Glimpses of Greatness

I just did a post a couple weeks ago on first impressions and some of the opening lines of my favorite stories, the kinds of opening lines that grab you and enchant you into the story. But there is something that creates an impression even before the prospective reader gets to the first page, and it doesn't get nearly the emphasis that "hooks" do: the title. (The cover, also, but writers don't have much say in that department.)

The title, I would venture to say, isn't quite as important as the opening chapter - people tend to be attracted to the cover first, then the first line - but if it is something catchy it will help to grab the interest of the reader. Take, for instance, a few of these:

roll of thunder, hear my cry

gone with the wind

out of the silent planet

towards zero

pride and prejudice

a wrinkle in time

the mark of the horse lord

I don't remember particularly liking Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry when I read it, but that title is one of my favorites. It sums up the feel of the story, but it also has perfect cadence; it (pardon the pun) rolls off the tongue. It's a stirring title.

Then there's Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, one of those books that readers either love or hate. I haven't read it yet - it's sitting on my shelf, waiting for the day I feel like I can stomach Scarlett O'Hara - but I've always liked the title. It doesn't have the same cadence of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, but it does capture the melancholy of the novel and sums up the disappearance of the Old South after the Civil War in a classic way.

Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis) flows, and it also gives me a thrill and a sensation of mystery every time I see the cover on my shelf. One wants to know what the Silent Planet is, and what it means to come out of it. Towards Zero is one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels and I am currently rereading it, which is perhaps why it made its way onto the list; Agatha Christie has so many good titles that it is hard to pick just one. Towards Zero is a great one, however, because it ties in with the way the story is written to "count down" to the murder, at zero hour.

Pride and Prejudice uses alliteration to great effect, as Jane Austen also did with Sense and Sensibility. Alliteration is a tricky business, though, and often comes off sounding like a children's board book, so it has to be handled with care. Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is another favorite (there's so much to love about this book); it has rhythm, starts with an article other than 'the', and makes the reader want to know how time can be wrinkled. And then there is The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff, yet another one that gives me a shiver. Apparently I tend to like titles that have "of the" in them.

A lot of people have difficulty coming up with good titles, though perhaps that's because they try too hard. It's amazing how many obstacles you make for yourself when you try too hard. Titles are usually the kinds of things that have to come to you, but if you are still struggling for something to call your story, a few things to keep in mind are cadence (does it sound good?), applicability (does it fit the story?), and subtlety versus the obvious (do you want to use an underlying theme in the story, or something more blatant?). For instance, my novel Wordcrafter was originally going to be "The Wordcrafter," but I chopped out the article because simply calling it "Wordcrafter" was more powerful. I briefly toyed with the idea of calling it The Thousandth Man, but I kept Wordcrafter because I liked the single word title and because I felt that it embodied the story better.

Try to come up with something different that will stick in people's memory, and also preferably not too long - the longer it is, the more likely it will be forgotten. Of course The White Sail's Shaking is fairly long, but I have been debating whether or not to change the title due to the fact that it is a little hard to say. We shall see.

what's the title of your work in progress?