Titles: The Bane of My Existence

I love writing. I love being able to set up my computer, turn on my music and fall into a world of my own creation. There are few activities that give me as much satisfaction, self-discipline and joy as writing does.

I am not too bad at it, although I am constantly learning and improving. Telling stories fascinates people. I like to think there are some people who like reading my work. I am neither amazing or horrible at the moment, and I am taking that as a success. I enjoy writing. It gives me something productive to do, instead of re-watching things on Netflix like I normally want to do. However, when it comes to titles, I am unquestionably poor at the process.

They are, like this title suggested, the ban of my existence. I am not just bad at them; I feel that I am horrendous. My imagination, while normally fanciful and full of endless creativity, draws a blank. It is like I come to an undefeated wall. Writer’s block, indeed.

Just to prove that I am not exaggerating, I would like to take an example of out ancient art. Bear with me. I went to Chicago a few days ago and went to the Art Institute of Chicago. It was extremely impressive, and somewhat inspiring, especially when I saw some of the titles at the ar.

I saw these wonderful paintings made by incredibly talented artists. But I lost count of the amount of labels of: “Bowl of Fruit”, “Wine, Cheese and Fruit”, “Apple, Pear and Grapes”, and my favorite, “Untitled; Bowl of Fruit and Vegetables”. Further titles can be seen here: https://www.artic.edu/search/artworks?q=bowl%20of%20fruit.

Now perhaps there is a more detailed explanation at the meaning of some of these monotonous titles. I am not a painter, far from it. It is possible that there is a deeper significance to these paintings. To me and my untrained eye, however, I thought that I related to these artists. Despite being centuries apart, I felt a connected relatability to our seemingly hard struggle to come up with creative headings.

The creative process is not the only factor that makes it difficult. There is also a substantial pressure of finding a marketable title as well. As you might guess, this isn’t easy either. A good title for a book can make all the difference in sales, marketability and discoverability. A title needs to captures the audience and makes them want to learn more. A title needs mystery, intrigue, yet also needs an accurate and non-broad label.

E. Haldeman-Julius was a writer and a publisher in the early 1900’s. He often liked to experiment with his titles. I learned about him at https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-title-a-book-with-good-book-titles/, but you can learn more about him in my links below as well. E. Haldeman-Julius would often tweak book titles until they performed well. For example, one of his books was originally called “Gautier’s Fleece of Gold”. The original title sales was 6,000 a year. When he changed it to “The Quest for a Blonde Mistress”, the sales for the book made a dramatic increase in 50,000 a year. A 44,000 difference in just the title change alone?

And you wonder why there is so much pressure for titles.

Does this bother other writers or artists as well? Do they, like me, spend many sleepless nights pondering titles for their newest creations?

If my works were more well known, I doubt it would be as hard to create labels for my stories. But since I am not as of yet, I have to work harder to create something original, creative and extremely intriguing.

I have no solution for this dilemma of mine. Sometimes, I reach out to my family or friends for advice. Sometimes, I google random ideas.

My hope is that as I grow in my creativity and as I grow as a writer, I will learn how to create great titles. One day, I hope to move past this current kryptonite and embrace my next challenge. Currently, however, titles still remain the bane of my existence.

Image: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/apply-for-the-2020-cosmo-davenport-hines-poetry-prize. https://www.artic.edu/ https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-title-a-book-with-good-book-titles/

Links: https://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/mapping/h-j/index.html, https://www.hardtofindseminars.com/E_Haldeman_Julies.htm#:~:text=In%20the%201920s%2C%20E.,to%20create%20a%20publishing%20empire.&text=With%20each%20campaign%2C%20he%20methodically,public%20really%20wants%20to%20buy.

Please free to reach out with any title creativity advice; I could desperately use some.