Finding Novel Titles

Never underestimate the importance of great novel titles. They matter artistically and, perhaps more importantly, they matter commercially. The perfect fiction title is both artistic and commercial.

Never mind what is printed inside the covers of books - the novel titles printed on the outside can make the world of difference. They can make the difference between a book that captures the public imagination and shoots up the bestseller lists, and a book that falls flat on its face.

Some novelists need a title before they begin to write - without one, they have no sense of destination. Others are happy to wait until the writing is finished (when titles are easier to find) and make do with a working title in the meantime. The choice is yours.

I should say here that titles, along with book jacket designs, are things which publishing houses view as belonging more to the sales department than the creative one. I will leave it to you to decide whether that is right or wrong, but don't be surprised if you are asked to change the title after the novel is accepted.

But whether you have to later change your novel's title or not is immaterial right now. You need to come up with the best name for the book you can before you even submit a manuscript, and this article will help you to do that. I have split it into 2 parts:

• First, I will look at where titles come from.
• Second, and more crucially, I will talk about what makes a good novel title.

Where Do Novel Titles Come From?

The reason I said above that titles are easier to find after the novel is written is that you then have all of the raw material in front of you in black and white - it is simply a question of sorting through it, searching for hidden diamonds.

The best way to do this is methodically, using the sources for novel titles I have set out below. As you do it, be sure to make a note of every potential title that occurs to you.

Sometimes the perfect name leaps out at you and your search is complete. More often, you will have to live with them for a while, carrying them around in your head, before one edges ahead of all the other candidates.

Here, then, are the potential sources for great novel titles...

The Central Character

If most novels are about one character above all the others, it makes sense to name the book after them. This is less common now than it used to be in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when a lot of novels took the form of disguised biographies or autobiographies, but it is certainly one to consider.

You can simply use the character's full name as the novel title:

• Oliver Twist
• Jane Eyre
• Lolita

You can use their name plus one or two other words:

• The Great Gatsby
• Morgan's Passing
• Bridget Jones's Diary

Or you can use not their name but a "label" which describes them:

• The English Patient
• The Accidental Tourist
• The Bonesetter's Daughter

The Setting

I don't just mean the town or city in which the novel is set, but key locations within that community - the name of the central character's house or business, for example, or the street in which they live. Here are some examples:

• Middlemarch
• Brick Lane
• Lake Wobegon Days
• The Old Curiosity Shop
• Jamaica Inn
• The Beach

The Plot

The story itself can be a great source of novel titles - in particular, the object of the central character's overall quest. The following titles all refer to what the character wants:

• The Hunt for Red October
• A Suitable Boy
• Searching for Caleb