How exactly did you come up with the title of your story?

The Necromancer's Lair
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What’s the origin based on the title of your story?
I would like to know because I am curious.

We could discuss more in detail over our titles if we wanted to.
What do you think?

My Turn:

I’ve went through numerous titles, and this is just a temporary one.

Still, the title for my story that I’ve selected for the Tales of Alterra novel series.
I’ve chosen Daughter of Rust for the time being.

Why did I choose that title? Because it is a pretty big spoiler that I am not sure I want to reveal till I’ve completed the story.

Trust me, it makes sense if you have been paying attention to my comments.

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My novella’s title is Blooming Flower.

I came up with it due to my main character, Ashwini. She’s like a blooming flower. Constantly growing, with beautiful petals, but also with some thorns to prick people who handle her the wrong way. A flower needs her sunshine and her water to grow. That’s where her best friends, Manish and Jen, come into play. Manish is her sunshine- happy, funny, and can brighten a day. Jen is her water- cool and goes with the flow.

They form the ultimate trio.

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That sounds really sweet.

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Looking at all my books together, it seems the major theme or the most pressing conflict decides the title, although a couple were named after characters. My current work has no title yet, though, not even a working title. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

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Awesome. Do you like long or short titles for your stories or for stories in general?

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Definitely short titles. All mine are short, usually one or two words. Are you still trying to think up a title for yours?

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I have a temporary title for the time being.

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i did not

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Oh, I see.

So, did you just choose a random title and was like fuck it I am going to use this one or not exactly?

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it’s more like the title had changed NINE TIMES

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Oh, wow.

Were you not satisfied with it or something? Sorry, if I am asking too many questions. I am just curious.

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it’s more like it kinda ddint fit the story :weary:

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Aw… yeah that tends to happen to me sometime.

Well, I feel like it happens more so with the plot/story…sadly.

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“the kids of velouria city” “miguel and da sousa” it just don’t fit :sob:

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What title do you have at the moment?

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Ocean Spirit - It’s just a poetry collection that celebrates the sea, nature, and love, especially in its first chapter, so I felt like this title worked the best for it since the collection captures the vibrant spirit of the ocean.

Zombie Diaries 2019 - I really liked the bluntness of the titles for The Carbon Diaries: 2015 series, and because my MC of the book is fairly blunt and sarcastic, I thought that this title would be just straight to the point and reflect the overall tone of my book.

What Comes After - I just flat-out took this from The Walking Dead, specifically the name of episode 5 from season 9. Originally, the name of this book was This Changed World, but to be honest, I absolutely hated this name since it sounded very generic and uninteresting, but I struggled to find a replacement name. However, after I watched that episode of The Walking Dead, I noticed its name, and I pretty much immediately decided that it was the perfect name for my book. The whole book is filled with instability after a major apocalyptic disaster, and this title captures the uncertainty that permeates throughout the novel.

What Remains Here - I liked the idea of all my titles in the series starting with “What” because it not only helps keep things consistent, but also, I like how the title acts as both a question and a statement. While the first book was focused on the instability in the aftermath as the MC’s family slowly loses utilities and gets bombarded by increasingly severe disasters, the second book is about making the most from what’s left behind from the disaster to build up a community, the chaotic uncertainty of the first book replaced by a slow, creeping dread as winter arrives and supplies dwindle.

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The Sorceress (current project): The villain is a magical being, similar to a witch.

Past projects:

In the Dark: The characters were stranded in the middle of nowhere up in the snowy mountains of Colorado with no cell service, internet, cars don’t work, and they were away from civilization. I used the phrase of “in the dark” to express the situation that they didn’t know anything nor what to do.

Taste of Italy: Characters go on a vacation to Rome and in-between the romance parts, they do travel around the city, getting a taste of it.

