So, we’ve been working on this project for my internship, and I keep running into the same problem I have in my own writing.
t i t l e s
Is it too short? Too long? Too pretentious (I have this problem a lot ((my collection is called God Complex ffs)))? Doesn’t fit the theme? Fits the theme too well and is super cheesy? Gives away too much? Is it catchy enough? If I’m talking about it, do I hate saying it? Why am I thinking so much about one or maybe two words?
Then, I remember there are bands, authors, and show runners who just throw these conventions out entirely to the point of memeification, like Panic! At the Disco’s “Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”; the 1984 science fiction movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension; or even my own dad’s memoir, Your Life is Up to You! No One Else Will Drive Your Success: Choices Do Have Consequences - You Decide!
In the about 2% chance he stumbles upon this, sorry, Dad, but we all told you it is a ridiculous title.
So, because the bartender with no film, publication, writing, or anything credits soon-to-be in her 30s is the end-all, be-all of opinions, here’s a brief list of titles I do and don’t like with no explanation other than personal preference1:
Sure
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Slow Gods
All the Creatures Living Beneath the Sun
A Fig for All the Devils
Comfort Me With Apples
Severance
If Cats Disappeared from the World
Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?
Only Revolutions
Invisible Cities
Radiance: A Novel
I Who Have Never Known Men
1Q84
Not For Me
The After
Iron Flame
Leave to Remain
Neverwhere
Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23
The Righteous Gemstones
Space Opera
Triangle of Sadness
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
The Whalestoe Letters
A Thousand Monstrous Forms
Space Struck
The Stardust Grail
Did compiling this list give me an idea for the title I’ve been having a hard time with? No! And that’s okay. Hopefully, I’ll know it when I see it. For now, I guess I’m keeping the title I think is perfect, but someone attached thinks it’s better suited for a different story. Such is the life.
1 Again, everything on this list is much more accomplished than I am, and this is a silly anti-burnout project of mine. These are off-the-cuff judgments, vibes, if you will