You may have heard that titles don’t matter, and that they won’t make or break your career. Whoever told you that is either grievously uninformed or a filthy liar.
A title must do the following:
Capture attention.
Pique curiosity.
Be unique.
Be memorable.
Encapsulate the theme of the story.
End world hunger.
Okay, maybe not the last one. But you get the idea.
Like cover art, your title can determine whether or not anyone will actually read your book. Also like cover art, you probably shouldn’t name it like a twelve-year-old with a DeviantArt account.
But how do you check off such an extensive yet vital list of criteria? Well, being the magnanimous individual that I am, I’ll tell you.
Let’s take a short journey through five of my personal favorite approaches:
Some of the most memorable and iconic titles are derived from metaphor, allegory, and simile. If you have a metaphor that encapsulates your book’s theme or tone, consider using it for your title.
When done correctly, these will also provoke interest from prospective readers, as they will have to read your book to put the metaphor into context.
Is there a fundamental question your book is asking? (There probably should be, but that’s a topic for another day.) If so, consider presenting it to the reader from the get-go.
These questions can be existential or personal, metaphorical or literal. But they should make the reader want to know the answer.
Note that you can get creative about this. A question doesn’t have to be one you ask the reader, but one you provoke the reader to ask themselves. Like, “Did this author really spoil the ending with their title? I’ll have to read and find out!” As you’ll see in the titles below.
Examples:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Bloom
Is there a place, object, or event at the heart of your story? Maybe its a restaurant that is to your ensemble what the Central Perk is to the cast of Friends, a stuffed animal or piece of jewelry that serves as the story’s MacGuffin, a book that holds the secrets to the protagonist’s identity.
Or maybe it just, for one reason or another, perfectly encapsulates the tone and philosophy of your story.
I seem to be partial to this one, because it’s how I chose to name three of my novels: An Optimist’s Guide to the Afterlife (named after a book handed out to the recently deceased), General Tso’s Chicken From Outer Space (named after a Chinese food restaurant in a UFO hotspot town), and Diner at the End of the World (named after a diner frequented by Eldritch Horrors.)
Examples:
‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Introduce the protagonists (but get creative about it.)
In ye olden times, an opulence of great literature popped up that was named after specific characters. Think Anna Karenina, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Don Quixote, The Great Gatsby, and Jane Eyre. You can still do this–lots of authors still do, and it works great if you have a particular cool or quirky name–but in an already saturated market, it’s probably a good idea to put a twist on it.
I’ve observed three ways to go about this. First, you can introduce the main character and major conflict/theme of your story.
Examples:
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Emily M. Danforth
Approach number two: introduce the readers to the group of people your story is about.
Examples:
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis
The Vacationers, by Emma Straus
Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
And approche trois, name the title of a main character, particularly if it’s memorable and plays a large part in the story.
Examples:
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
The Obituary Writer, by Ann Hood
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, by Laurie R. King
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Martian, by Andy Weir
These are just a few of my favorite methods of naming stories! To my followers, I invite you to add more, and to share your own favorite titles.
Remember my post on the word ‘take?’ ‘Take’ is a weak word, but it isn’t the only one.
Compare these:
He ate the sandwich
She walked towards the lake.
The book smelled good.
to these:
He devoured the sandwich
She strolled towards the lake.
The book smelled magical.
Which sentences are more engaging? The latter ones. Why? Because devoured and strolled are stronger words than ate and walked. They’re more specific. They give you more information. To get across the same information with ate and walked, you’d have to add more words: she walked slowly, he ate quickly.
Replacing good with magical doesn’t work quite as well as the verbs, but magical does tell us slightly more than good: it gives us a better sense of how the smell makes the character feel.
How do you spot a weak word? Weak words are vague. They’re umbrella terms. They need support from other words to really get their meaning across. If you find yourself adding adverbs and adjectives to a term, question whether or not there’s a more concise way to get your point across.
Strong word choice, however, isn’t all that’s needed for a good description:
2. Be as specific as required.
This isn’t to say you should describe everything in every scene in perfect detail, but being specific matters.
Which is more engaging?
He devoured the sandwich
The book smelled magical.
or
He devouredthe sandwich, stopping only to lick up the melted cheese that seeped through his fingers and ran down his palm.
The book smelled magical, like a sunlit afternoon.
Again, the latter ones. They take you into the scene. They evoke the senses. It’s the difference between telling and showing. Devoured is a strong verb, but it doesn’t give us a clear image of what is happening. Showing the character licking away the cheese gives the reader a sense of the desperation and hunger of the action. Evoking a sunlit afternoon is evoking your reader’s memories of their own sunny afternoons.These examples are statements with evidence. They provide details.
