I tend to not worry about titles until the end of my editing phase. I name drafts after the main characters and, by the time I wrap up edits, an actual title usual emerges. I also get a kick out of playing with chapter titles - some of my books have only numbers, others have phrases. I know some folks use quotes, too.
So, here are a couple "You Tell Me" questions. What do YOU think about books titles and chapter titles?
Aargh! Titles are one of my least favourite things about writing too. I don't usually have anything for the whole draft either, and then what I do come up with never sounds snappy enough.
ReplyDeleteCool poll. BTW, your options are the same for both - I was a bit confused! So I just voted on the chapter one. From the POV of a writer, I voted for who needs chapters. My fave author, Terry Pratchett, hardly ever uses them, and that's the way I write too. I just divide it up afterwards because I'd rather stick to convention as a new writer. But I like when the story can just flow and flow.
Sometimes I struggle with a title. I want a unique one, but can't always find that. Lol
ReplyDeleteSometimes titles come straight away when I am writing, like with my current project, the title was actually the second thing I knew about the story. Other times I have no idea and do the same as you, name the draft after the main character.
ReplyDeleteChapter titles are trickier, cause most of the time I usually just use numbers, but occasionally I use actual titles. When I do though I struggle to start a chapter if I don't have a title for it, it's quite frustrating.
I had to have fun with the voting and say "Who needs chapters anyway" because separating my manuscript into chapters is the last thing I do!
ReplyDeleteTitles are difficult. The titles for my second and third books came from my publisher because I couldn't think of any.
it depends...
ReplyDeleteadult books dont need them, but game of thrones tells who each chapter is about and i like seeing when i get to read about them again... chapter titles are also good for younger ages
During this rewrite, I found that I was a little stressed over the chapter titles, then I stopped...and just wrote the word "chapter" and then went back and added names.
ReplyDeleteWhat I usually do with a story or novel is give it a title that will remind me of what the story is about. This is so when I save it, I know what it is when I open it. I don't worry about coming up with a real title until later on in the process. At that point, it usually just comes to me at some point while I'm working on it. I hope that always continues...haha
ReplyDeleteI don't name my chapters. I don't even divide it up until the very end!
I'm not so good with the titles. I've worked on stuff for a year or more with only "untitled.doc" as a file name. I tend to like chapter titles that hint at something in the coming pages, but for some reason I never do this. I think because it's one more layer of work for me to do. :P
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm weird (OK, I am) but I *love* coming up with the titles and the chapter quotes!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it stems from my former days as a beat reporter - I had to come up with 3-5 titles (or headlines) per day :)
I've never even *tried* to title things, because I can't think of anything that sounds even remotely title-like. I usually just use the name of my main character for my documents...
ReplyDeleteI love coming up with Titles! I believe I'm pretty good at it! :)
ReplyDelete