What's in a Name? In a word...everything!

You’ve seen the titles. You know. The book titles that cause you to engage in serious head-slapping for not thinking of them first. Wonderfully clever book titles that make use of wicked word plays, delightful deviations on movie or song titles, or dynamite double meanings that compel you to pick the book up and read the back cover copy. Maybe you’ve even come up with more than a few of your own.

While a great cover can attract a shopper’s eye at the supermarket checkout or draw one’s attention to it among the shelves of books at your favorite bookstore, the importance of crafting a catchy, creative title to grab that prospective reader’s attention has never been greater.

Which brings me to my blog topic this week--and, sadly, to a weakness I must own up to. Most authors have areas they struggle with (and only their critiques partners know for sure). For some writers, it’s pacing. For others it’s point of view. Still others find writing sex scenes challenging. For me, it’s titles. For the most part I suck at titling books. And while I realize I’m not alone here, (I’ve seen some ‘gag-me’ titles that had me going ‘what were they thinking?’) this shortcoming frustrates me just the same.

The first ‘hairball’ title I produced still causes twitters among my children. A short category romance, I titled it Chance for a Lifetime. A little sappy but not too terribly bad -- until you found out the hero’s name was ‘Chance.’ See what I mean? Bleah. The next book I wrote--a romantic comedy with a divine touch--had what I thought was the perfect title. Apparently so did another author who gave her book the very same title. Unfortunately for me she managed to sell her book first. So it was back to the drawing board for a new ‘perfect’ title. It took me another year to come up with Fiancé at her Fingertips. I eventually learned to love the title. It’s a good thing, too, as this book recently sold and will be my first non-Calamity Jayne release for Dorchester Publishing.

And now we come to Calamity Jayne. First off, I love the title of the first book. It totally fits the story. You’ll like it more, too, when you hear my original working title for this project.

Ahem. Clang, clang! Hairball alert! Butt ugly title ahead!!

Okay, here goes. I originally called the book Ditz. That’s right. Ditz. Hey, I warned you it wasn’t going to be pretty. You see, when I’m writing, I must have a working title. Thankfully I lost this gem about four chapters into the book and never looked back. Next was Calamity Jayne Rides Again. That was my working title and I was okay with it. It fit the theme of the book and had the nickname recognition going for it. Then came, Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun, a fitting, yet fun, title. Book four of the Tressa Jayne Turner series, Calamity Jayne Goes to College (a play on the old Ronald Reagan Bonzo Goes to College flick), brought back the now familiar Calamity Jayne moniker. And with Tressa and the Grandville Gang heading to the southwest in the upcoming fifth book in the series, I figured a working title of Calamity Jayne Heads West would work. It worked well enough I got to keep it but now I find myself wishing I had dug a little deeper to come up with something a bit more compelling. Less ho hum.

Which brings me to my sixth Calamity caper. It features a truly inspired title. Anchors Aweigh! Yep. That spelling is correct and the only other thing I’m saying is that it’s dead on, folks. Hehe.

After ten books you’d think I’d develop a knack (a trick even) for crafting cute, clever titles, wouldn’t you? I have been practicing though. The final Saturday of RWA National Conference this past summer after the Awards Gala I spent a number of hours in the Hyatt Regency Hotel lobby in Dallas with friends trying to come up with ideas for a series in development. Things got a little out of hand. Too little sleep combined with too much chocolate, I’m afraid and the results were--suspect. But what happens in Dallas, stays in Dallas. Right, ladies?

So what do you like in a title? For those of you who write, how do you all generate titles? Do you always have a working title for each project? How often are your titles keepers?

Looking down the road a piece my seventh Calamity Jayne book involves a cross country bicycle ride, a tandem bicycle, spandex --and, naturally, more than a few potholes.

I’m already experiencing title trauma.

Help!

~Kathy ‘Bullet Hole’ Bacus~