THE
RIGHT TITLE
By Bret Burquest
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, BUT WERE AFRAID TO
ASK was the title of a best-selling book back in the 60’s. Being a novice at
life at the time, I bought a copy. When I finished reading it, I knew as much
about sex as I did before I read it, which was about as much as I knew about
brain surgery.
A good title is very important. It should compel a
potential reader to open the book and glance at the first paragraph, which is
equally as important. If a book has a good title and a good first paragraph,
there’s actually a chance the reader will go on to read the second paragraph.
Many authors have problems coming up with the right title.
For example, Peter Benchley’s editor rejected every title
the author presented for his first novel, including GREAT WHITE, THE SHARK,
LEVIATHAN RISING, and THE JAWS OF DEATH. Finally, out of sheer frustration,
Benchley told his editor to just call it JAWS because nobody reads a first
novel anyway.
Joseph Heller had a different sort of problem with the
title of his first novel, CATCH-18. Doubleday had a new novel coming out called
MILA 18, by Leon Uris, so they objected to Heller’s title. Simon &
Schuster, Heller’s publisher, agreed to change the title to CATCH-22.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a novel titled TRIMALCHIO IN WEST
EGG. Apparently, an advisor to Emperor Nero named Petronius wrote a satire a
couple thousand years ago titled SATYRICON which contained a character named Trimalchio. Fitzgerald assumed everyone would make the
connection. However, Fitzgerald's publisher did not have similar rocks for
brains and chose an alternative title, THE GREAT GATSBY.
Margaret Mitchell wrote a rather lengthy romance novel about
the south during the Civil War. She called it PANSEY. But romance novels
require lusty titles, so it was eventually changed to GONE WITH THE WIND,
thereby attracting readers who lust for windy days.
Jacqueline Suzanne wrote a steamy novel of lust and betrayal
in the wonderful world of show business titled THEY DON'T BUILD STATUES TO
BUSINESSMEN. They don’t build them for writers either, especially ones with
lousy titles. Later, it became
MOTH was a play written by Tennessee Williams. It had
nothing to do with moths. Even though it was eventually changed to A STREETCAR
NAMED DESIRE, it had nothing to do with streetcars either.
As the author of four novels, I know how important a good
title can be. I still wonder if I made the right choices.
My first novel, THE DOGMAN OF TOPANGA, started out as DOGMAN
OF THE CANYON. It wasn’t much of a title change but it did pin down the exact
location of the canyon.
My agent advised me that GOOMBA IN MONTANA wasn’t such a
good title because most people wouldn’t know goomba
from gumbo. I tended to agree but kept it anyway, mainly because I don't like
pinheads messing with my creativity. It's a lot more enjoyable writing a novel
than dealing with agents and publishers.
A BAD RUN OF FATE was originally titled THE KING OF CONGRESS,
but my publisher thought it was misleading because it referred to the town of
My fourth novel, THE ELEVENTH SAGE, is a metaphysical journey
from an unfathomable present into a famous past life while simultaneously
creating the destiny of a precise future being pre-lived subconsciously. And if
you can figure it out, you're smarter than the author.
___________
Quote of the Day – "Outside of a dog, a book is man's
best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho
Marx
___________
***
Bret Burquest is an award-winning
columnist and author of four novels. Contact bret@centurytel.net
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