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I picked some from my stash. I could add more, but I won’t overwhelm you unless you ask for it :stuck_out_tongue:

World of Elgana books

Lone Gold, Daring Purple

This one’s fun. This was the first book that set the pattern for all Elgana books. Originally it was called The Gold of Charmteller which so, so many people told me to call it The Gold of Charm Teller (not his name!) or Charmteller’s Gold (I dislike titles that are like Someone’s Something) and I wonder if you can hear my annoyance at their requests when it’s MY story XD

So, I thought, okay, Charmteller needs to leave the title. That’s the biggest problem of it because people do not know what the heck it’s about. So, who is this story about? Lone Gold is MC Cypur. He is alone and a loner and his magick is gold (rare and sought after for the majority of the story). Daring Purple perfectly sums up supporting character Wescherlie. She’s daring and she loves the color purple, also her magick is purple. Perfect! :grin:

Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound

Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound took several, multiple, grueling days of thinking, renaming, reworking XD The problem with this one was that I was trying to match it with, Lone Gold, Daring Purple while staring at the existing titles The Choice of Aurvandil, The Last Moon Child, The Last Child of the Moon… and so many more :sweat_smile:

I wanted something to do with the moon in it because MC’s race Kathula have a connection with the moon.
I also wanted “Heart” in it for SURE and I can’t really say exactly where the origin of that is. It’s all kinds of things. Not because it’ll be a spoiler. I just can’t pinpoint one thing.

I also wanted it to be some contrast. Lunar and Shadow is the big contrast in the story. MC’s race Kathula and their enemies, the Edglings use opposing forms of magick. “Bound” comes from the fact that the Edglings were ruling over Kathula, but now it’s meaning is also connected with MC Pinti’s relationship with one of the Edglings (something I came up with quite recently :stuck_out_tongue: ).

Storm Heart, Fire Soul

I came up with this one after calling it Kaiver’s Story for the longest time. Unlike Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound, this story started out without a previous title so it was easy to come up with something in the Elgana title style.

Storm, for the representation of anger and chaos and MC Kaiver’s short temper as well as the ability he has to control the storm if he controls his magick. Fire to represent power, and again, his short temper, but also burning determination to get things done. Storm also represents blue and Fire is red, two colors of magick that appear in the story. After titling it, I actively referenced the two elements and the two colors throughout the story wherever I could.

The (Other) World stories

Dead By Sunrise and Alive At Crepusculum

Dead By Sunrise is the sequel to Alive At Crepusculum. I had this idea that if you are alive right before dawn, then you must be dead before sunrise, right? So, at first I said, Dead Before Sunrise, but then I realized that would mean the same thing as Alive At Crepusculum. As the crepuscular time is right before sunrise :stuck_out_tongue: Then I realized it should be Dead By Sunrise implying a sliver of time after crepuscular time.

Alive At Crepusculum, while writing, did not have a sequel idea. Only when someone told me my initial cover design looked Egyptian did I decide to write a duology with the second book taking place in a fictional Egypt. So, the title of book two existed while writing the story and I actively made all evil deeds occur before sunrise so that the victims would be dead by sunrise :wink: Quite pleased with this XD

Overall, I do tend to have the MC represented. Take my teen-fic sci-fi humor thing. It’s called, “Two and the Last Year on Earth” where Two is the name of the MC, but also a word, so I thought it would be intriguing.

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Depends.

In The Game of the Gods is a series title. Came up with it before I really thought out a God’s game.

Baby became To Make a Kinder Children’s Tale because the characters are bickering over how real or fake their life is, in a world where both of them could be called fairies without knowing, technically, so they wouldn’t use the phrase “fairy tale”.

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Most of my titles come from songs, with a few exceptions

Some of my main projects right now:

Shelter: The whole story was initially inspired by a song called Shelter, and that kinda captures a major theme within the story of the MC feeling like she’s lost the comfort and safety of her home and family, and searching for a way to get that feeling back, but also her becoming the source of that feeling for other characters.

Tell: This is actually probably going to end up being the series name but I don’t have individual book titles yet. It’s actually just the name of the antagonist so nothing super creative :joy:

Of Blood and Ashes: In the story the MC’s father used to tell her that a new world could only built out of blood and ashes. The MC ends up trying to change a major thing about her world and there’s a lot of hardship and sacrifice that comes along with her efforts, and she kinda realizes what he really meant when he told her that. So it’s an important phrase to her.

Wicked Little Creatures: It’s a twist on a line from Bellamy and Sutton’s song that refers to a “wicked little boy”. The sequel, Sheep Among Wolves, is also a twist on another song from my story playlist, Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing.

Serpent in the Shadows: Came from the line “there’s a serpent in these still waters” from the MC’s song.

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