Saturday, February 7: Mississippi Mud
TITLE SEARCH
by John M. Floyd
I’ve enjoyed reading the opinions in the roundtable discussion of titles this week, and I hope you have as well. I congratulate Paul Guyot for suggesting the idea.
I agree that titles play a big role in the impact, as well as the marketing, of fiction — and especially short fiction. Like Paul, I have chosen to read some short stories and novels based on nothing more than their titles, and have passed them up for the same reason.
I can’t resist mentioning some favorite titles: Fahrenheit 451, “Hills Like White Elephants”, Watership Down, “The Tin Star”, The High and the Mighty, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Run Silent, Run Deep, Atlas Shrugged, etc. And a few that are just delightful: Florence of Arabia, Let’s Hear It for the Deaf Man, A Hearse of a Different Color, Apocalypse Pretty Soon. (I have several in mind that I think are real stinkers, but I’ll let those go unnamed.)
I also admit a fondness for titles that have double meanings (Ken Follett’s Lie Down With Lions had at least three), and titles whose meanings are only later revealed, like The Shipping News, “Rain Man”, Dances With Wolves, The Green Mile, and Cool Hand Luke. As Paul said in a comment to Rob’s Wednesday column, sometimes it’s fun not to know what the title means until you read the book.
As for choosing titles for my stories, I’m afraid I seldom have one in mind before I start. Sometimes I do, as was the case with “Eyes in the Sky” , “The Sixth Victim”, “The Pony Creek Gang”, “Midnight”, “The Judge’s Wife”, “The Blue Wolf”, and others, but more often a title comes to me during the process of writing. If that doesn’t work, I can usually settle on a title by asking myself the following questions after the writing’s finished: (The examples listed are titles of some of my own published stories.)
(1) Can I use a place name? “Hardison Park”, “Vacationland”, “Eddie’s Motel”, “The Wading Pool”, “Rainbow’s End”, “Lookout Mountain.”
(2) Can I create a play on words? “Murphy’s Lawyer”, “A Little Knight Music”, “Henry’s Ford”, “Della’s Cellar”, “Wheels of Fortune.”
(3) Can I add an “-ing”? “Going Straight”, “Remembering Tally”, “Saving Mrs. Hapwell”, “Waiting for the Bus”, “Catnapping”, “Mugging Mrs. Jones.”
(4) Can I add an apostrophe and an “s”? “Lucy’s Gold”, “Doctor’s Orders”, “Hartmann’s Case”, “Dooley’s Code”, “Lindy’s Luck”, “Newton’s Law”, “Clara’s Helper”, “The Warden’s Game.”
(5) Can I take a line or phrase from the story itself? “Speed Dial”, “Not One Word”, “Last Chance”, “Run Time”, “One Less Thing”, “Greased Lightnin’”, “Smoke Test”, “One-Way Ticket.”
(6) Can I use a three-word “Ludlum-like” title? “The Pullman Case”, “The Medicine Show”, “The Willisburg Stage”, “The Winslow Tunnel.”
(7) Can I use something that has a double or unexpected meaning? “Elevator Music”, “A Gathering of Angels”, “Knights of the Court”, “High Anxiety”, “Four for Dinner”, “True Colors”, “Ladies of the North”, “Poetic Justice”, “Little White Lies.”
(8) Can I use a name or nickname? “Diamond Jim”, “Frankie”, “Sweet Caroline”, “The Messenger”, “Thursday’s Child”, “The Cookie Monster”, “Good Samaritan”, “Guardian Angel”, “King of the City”, “Sneaky Pete.”
(9) Can I echo the story’s “theme”? “Appearances”, “Survival”, “Early Retirement”, “Careers”, “Civic Duties”, “Creativity”, “Family Business”, “Battleground”, “Teamwork”, “A Matter of Honor.”
(10) Can I use a phrase that has a good “rhythm” when read aloud? “The Early Death of Pinto Bishop”, “Debbie and Bernie and Belle”, “A Thief in the Night”, “The Moon and Marcie Wade”, “A Nice Little Place in the Country.”
(11) Can I use a well-known saying, or part of one? “A Stitch in Time”, “A Thousand Words”, “Old Soldiers”, “Just Passing Through”, “Lost and Found”, “A Piece of Cake”, “Sink or Swim”, “A Place in History”, “Batteries Not Included”, “Nothing but the Truth.”
