What? No, not me. Before I ever write word one of a new novel I must have a title. More on that in a moment. During my quarter-century or so as a writing coach and editor I’ve had many fiction—and even non-fiction—manuscripts come to me without titles…books that the writers have worked on for a year, two years, even longer. You mean they’ve written 70,000, 80,000, even 100,000 words and up—and have been unable to come up with a two, three-, or four-word title? Well, guess so, judging by the number I’ve encountered.

So, is anything wrong with that? No, not at all—as long as the book is called something by the time it is ready to be marketed to literary agents, or published. Duh…

As I said regarding my own stories, one thing I do during my preliminary research is come up with a title, so that my book has an identity. Oftentimes that title has long since come to me; but having written about thirty books there were times when it did not prove that easy. What I did was make a list—sometimes short, occasionally long—of potential titles, and then, if nothing has jumped out at me, pick one of them and use that as my working title. That at least gets me started. Somewhere along the way the light bulb will go off and the perfect title will reveal itself.

DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR TITLE

Keep in mind that a publisher, for one reason or another, is more likely than not to change your title, so you need to be prepared for that. My horror novel, Demon Shadows, was not called that during the writing process. From the start it had been Snow Shadows, a title that not only I, but also my editor at Bantam, loved. It was even in my contract as Snow Shadows. But the marketing group changed it at the last minute, and I didn’t even know it until I saw the proofs. Wow, was I crushed! But the book did reasonably well for them as Demon Shadows, and it sort of grew on me, so even when I re-issued it under my own imprint I kept it that way.

Conversely, the one that challenged me the most had to do with a satirical science fiction story in which a California bicyclist rides his mountain bike into Earth’s past and future, other worlds, literature, and so on. I must’ve put down a dozen titles, all of which I thought sucked. Finally I used the working title of Bicycling Through Space and Time. I even sent it in to Ace/Berkley that way and told them to feel free to change it, please! Guess what, they loved the title, and it got published that way.  Go figure…

“MIKE, PLEEEEAAASE, GIMME A TITLE!!!”

So have all my writers ultimately come up with something better than “Untitled”? Well, no, because in some cases they have begged, pleaded, gotten down on their knees (okay Mike, kill the melodramatics) and implored me to title their books. Hey, no problem; I actually enjoy doing that, and having been their coach for many months I’m as familiar with their stories as they are.

My favorite one happened some years back and involved my late and great friend, Jeff Sherratt. Jeff approached me with a half-completed, “Untitled” mystery, and over the next six months or so I helped him get to THE END. During the process I never bugged him about a title, but as the manuscript drew near to being submission-ready I advised him to come up with one. Thus commenced the begging and pleading, and so I said fine, I would do it. How long did it take? Maybe one short walk—I do my best creative stuff while walking. This wonderful murder mystery had to do with a cult leader, a fire & brimstone preacher who sets up a hidden compound in California’s blistering Mojave Desert. Light bulb! I hurried home and emailed Jeff. How about The Brimstone Murders? I wrote. Sort of a double entendre there. His reply bordered on the orgasmic. He loved it so much, he said, that he wanted to give me half his royalties if it ever got published. There was even something about a first-born in there… I, of course, refused it all; happy to help.

Anyway, if finding the right title is all that’s holding you up from starting your work on The Great American Novel, just put down “Untitled” and get going. Happy writing!

SWORDS & SPECTERS: in a week or so I will be releasing the fourth and last novel in my Ro-lan adventure fantasy series, The Beasts of Zammar. First published by Zebra Books as The Demons of Zammar, the series, which pits young American Roland Summers and his friends against the evil Ras-ek Varano in the deadly, other-dimensional world of Konis, did not originally end with that book. I’ve always wondered myself what would happen, and so I’ve added five new chapters to bring the story to a conclusion. My next post will address how strongly writers connect to their characters—and how hard it is to let go.