I need a title for the novella/novelette/story I’m working on, and I need it soon. Like, by the end of the day. *sigh* Titles are irksome, sometimes they come really easily and other times they make me fight tooth and nail and even once I have one I’m not sure it’s the one I want.
In this case, the working title is “There”. The reason it is called ‘There’ is because its sequel was called ‘And Back Again’ and I thought that was quite clever, he he ho ho. However, the first story kinda gets screwed name-wise in the absence of its sequel, and that’s not cool.
I don’t have a polished blurb (or even an unpolished one for that matter) for the story, so let me just tell you a little bit about it. This is an Aphanasian story (like Shades of Green or Sister Margaret) about a sixteen year old girl named Colby and a tentacled man named Xavier. Colby goes to the Aphanasian swamp to find the reptar’s magic stone, Z’thandra’s Heart, which she thinks might cure her brother’s illness. In the swamp she runs into Xavier who has just escaped from the man who held him captive and performed expiriements on him for years. Together they struggle to find their way to the Reptar and the stone Colby so desperately needs, while simultaneously running away from the mercenarys sent to recapture Xavier.
Yeah. That description needs work LOL I hope, however, there’s enough there for you to help me out here. Some title ideas I’ve had included the following:
Heart
A Bit of Heart
In the Swamp
Morass
… Yeah, see how I’m drawing blanks? So far my favorite is ‘Heart’ because it refers to several things including the name of the magic stone and the relationship that grows between Colby and Xavier, but… I can’t decide.
Do you have any ideas? Suggestions from not in my list will be greedily accepted. I know ultimately I have to make my own decision, but I’ve been struggling with this for a good, long while now and I thought it would be good to look for some outside help. And did I mention I have to title it by the end of the day?
*sigh* Yeah.
Help?
ETA: “Heart of the Swamp” and “Lost and Found” are two titles that were suggested which I think have potential.
What about “Z’thandra’s Heart”? While it doesn’t place an emphasis on Colby it would let readers know it’s related to Shades of Green.
Or another thought… “Lost and Found”.
Is the sequel meant to be the journey out of said swamp with new love and poision curing stone heart thing (hence the name …And Back Again) or does this story resolve and the “and back again” refer to a possible return to take out evil dude of experimentalness? Sorry, run on sentence there. Just trying to get a sense of the overall theme and plot in order to make better recommendations for titles.
LoL ‘and back again’ refers to a possible return to take out evil dude of experimentalness 🙂
“Lost and Found” has a lot of potential…
Ok. Thank you for the clarification.
So, “A Found Heart”, or conversely “A Heart Found”. Also “Passion in the Morass”….hmm that one doesn’t set as well with me.
I’ll keep thinking.
Hey I’ve just thought of a great one!! “Swamp of Sorrow”……ooooh wait a second……
Nevermind 😉
LMAO
Funneh.
…especially since you’ll never guess where I modeled the Aphanasian swamp after…
<..>
🙂
…those were supposed to be shifty eyes, but apparently the blog thought I was HTMLin’
I like “Heart of the Swamp”. I was thinking Colby’s Heart or Heart For A Brother, but “Heart of the Swamp” is better. Wow, I actually did read an excerpt of this story. You’ve been working on this for at least 3 years I think?
Off and on for what feels like for-freaking-ever LoL but it’s really, truly, almost finished now. Almost.
LoL ‘and back again’ refers to a possible return to take out evil dude of experimentalness 🙂
“Lost and Found” has a lot of potential…