The Biggest Blocks: Creating Names and Titles in Your Novel

By Bonnie Randall

Part of the How They Do It Series 

JH: Character names and novel titles. Some writers can pull great ones out of the air, but for the rest of us...it's a struggle every time. Bonnie Randall shares thoughts on finding the right names for your novel.

Every writer has at least one hurdle that confronts their creativity. I happen to have two:

1. What’s in A Name?

A lot, actually. Names are as crucial to characters as setting is to plot. Sometimes, when I am very lucky, a character will waltz onto the stage of my imagination with his or her first and last name as clear as their plot, darkest hour, and denouement. Most times, though, I have nameless heroes and equally blank villains, and I will struggle through the process of creating a birth certificate that somehow echoes the plot, will be pleasing to the ear of the reader, does not step outside the boundaries of the era his or her story takes place in, and is also unique or meaningful enough that the name will be that character forevermore for the reader who connects with that story.

Titles: The First Impression a Novel Makes

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Titles have more affect on our novels that we think. 

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with titles. They either come to me like bolts from the blue, or I spend months struggling to find the right one. Usually, the easier the title comes to me, the more well-formed the story idea is.

When this happens, I know I've tapped into a critical element of the story, and that element will likely resonate throughout the entire novel. That's the power of the right title.

The cliché says you can't judge a book by its cover, but readers do judge them by their titles. A great title will catch the eye and entice a reader to pick up your book, while a bad title will keep readers away or attract the wrong readers for your story.

The Title Dilemma

By Warren Adler, @WarrenAdler

Part of the How They Do It Series

Titles are one of those things that either hit me before the book is written (sometimes it's what sparks the idea) or something I struggle with long after the novel is done. I've heard similar stories from plenty of writers, so I know I'm not alone in this. If you're one of those writers who sometimes has trouble coming up with a title, acclaimed author Warren Adler is in the lecture hall today to share a few tips on how to find the perfect title.

Author, playwright, poet, and essayist Warren Adler is best known for The War of the Roses, his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce turned into the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated dark comedy hit starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. In addition to the success of the stage adaptation of his iconic novel on the perils of divorce, Adler has optioned and sold film rights to more than a dozen of his novels and short stories to Hollywood and major television networks. Random Hearts (starring Harrison Ford and Kristen Scott Thomas), The Sunset Gang (starring Jerry Stiller, Uta Hagen, Harold Gould and Doris Roberts), Private Lies, and Trans-Siberian Express are only a few titles that have forever left Adler's mark on contemporary American authorship from page to stage to screen. Warren Adler novels in recent development are: The War of the Roses - The Children, a feature film adaptation of the sequel to Adler's iconic divorce story, Capitol Crimes (Sennett Entertainment), a television series based on his Fiona Fitzgerald mystery series, Target Churchill, a historical thriller, and Mourning Glory, a dark comedy about a recently unemployed single mother seeking a rich husband by attending the funerals of wealthy widowers and posing as a friend of the deceased.

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Take it away Warren...