How Did You Choose Your Novel Title?

[ajsamperio]

Funny enough, the title for my novel: The Devils of Heaven and Earth, was inspired by a chapter in AOT called Battle of Heaven and Earth. I really don't even know how I got 14,000 words in. I just read that chapter and then started writing.

My thing isn't as interesting as others but just thought it was sorta funny.

Under-The-Same-Moon1

[wyatt1040506]

My novel title is based off the main character and what he wants to accomplish. so that's where I got my title from.

My Fox World | Tapas

[rajillustration]

originally mine was called Pendleson Knights, but there were so few Pendleson Knights by the time I finished writing it that I renamed it to Alchemist Burn Outs because it's a pun (alchemists light stuff on fire, ya?) and also they're alchemy school drop-outs.

Alchemist Burn Outs The Novel | Tapas

[thedude3445]

I looked for a title that would be instantly memorable, but also one that would instantly have good SEO. It turns out that "Hands Held" is extremely rare among book titles, according to Goodreads, and so just googling "Hands Held in the Snow" will get my book, plus some snowblowers, and nothing else. It's a good strategy!

Hands Held in the Snow | Tapas

[Kaydreamer]

I wanted something simple and memorable, which hinted at the story and the setting, while having something which linked it to the lore of my main Dragonfeathers universe. While never explicit, I play with the word 'star' a lot. Aesther. (Etymology: Aster = Star). Stella. Nova. I want to hint at particular links between the stories, which very clever readers may pick up in, like... 10 years time, when it all becomes relevant.

So 'Rebellion' - that's the plot. 'Blue Star' - that's the setting (sci-fi), while also providing continuity and a hint as to the nature of things in both stories.

Blue Star Rebellion | Tapas

[thejanuslibrary]

Janus is the two-headed Roman God of doorways, duality, beginnings, and endings. Legend has it that one of his heads looks towards the future, while the other is perpetually gazing on the past. And, libraries, as we all know, are filled with books. Stories. Endless tales as varied as the people who wrote them.

Both the theme of Janus, that of duality and doorways, and libraries, access to endless stories and information, are explored in my illustrated novel, The Janus Library.

https://tapas.io/episode/1924495

[julipow]

Interesting question! I love the "back story" behind choosing your titles!
For me, it was quite a difficult and bumpy ride. I had a certain meaning in mind that the title of my novel should hold and symbolize, a meaning that might not be apparent at first but once you understand the mysteries in my story you will come to understand the second meaning of this title. (The first being the literal meaning). That's what I wanted to have for my title but also I wanted for it to leave me options to make more books/volumes as continuation in the future, so it should be able to give me enough room to play around with and come up with a second and third title once it's time. And, to add more to my difficulty, I wanted it to be somewhat original.
With all these struggles in mind, I started playing around with word games, making word combination but no matter what I ended up with, it usually didn't have one of the things that I wanted the title to include. So, I continued until I ended up with "Memento Mori" (Which translates to "Remember Death"). Now, I absolutely loved this title and the way it could symbolize a double meaning, however, I quickly found out how unoriginal it is. There are a lot of stories and comics named like this or very similar both on here and on Webtoon. (And more on the web). So, I had to scrap that idea because it was too unoriginal and didn't give my story a "brand name". But, through that I was able to find out what the double meaning should include and so after some more (crying) I settled on "Essence of Life". I think it's perfect, it symbolizes the double meaning very well and it gives me enough room to make a title like "Essence of Darkness" (just an example, I probably wouldn't use that) as a continuation of my novel series. Overall, I am satisfied and very happy with it now, even though settling on the title was incredible hard. For chapter titles, I don't have much to say, I usually go with my gut feeling and what fits the chapter.

Essence of Life | Tapas

[KhanSpring]

I don't think that I am very good with coming up with titles, but since my novel is inspired by Slavic folklore and mythology, it is natural for my choice to be influenced by that.
If you have watched the show American Gods, you would remember the appearance of the Zorya sisters -
Zorya Utrennyaya, Zorya Vechernyaya and Zorya Polunochnaya, a.k.a the Daystar, the Eveningstar and the Morningstar. These are the names the East Slavs have given them. The West Slavs(for Polish I am 99% sure, the rest please correct me if I have a mistake) have named them Zorza porankowa, Zorza południowa, Zorza wieczorowa, while the South Slavs call them Dennica, Vecernica and Zornica, with Dennica/Denica and Zornica being pretty popular female names.
In Bulgarian traditional belives and tales the Zornica and Vechernica and most often mentioned, and they are always sisters(nothing different from what has already been stated above), but the Daystar is almost always overlooked. The Zornica is the youngest and the fairest(most beautiful) and is loved by the Sun. But people also fear her, for she is also called Luzhi Kervan (Deceiver of travellers) because she would make you think it's day already and let you fall in the hands of evil spirits and samodivi. Vechernica is loved by the Moon and people call her Sheperd's star because when she'd appear in the sky, people knew they are done with their work for the day/ time for the folk to be brought back home.
The Dennica is between them, overlooked. And from where the story is picked from is the middle, there are many events from the past which either haunt the present or are revealed to be key ones in the future, The future is what everyone strives for - to secure it will be safe and prosperous, so the present is overlooked and what will that lead to?

