Naming a Story is the Hardest Part

I took a couple of weeks off from blogging over the holidays, but now I am back in the saddle.  (Yes, I know that is a pretty obvious statement!)  I hope you all had a joyous, peaceful holiday season.

In my first blog of 2017, I have decided to talk about coming up with titles for stories.  For me, this is one of the hardest parts about writing a story.  Not just for a story, really, but for anything.  In my former day job as a business analyst, I frequently conceived new software functionality, designed new screens for looking at data, created new reports for users, etc.  I would invariably tell the person I was working for, “I will design whatever you need, just don’t make me name it.”  So I guess I come by my title phobia honestly.

I ran out of time to put off naming my latest story last week, though.  I wanted to enter the story in a contest, and I needed a name for it first.  Up to this point, I referred to it by my hero and heroine’s names, or as my Georgian historical.  But that was no longer sufficient.  It was time to get to work.

I started by grabbing a marker and standing in front of my whiteboard for a brainstorming session.  (Someday, I will show you a picture of the wall of whiteboard in my writing office.)  First, I jotted down some key words related to the story.  Words like “love” and “romance” were obvious choices.  My heroine sometimes looks up at the stars in the evening to talk to her deceased family, so I wrote down “stars” and “light.”  Since the hero and heroine both have injuries which have scarred them mentally as well as physically, I added words like “damaged” and “healing” to the list.  “Beauty and the Beast” was an obvious phrase to include since each views him/herself as a damaged beast.

As I looked at the words I was writing down, a few titles came to mind.  I wrote them down in a separate column on the whiteboard.  After looking at the board off-and-on over the next couple days, I came up with a few more titles.

Once I had a list of title options, I started narrowing it down.  I was looking for a title with 2-4 words, and hopefully something a little specific to the story.  After pacing back-and-forth while staring at the list, I was able to cross some off.  While I was doing that, a new title idea popped in my head, and I decided to go with it, at least for now. 

I know you are probably wondering what I chose, but I think I will hold off on sharing the title just yet.  I’m not entirely certain the title won’t change in the future, so I don’t want to confuse anyone.

And if anyone has a better title suggestion for me to use, I would love to hear it!