(12) Can I (if all else fails) use something simple but still appropriate to the story? “The Proposal”, “Illumination”, “Sightings”, “Partners”, “Stopover”, “War Day”, “Travelers”, “Pocket Money”, “Oversight”, “Premonition”, “Clockwork.”
In answer to one of the questions Paul asked in his Monday column, yes, for me the title-search process often takes a while. I like to tell myself it’s time well spent.
Another confession: I do sometimes change a title several times before I submit the story to an editor. Are those changes always for the better? I hope so — but who knows? I should know, of course, by now, but I often question my judgment.
I must mention here that the best-laid plans sometimes fail. Publishers of novels and editors of shorts are notorious for changing a writer’s titles. All you can do is try. (By the way, in response to Jon Breen’s question the other day, no, AHMM has never changed any of my titles. But I do have another story coming up there soon, so I hope I’m not giving Linda any ideas…. )
Just remember, fellow writers — if your title does get changed by an editor, you at least can rest assured that your original was better.
Wasn’t it? Sure it was.
Wasn’t it … ?
Cornell Woolrich wrote some of my favorites. “Charley Won’t Be Home Tonight” would be hard to top. Another is “I Wouldn’t Be In Your Shoes.” After you become familiar with his work, even “Hotel Room” conjures up visions of terrible things to come. So does one of his last, “For the Rest of Her Life.” I believe it was Frederick Dannay, a man mentioned frequently this week, who said Woolrich was the only writer he knew who was frightened by his own stories.
You have come up with some dandies yourself, John.
Ooh…titles with two meanings. My favorite is A Certain Justice, because the two meanings contradict each other. So clever.
Favorite titles? How about Donald E. Westlake’s “The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution.”
Yep, Woolrich was great with titles, and with the stories themselves. (I also read someplace that Stephen King scared himself with a few of his books and stories.)
Another title I’ve not been able to forget: THE SIDELONG GLANCES OF A PIGEON KICKER, by David Boyer.
Great post, John.
I second Woolrich for providing great titles. Also, and this may say more about me than titles, I’ve realized my most favorite titles tend to come from the pulpish novels of the 50’s and 60’s.
Oh, and I just thought of one of my fav short story titles – END OF THE TIGER – by one of my all-time heroes, John D. That’s an example of an intriguing title, that gives nothing away until… the opening sentence.
Great summary of different approaches to titles. Regarding titles with multiple meanings, a reader could have fun figuring out how many different ways some of Ed McBain’s one-word titles (e.g., ICE) could be interpreted. As for Woolrich’s great titles, consider “Something That Happened at Our House” or “All at Once, No Alice.” One of his best stories, “Dime a Dance,” somehow got tagged with the inferior reprint title “The Dancing Detective.” Not sure whether that was Fred Dannay’s work, but I think it probably was.
John, I’m glad for a chance to plug your fine recent collection MIDNIGHT. A consummate pro at work!
Thanks, Paul and Jon, for your very kind words. Jon, I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed MIDNIGHT.
I too like McBain’s titles — and on the subject of one-worders, how about James Michener’s? Those became his trademark, like Evanovich’s numbers and Grafton’s letters and John D.’s colors and Patterson’s nursery rhymes and Sandford’s prey titles. And the king of “appropriate” titles is probably Grisham.
Ah, titles. I am hip-deep in them right now (I’m currently the #2 fiction editor in the “Triangulation: Dark Glass” SF anthology) and I’ve got to tell you, it’s frightening how few of the stories in the slush pile have good titles.
As to my own work, I don’t think I’ve ever had the title before I had the story, especially the mysteries. It’s one of the things I try to impress on students when I talk on the craft of Writing: the title is the first thing an editor–and hopefully a reader–will see of your work, so do your best to make it good.
Great posts, everyone! I’m enjoying the insights this week! I’m also a fan of a book’s chapter titles (old-fashioned, I know!) Stuart Palmer’s “Murder On The Blackboard” uses some good ones, like “Teacher Is Kept After School” and “Tag!” (the last for the penultimate chapter where the culprit is caught.)