Author: | Nola | Published: | about 7 years ago |
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Tags: | creativity, titles, double meanings, questions, homophones | Category: | Writing tips |
In Part 2 of this series, I looked at three ways of generating book titles: brainstorming, mining other sources, and creating a unique spin on another title or phrase. You can also dig a little deeper to intrigue potential readers.
Capitalising on Double Meanings
A lot of English words have more than one meaning, even though they are spelled the same. Why not use that phenomenon to add nuance to your title?
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly tells the story of the remarkable African-American women mathematicians who were vital to NASA’s space program. The term ‘hidden figures’ can refer to the women themselves, as their part in history was largely hidden. However, ‘figures’ is also a mathematical term that fits well with the book’s topic. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carré is another example. ‘Cold’ can describe the climate or allude to the Cold War that forms the background to the book.
You could also use homophones (i.e. words that sound the same, but are spelled differently). Mark Monmonier used a twist on ‘the heir apparent’ for the title of his book Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather. Jane Christmas used a homophone to add a comic touch to her book And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life. You can click here for a list of common words that sound the same. Could you use any of those to add an extra layer of meaning to your title?
Posing Questions that Demand an Answer
Posing a question can also pique a reader’s interest. The movie Blade Runner is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? That title raises a number of questions. Could robotics advance to the point where androids would dream? If so, what would they dream about? And how do electric sheep fit into the picture? In the post-nuclear world that Dick envisages, real animals are extremely rare and expensive. Decker, the protagonist, longs to own a real animal but can only afford an electric sheep. That’s not the main theme of the novel, but it shows us part of Decker’s character and provides clues to some of his choices. Other questioning titles include Who’s Afraid of Virginal Woolf? by Edward Albee, Where is God When it Hurts? by Philip Yancey, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson and Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. Mmm … sheep must be good fodder for questions. Could you pose a question that would make people want to read on to find the answer?
If you’ve followed the five tips in my last two posts, you should have a long list of possible titles for your book. Next week, I’ll look at some suggestions and caveats for choosing a winning title from your list. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what kind of titles grab your attention and why?
Comments read 8 comments
This was fascinating for me to read Nola, because a lot of my job is coming up with titles for web content and blog posts. It is a tricky balance between choosing what people are looking for in the search engines, and something that will really pique their interest so they click through! For this reason double meanings may not work - but questions are still a good strategy :-)
That's a good point, Janet. In next week's post, I'm going to look at some caveats, and that's one of the things I was going to mention. When writing nonfiction, you want people to know what it's about so that it comes up in search engines. I guess that's where subtitles can be helpful, though they may sometimes be too long for a blog title. I think it's also important not to misrepresent the content of the blog (e.g. sticking the word 'Kardashian' in there just so people will stumble across it). I think you come up with great titles for your blogs. I loved 'My Real-Life Footloose Story' (title and blog). Don't you miss those 80s fashions?
Tim also thought it was ironic that I chose fairly standard titles for my blog series on interesting titles (LOL), but I wanted people to be able to look down the list of posts and see what they were about. Always a conundrum though. Thanks for stopping by :)
Another great post, thanks, Nola. I love titles which have more than one meaning or include word play. I do remember studying George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying - including the title as a play on Keep the Flag flying.
Thanks Jenny. That's a great example. Word play can be especially good for humorous books, but there are a number of serious ones that have also used it to great effect. When I find a really clever title that actually adds an extra layer of meaning (rather than just being clever for the sake of it), it's an added bonus. Thanks for your comment :)
Thank you for this post. I love the idea of using double meanings and posing really intriguing questions. Will definitely have to use this for some of the articles I write! I'm gonna share this with the office now too!!
Thanks for that Charis. Hope it helped. I had a few suggestions in last week's post too. I think you had a pretty intriguing question about Luke Skywalker for your blog. Got me reading :)
I know I am not alone in my love of words and particularly playing with double meanings. It is one of my struggles (more in blog posts than book titles) to try to add double meaning, while piquing interest and not being so obscure that 90% of people have no idea what you are talking about! Great thoughts, Nola, thanks.
That's a good point, Ruth. I was chatting about this to my husband yesterday and he commented that a title with double meaning could backfire if you're relying on the readers knowing what you're alluding to (e.g. if you're twisting a phrase they haven't heard of). It's a fine balance to find something that will work for most readers. I'll say a bit more about that in next week's post when I look at caveats when choosing titles. Thanks for your comment.
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