Q&A for How to Come up With a Good Title

The only thing under your control is the story; you can't twist people's arms until they scream that it's good. So the only way to make people love it is to write good stories. Practice, then practice some more. Most of what you write you will delete, but some of it will remain standing, and if you put all those bits together, that's when people will love it.

The best place to get good criticism is to show parts of the story to people you know who are in your preferred audience. Reach out to your friends' friends, teachers (if you know any), and family members.

It depends how strong the series name is, but don’t count on it to save you. It’s the book name that really counts. Personally, I’d go for two-six words. If it’s something like Cursed, which is a strong name, it’s fine.

How about "Rules and Roses," "First Kiss," or "Trapped in Heaven"?

It could really be either one. Some people like to start their story with a title while others like to finish the story first to decide which title fits best.

Try to use vivid words that relate to the subject of your research. If you want, make your title alliterative or rhyming.

A title hints at the contents of an essay, so if the content is about how technology affects us today then you could use a title like "Technology Today", "Technology in Our Modern World", etc. Something along those lines.

It would really depend on your characters and the plot. You may want to vaguely mention the problem. Something punchy, short, and dramatic would be great, especially for middle school audiences.

You can state your point of view in the title to ready the reader for what you are about to say.

Follow the methods in Capitalize a Book Title .

"Hidden Identities", or maybe "Double Life", could work as titles.

Unless you get copyright permission in writing from the song owner's lawyers, you can't put the song name. However, you can use phrases from the song or mention it in the text of your book, provided you add a reference to it.

Do it slowly, unexpectedly, or maybe closer to when that part of the story would be revealed anyway. Though a plot twist changes the whole course of something, they typically do give away clues as the what may happen next.

Most book titles are based on the story line, but you could call it something like, “The Haunting”, for example and it wouldn’t spoil the plot. Keep it simple, so that it won’t spoil anything major.

Think about some elements of the story. What are the names of important locations or things (Howl's Moving Castle), certain groups (The Rats of Nimh), or the main character(s) and a plot point (Haroun and the Sea of Stories). Just have fun making up a title!