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Coming up with a title for your "baby"

S

SgtPen91st

How many others reading this have had problems coming up with a good title for your "baby?" I've been writing a new story since December 2013. Problem is, I was never truly satisfied with the working title, even though I knew it was just a working title. It bothered me and urked me, like that squirmy feeling you get when you're nervous and about to approach the object of your sexual fantasies. Yeah, that feeling.

ANYWHO, it hit me this weekend upside the head with the force of a prize fighter fighting a school yard bully. Wham-o, I now have a title that I feel really fits the genre and tone of the piece I'm working on. How knows, maybe it will change by the time this 125 page journey is complete; but, maybe....just maybe it won't.

So, back to my original question: How many others have had a similar problem?

G
 
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Personally, I've never had a title I'm happy with. I've finished writing, shooting, editing a whole project without having a proper title. Hell, I've even pushed back the release on a project trying to create a better title! The only things I ever seem to have good titles for don't get made!
 
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Yep, right there with ya. It's taken me weeks just to come up with a working title for my next project. It finally hit me in the head, last night, and I might like it enough to eventually keep it as an actual title. :)
 
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I wanted a one-word tile for my SciFi, ...so I made a list of words.

I did internet searches on each word I came up with until I found one that had a good sound to it and also was not used my a corporation, group or any other entity. Once I settled on the title, I then purchased the ".com" and the ".org" for my title so that no one else could come along and steal it.

So now, should someone purchase my script ....they don't have to worry about any website or company issues.

Bottom line: I did a LOT of research for my title and did it concurrently with coming up with the storyline. It was not a difficult process as much as a time-consuming process.


-Birdman

P.S. (This is my "I knew it!" preemptive statement to be used later)
 
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I'm horrible with titles. I can't even decide on a working title for most projects. Which is why when I came up with "8 BITS" for my animated show I was surprised at how well it rolled off the tongue and at how clever it was (each episode features 8 sketches or "bits")


So, I think the key to titling a project lies in a bottle of liquor, and an angry night of pulling your hair out until you think of something remotely usable.

Or asking your friends
 
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Titles are a personal favourite topic of mine. The best titles IMO have multiple referents within the story, both in terms of specific events/items and overarching themes. I'm in the process of writing a 6-episode TV series at the moment, based on a book, and the most fun I had was choosing a snippet from the book as a title for each episode. Once they were all titled just right, I literally sat back and sighed contentedly :)
 
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Birdman said:
I wanted a one-word tile for my SciFi, ...so I made a list of words.

I did internet searches on each word I came up with until I found one that had a good sound to it and also was not used my a corporation, group or any other entity. Once I settled on the title, I then purchased the ".com" and the ".org" for my title so that no one else could come along and steal it.

So now, should someone purchase my script ....they don't have to worry about any website or company issues.

Bottom line: I did a LOT of research for my title and did it concurrently with coming up with the storyline. It was not a difficult process as much as a time-consuming process.


-Birdman

P.S. (This is my "I knew it!" preemptive statement to be used later)
Click to expand...

Good advice Birdman. I never thought about looking for the dot com or dot org. Can I ask how much it cost you to secure the domain name?

G
 
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Most of the time as soon as I come up with an idea for a story I will first come up with a title, which may change later.

A good thing to do when you come up with a title is to check on a site like imbd or just use google to find out if your title has already been used, and if you feel you want something unique then at least you'll know whether your title is unique.

I'm one of these writers that likes to come up with a one word title that describes the theme of the story or something in the story that is related to the title.
 
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A lot of my screenplays have started life as nothing more than a title! I've got a huge list of potential titles, with a short potential log line after each. Of course, these are all subject to change. But still, come up with a cool title, then worry about the story after...
 
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I usually just come up with a generic crappy title planning to change it before the release, but by the time I am done with the video, I just can't see it as anything other than that name. So I usually just stick with that generic title or change it slightly. Not a method I recommend, haha.
 
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