How do you come up with effective short story/novel titles?

Question

How do you come up with effective short story/novel titles? Any tips or tricks?

Answer 1

For short stories, I usually try to go with a phrase from the story, or a phrase that describes the story ambiguously, usually with some sort of alliterative element so the name sticks. It's got to be memorable, though. I took a creative writing class where we had to read a short story without knowing its title and then try to guess the title by picking out a phrase. The real title ended up being an image from the description of a room that didn't appear to have much to do with the story, but that's one of two short stories from that class that I actually remember the title of.

As for novels, it always seems like titles gets tweaked or changed by the publisher or editor somewhere down the line, so I've never really given it much thought. I tend toward reading novels with interesting titles, though--phrases from other works of literature (e.g., the title of Steinbeck's "The Moon is Down" is a quote from Shakespeare), clever wordplay (I just bought Eric Garcia's "Anonymous Rex" and "Casual Rex" because the title caught my eye), or something short and simple that describes the book on more than one level ("The Great Gatsby," "Animal Farm," "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," etc.).

Mostly, though, when I'm writing I don't even try to title something until it's finished--just give it a code name or working title to refer to it by--because inevitably a great title will hit me sooner or later as I'm writing.

Answer 2

I always have the title in hand by the time I get done with some basic outlines and story ideas.

Then I write the book or the story.

Answer 3

Write the story or novel first. It will name itself along the way.