story was so short I didn't really need a more interesting title.

[ozmosis7]

A lot of times I just come up with a generic title at first. I can't seem to work on stories until its got a title, even a generic one.

I do that. It's rarely an untitled for long, before (say if it is a vampire story) it becomes the Bloody Sucking Tour, just for the hell of it. And over time, as I write it--I hope for a better title. If not, I now have a website to fall back on LOL.

Interesting enough, in a recent critique I had a story that translated in a different manner than I intended to our friends over the pond. So I would advise if you are sending it to a venue that isn't American, or might be intended for multiple regions--check your title and make sure it isn't something completely different, lost in translation.

[Kenwood]

A lot of times I just come up with a generic title at first. I can't seem to work on stories until its got a title, even a generic one. Something tells me that makes me a bit crazy. Haha.

If I can't sit back and think of something interesting, I'll then turn to looking through the story. Usually something in the writing will jump out at me. For instance, I wrote a story called "Kissing Death" a few years ago. In it, there's this line:

Despite the comfortable temperature of Logan’s room, she always found it to be cold. A deeper kind of cold; one that crept into her bones and chilled her heart.

And now the story is called "A Deeper Kind of Cold," which I like much better.

I'm also a huge music fan, so often a song title will jump out and seem perfect for something I'm working on. My story in The Zombie Feed, Vol. 1, for instance, is called "Goddamn Electric." This is a Pantera song, but it's also the perfect title for this story.