I hate titling things. I mean you have no way to win. You either have to wait until you finish writing something and then you are left with the daunting task of compressing your newly finished masterpiece into a few words.
OR
You could title it before you finish, saving you from one horror only to give yourself another. If you start with a title it's like you've limited your self, tied yourself down to that title and you spend so much time trying to keep the story with in itself that you lose some of the original grandeur of the idea.
That is why I am now left with a novel that I have been working on for three years now sitting open on my desktop saved as "The Hilary, Tristan, and Colbey story, To be named." I have been struggling with those three words, 'to be named', through out the whole writing process, waiting I suppose for the perfect title to jump into existence. Alas, it hasn't and the elusive title has left me a nearly finished novel that I am quite proud of and headache from trying to give it a name.
This must be how mothers feel. She spends nine months with swollen ankles, a weird appetite, and a stomach the size of a beach ball and when it is all over she has to give a name to the accumulative result of those nine months of constant worry, work, and wonder. A name that will be people's first impression of this beautiful thing that she created. A name that will define that new masterpiece. A name that will, in essence, be what that child is. How do mothers do it? How do they always know who you are before they even see you, to the point that they feel confidant in the name they give you?
Do you see my problem, because it's a big one? Here I have this beautiful masterpiece that I made out of nothing and I still, at the end of three years constant thought, have no idea of what exactly it is.
3 comments:
guest reader and editor and helpful titleist? at your service. I can't wait to read To Be Named....send it this way!
As a Dad that had a part in Titling you I understand exactly this thing that troubles you. Try to understand that somedays you will love the title you give your masterpiece, and other days you will not. there is no easy way to finish things, we have had the hospital call us at home several days after we left and tell us that we have to confirm the chosen name or we will face dire consequences!
Some advise;
Let it have meaning, Ann is a name that you share with your Grandmother Shirley Ann Lapp. My Mother. A woman that helped me be who I am today, she taught me to love others and be tolerant and understanding, to always help lift another from theirt troubles if I could. She taught me be confident, remembering that someone loves me no matter what stupid thing i just did. That today could be the best day of your life if you just let it be.
I want those to be things that you know, I wanted all the best parts of my mother to be present in you, and when I watch you be such a unique person full of ideas and life I know that the title was appropriate.
There are days that I think "maybe I should have titled her something else." but Totally awesome beautiful megasmart wonder woman just is too much to put on a birth certificate
So keep it simple, give it meaning, know that it is your masterpiece regardless of anyone else's opinion, love it for what it is and you will be happy with the title because soon you will remember that it isnt whats on the outside that matters at all its the guts that you love!
Taylor,
You know how some people go on those "Name your baby" sites, and just sort of pick a name that they like? Or they pick a name that has a nice meaning?
For instance, I live next to a little girl named Sunny. When you first look at her, she's every bit her name... then you get to know her, and suddenly you're starting to think she's not so sunny.
So while all that stuff you wrote was incredibly profound, and I was thinking "Whoa. Deep.", I have to say that sometimes people have NO clue what to name something, so they just name it. Look at 'Twilight'. It's named for one conversation that happens at a very dis-interesting part of the book, and unless you're actually paying attention, at the end you go: "Why was it named 'Twilight'?"
What I'm trying to say with all my pointless babbling is that you can just name it after some totally random word/phrase in your novel, that may or may not be important. While not as great as possibly naming it something like what Sarah Dessen does, it's actually okay to do.
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