You want to invite your reader into the scene, not give them a summary of the events.
Additionally, specifics make the world feel real. They convince readers that the world actually exists. They keep the story in your readers’ minds once they’ve finished reading.
This being said, don’t pull a GRRM and describe every meal your characters eat. Some things just aren’t that important. There are occasions when it’s okay to tell instead of show.
3. Remember the point of view.
Who is giving the description?
If you’re writing in 1st person or 3rd person limited, remember how your character feels about what you’re describing. If you’re describing a strawberry field, a person who was raised on a strawberry farm is going to see it differently than someone who is deathly allergic to strawberries, who is going to see it differently from a Beatles fanatic.
Maybe the Beatles fanatic is deathly allergic to strawberries and this field brings up a whole bucketful of conflicting emotions.
Which is all to say:
Good descriptions reveal character as well as scene.
If this description is coming from a character’s point of view: what is that point of view? What is this scene making your character feel? Don’t let your narrator slip away from the page.
This connects to my last point.
4. Remember why you’re including it.
Novel writing is persuasive writing. It’s an exercise in persuading your reader that your story is true, that your characters are real people. It’s an exercise in persuading your readers to feel what you want them to feel.
(There’s a well-known quote about this somewhere, but I can’t remember it exactly.)
Every description must add to the story.It should be doing something: working for some larger goal, advancing the plot, revealing character.
Maybe you’re describing a house because you want your reader to see why your character doesn’t want to move.
Maybe you’re describing this lovely-smelling book because you want the reader to know that it’s important to the character. That her favorite memories are of reading it in the attic of her grandmother’s house.
When you’re writing out a description, identify its purpose and make sure it fulfils it.
It’s okay if at first you don’t know how the house makes the character feel, or if she’s running or strolling towards the lake, or why the book is so important. Sometimes you just know it’s there. That something happened. Usually things become clearer as you write further and get to know the story and characters yourself.
Once you do know what you’re trying to say with your story, make sure you say it with every chapter, every description, and every word.
Hey guys! As a writer myself, it’s hard to have a lot of resources for writing in one place. That’s why I decided to create this masterpost, and maybe make more if I find future resources. I hope you like it, and expect to see more masterposts like this in the future!
ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.
The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!
Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!
Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.
Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.
Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!
For Productivity
Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)
ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.
Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)
SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!
More often than not I’ll crack into a sprawling fantasy series and, while I appreciate the luscious descriptions of furniture, landscapes, and clothing, all I’m focused on is that I don’t actually know how this world works. I only know what it looks like.
Including some functionality to your universe can add to immersion and give your reader a strong foundation on which to build their mental model of your universe.
You certainly don’t need to use all of these questions! In fact, I recommend against that, as all of these certainly won’t make it into your final draft. I personally find that starting my worldbuilding off with 5 to 10 functional questions helps pave the way for glittery and elaborate aesthetic development later on.
How is the healthcare funded in your world?
How does healthcare functionally differ between the wealthy and the poor? (i.e. can only the wealthy go to hospitals? do poor families often have to rely on back-alley procedures?)
Where are health centers (i.e. hospitals, small clinics, etc.) organized in your cities?
Does it differ in smaller towns?
How does this affect people’s ability to get healthcare?
Is healthcare magical, and if it is, how does that affect the healthcare system?
If healing is instantaneous, how does that affect people’s views on injury, illness, and chronic ailments?
If you have both magical and physical healthcare, which one is deemed superior and how does that affect society?
What illnesses are common in your world?
How does this affect daily life?
What do the people in your world think illnesses are?
Is it a miasma theory?
Humor theory?
Demons?
Do they know about biological viruses and bacteria?
How does this affect healthcare?
How do people get water?
Is the water sanitary and if not, how do they sanitize it?
How does agriculture work?
Is it large corporations or individual farms?
What sort of agricultural technology exists in your world and how does it affect food production?
Are farmers wealthy or poor?
What sort of natural resources does your world/country(ies) have and how are they obtained?
How does this affect the average wealth of the country?
How does this wealth affect the culture?
What livestock or beasts of burden are most valued? Least valued? Why?
What is considered a luxury good vs. a regular good?
What forms of transportation does your world have?
What classes use what forms of transportation?
How far has the average citizen traveled, given your transportation limitations?
Which cities are the most accessible and which are the least? Why?
How do popular transportation methods change how cities/towns are laid out?
Does your world have public transportation? What is it?
Is there a coming-of-age aspect to travel?
Describe your world’s postal system or whatever equivalent there is.
Who pays for it?
How reliable is it?
Are there emergency methods for transporting information?
How does your world keep time (i.e. watches, sundials, water clock, etc.)?
Does your world have a currency system, barter system, or something else?
If you have multiple countries, do different currencies have different values across said countries?
How does this affect travel?
Do you have banks in your world and if so, how are they run?
Who owns the banks? Government? Wealthy? How does this affect the economy and/or class system?
How does credit operate in your universe?
Does your world operate more on big corporations or small business? Something in between?
How are workers/labourers treated in your world?
Are there workers unions and if so, what are common views on unions?
Describe your tax system. If you don’t have a tax system, explain why and how your world is affected by that.
Can certain social classes not own property, certain livestock, certain businesses, etc.? Why?
How are business records kept? Are business records kept?
If your world has technology, does your world prioritize developing entertainment tech, communications tech, transportation tech or something else entirely?
What does this say about your world?
How does this affect your economy?
To the closest approximation, what type of government does your world have?
How are rulers/presidents/nobles put in place?
How much power does an individual ruler have?
Is there a veto process?
If you have multiple countries, do they have different types of rulers?
Describe any large-scale alliances (i.e. countries, factions, etc.) that are present in your world.
How did they come about and how are they maintained?
Are they strained or peaceful?
How does it affect the greater politics of your world?
Describe how wars are fought both internationally and nationally.
Do methods of war differ between countries/races?
What about philosophies about war?
If there is a military, what is its hierarchy structure?
How does the military recruit?
Is the military looked upon favourably in your society?
What weapons are used by each country/type of people during warfare, and how does that affect war strategies?
Describe the sentencing system of your world.
Is your accused innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent?
How are lawbreakers punished?
If you have prisons, describe how they are organized and run, and who owns them.
Does differing ownership change how the prisons operate?
What are the major ways in which laws between countries vary?
Do laws between cities vary? If so, how and why?
How does citizenship work in your world? What rights and privileges do citizens have that others do not?
Can certain classes or races not become citizens?
Are there certain taboo subjects or opinions that artist/authors/musicians are not allowed to depict (i.e. portraying the official religion in a negative light, explicit sexual material, etc.)? What does this say about your society?
How do people get around these censorship laws?
What is the official hierarchy of duty in your world? (i.e. is family the most important, or patriotism? What about clan?)
How many languages are there in your world, and how many languages share a common origin?
How many people are multilingual?
Which language is the most common?
How is multilingualism viewed?
How are different languages viewed? (i.e. is one language ugly/barbaric while another is romantic and sensual?)
Feel free to add your own questions in reblogs or in comments!
Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:
1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!” 2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming? 3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best? 4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know? 5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book? 6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe? 7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life? 8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.) 9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.) 10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”
Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.
This is really useful advice, especially if the person you’ve shared your story with hasn’t had much/any experience critiquing.
It does a great job of asking for a balance of both positive and negative feedback in a way that’s comfortable for both the author and reader.
Ooh, these are excellent, and I have a hell of a time coming up with good questions to get more than a cycle of “I liked it!” “Great, what did you like about it?”
Sure, having a king/queen is simple, but have you ever tried:
Democracy
Multiple nobles and they all have the same amount of power (lot of conflict potential)
You can become ruler by defeating the current ruler in a fight
The merchants run everything
A noble and a parliament rule
The most intelligent people rule
…
There are thousands of possibilities, be creative!
Older post, but I highly encourage it! Try out the weirdest stuff! Try things you think would never work in the real world because this is your world and if you say (insert political system believed to not work) works then it does
Here’s a list of Society and Government types I’ve stolen directly from the worldbuilding section of some rulebooks:
Anarchy: the social conscience maintains order, but there are no laws
Athenian Democracy: Every citizen can vote on every new law
Representative Democracy: Elected representatives form a congress or government
Clan: Pretty much whoever is older is in charge, traditions are strongly adhered to, and society as a whole is split cross many tribes that are generally similar (and usually allied) but with their own quirks and traditions
Caste: A lot like a Clan structure, but each clan has a set role in society that usually renders them co-dependent. These Castes usually follow a social heirarchy
Dictatorship: One person controls everything, and they will later pass the right to rule to someone else, whether by inheritance, election, duelling, or some other method. Not all dictatorships are bad, especially if they are formed in times of crisis or rebellion, but even those started with the best intentions may quickly corrupt.
Plutocracy: Whoever has money is in charge.
Technocracy: A group of scientists and engineers have complete control and do everything they can to run the country at maximum efficiency. The more competent they are, the more likely this is to be viewed as a good thing.
Thaumocracy: Like a technocracy, but run by a science-like form of magic (like wizards and arcanists rather than shamans and witches)
Theocracy: The Church controls everything, and their religious law is civil law. Whether this religion is real, is fake but knows it, or believes its own lies is up to you.
Corporate State: Powerful mercantile organisations have taken control of entire regions. This is a lot like a Technocracy, but with a corporate structure and a focus on maximum profitability (and no-one else is going to set them a minimum wage)
Feudal: A lot like a dictatorship, but subsidiary lords are assigned their own local power and can enforce their own law without notifying the larger state.
***VARIATIONS***
Bureaucracy: Government runs very slowly and the public has effectively no control. There is a lot of red tape and taxation is high.
Colony: Government is dependent on a mother society
Cybercracy: A computer system is the state administrator. Hopefully the programmers did a good job…
Matriarchy: Positions of authority are female-exclusive.
Meritocracy: Positions of authority require rigorous testing to qualify for.
Military Government: The Military control everything, usually but not always totalitarian
Monarchy: The person in charge may call themselves king or queen, but fundamentally this is either a dictatorship or a feudal society.
Oligarchy: A small organisation is in control, and it elects its own members.
Patriarchy: like a matriarchy, but for guys. what a novel idea
Sanctuary: A society that protects the people other societies hunt (that may be considered criminals or terrorists by other nations)
Socialist: The government directly manages the economy, education is easy to get, the government intervenes to get everyone possible a job. This is likely to collapse quickly without good technology or magic to assist it.
Subjugated: The society as a whole is completely controlled by an outside force.
Utopia: A perfect society where everyone is satisfied and nothing sinister is happening behind the scenes we swear.
“Good writers borrow; great writers steal.” Most aspiring writers have heard this in some form or other. It’s common advice: steal from the books you love!
But you’re pretty sure you’d get sued if you wrote a novel about a boy who goes to wizarding school, and befriends a redhead boy and girl with frizzy brown hair.
So what exactly can you steal if you want to be a great writer?
One answer is: tropes.
Tropes are story elements that reoccur through literature. They’re the motifs of all literature. This is vague because there’s a huge variety of tropes: they can be reoccurring setting types, characters, plot events, etc.
Some examples:
The hero pulls a book on the bookshelf and the bookcase swings open to reveal a hidden passage.
All of those myths and legends your main character has heard stories of growing up? They’re all true says the new character and/or encounter with a mythical beast.
“What a coincidence!” says character A. “There are no coincidences,” says wizened character B. It wasn’t a coincidence.
Two characters are headed into battle and still haven’t admitted they have feelings for each other. Then, thinking it’ll be the last chance, one pulls the other into a desperate kiss.
The crazy person everyone in The Town ignores predicts the future and/or pulls The Tower from the Tarot deck again and again! “It’s coming!” they warn as everyone ignores them! “The vague bad thing is coming!”
We all have our favorite tropes.
You’ll recognize the feeling. You reach that point in the book: so far, character A and B hate each other. Then, their hands touch. They pull back in shock. You swoon! You knew it! They’re going to fall in love! It’s everything you’ve ever wanted.
Maybe The Hand Touch isn’t your trope (only because you’ve never experienced the gloriousness of the Kiera Knightley Pride & Prejudice), but you have one. You do. It’s that moment that appears in your favorite stories, that makes you squeal in delight every time you see it. Sometimes stories become your favorites because enough of those tropes are in there.
And those tropes?
Go ahead.
Steal them.
Steal them.
All stories contain tropes, purposefully or not. The least you can do is make sure the ones you love appear in your stories.
Can’t name your favorite tropes off of the top of your head? No worries.
As you read, keep a list. As you watch movies and tv shows, keep a list. Have a notebook by your side and take note whenever you find a moment makes you say “I love it when this happens!” Pay attention to that feeling. It’s one you want readers to experience when reading your own story.
(You can also do the complete opposite of this and take note of tropes you hate and want to keep far away from your own work.)
Don’t force tropes into your story. You want them to feel organic and new, as though they aren’t just storytelling devices found in dozens and dozens of books. You have to make sure they’re in line with your characters and plot. Fit tropes to your story, don’t fit your story to tropes. Your character shouldn’t come across a Secret Bookcase Passage unless it actually leads somewhere.
You also want to be wary of including tropes that have oversaturated a genre to the point of becoming cliche. If you’re bored with it, readers are bored with it. ex. the YA love triangle
That said, if you want to show that your characters are falling in love against their better judgement and you’re not sure how to go about it: consider your favorite tropes. Write the best f%@~ing Hand Touch scene that’s ever been written. I promise you, someone will read it and think, “yes, I love it when this happens!”
This advice was stolen in part from the PubCrawl Podcast, who put into words what I’ve been failing to articulate for the past few weeks. I’ve been calling it “including plot happenings I love.” Plot happenings. smh.