Dennica(Daystar) | Tapas

[sphynx_99]

The title of my novel was very straightforward. I wanted to write about Cinderella so I called it: "A Cinderella Story". But a lot of stories that feature Cinderella have this title. I wanted to add something to make it stand out and for people to see my novel.

Because it tells the story of Cinderella that hasn't been told before I came up with: "Untold." My novel also has a spy/gangster/maffia feeling to it so I added "Files" to it.

And that's the story of how I came up with the title: A Cinderella Story - Untold Files.

A Cinderella story - untold files - | Tapas

Now as for the chapters, I'm one of those people that name their chapters, I choose simple lines that speak to me. Like, give a very broad idea of the chapter and what it tells. Sometimes I choose a chapter's name based on a previous chapter. (chapter 1: Let's begin. Chapter 2: Shall we continue?)

[surenlicious]

Jade Kingdoms was selected on the ascepts associated with the gemstone jade: warding off negative energy, healing and atracting abundance. Kingdoms is a metaphor for your own home, which you (hopefully!) view as your kingdom.

The plural of kingdoms will make sense later though. XD

The chapter titles (and their Arc titleS) I choose based on how you fel and what you attempt to achieve with that feeling. Emotion in such a important aspect in my novel, so it will come around a lot.

Jade Kingdoms | Tapas

[babywolf121]

My novel's name is The Devil's Rose. I genuinely think that this is maybe the most thought I've put into a title (I'm known for being kinda bad at coming up with titles lol)

It's about Prince Deimos of a demonic Kingdom looking for a Princess to call his Queen so his father can step down and he can become Queen. He finds a girl named Nesryn in the Kingdom of Freyborne who just so happens to also be a demon, something passed onto her from her mother's side of the family. Then, it carries on with their relationship.

Devil comes from not only the association to demons and Hell, but it also references some things that happen later on in the story (don't want to give too much away). Rose comes from my main character's name Nesryn which means wild rose which also becomes a pet name/nickname that Deimos gives her. So overall the title alludes to a bit of possessiveness along with some things that come along later down the line.

The Devil's Rose | Tapas

[KUUPID]

I like how you chose the title of your story! I also had a similar thought process to yours when I thought about what title I wanted for my novel.

For my title, "The Revenge Proposal", I thought about the main plot line of the story, which is about a Korean adoptee coming back to get revenge on her family by marrying her family's rival company's heir. The previous title for it was called "The Marriage Project", but I felt that it didn't bring out the true plot of the story, so I changed it to what I have now!

As for chapters/ episodes, I do name them! I think for me, I just think about what the main conflict/ action is for the chapter. Sometimes there's no conflict, so I'm at a loss, but I do manage to come up with a title that somehow relates to the chapter!

The Revenge Proposal | Tapas

[All_and_None]

My novel has a side story about Socrates who always askes "Concerning (blank), what is it?"
Since the rest of the story is about dreams it becomes a play on words that the dreams are concerning.
"Concerning Dreams"

Concerning Dreams | Tapas

[queen_of_spades]

hi
the name of my novel (fanstasy romance) started with "Chasing you till the end" but it sounded more like a terror/thriller title, so I changed to "Delilah, forever"...
the episodes have titles and I name them only after I wrote the episode. the titles give a hint about what you are going to read, even if it doesn't look so obvious...

I already follow some of the novels/comics mentioned here and it was so cool read about the title... totally going to check the others

Delilah, forever | Tapas

[uglygirlnextdoor]

Ni science,

the story is about When Death meets Chaos.

When Death meets Chaos | Tapas

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

This is actually kind of interesting. The title on tapas isn't PAI's real title. The "real" title is "The Figure Traipsed Forward" but I figured I needed a more descriptive title for an online platform. So I just tried to sum up the premise in three words. People introducing themselves to a stranger after the world ends. Post-Apocalyptic Introductions.

Post-Apocalyptic Introductions | Tapas

[Quetzal]

I chose Hollow-Hearted Life because "Hollow-hearted" can be a synonym for "liar". And, while I'm not going to dump the whole of my story, there is a life goddess who does become heavily involved. Hollow-Hearted Life, Liar Life. That's basically how I chose my title, it's just a synonym for liar.

(Also self promoting, except the tapas version has fewer episodes than the webtoon version)

Hollow-Hearted Life | Tapas

[lloyd119187]

My reason isn't that impressive, I picked the title "The Grand Six" because I was inspired by the movie "The Magnificent Seven". Funny is that my story is a medieval fantasy while the movie was a cowboys one.

The Grand Six (Novel) | Tapas

[braincell4rent]

Well... I always put weird and long titles. Last time it didn´t really work to promote myself, so this time I wanted to try and find something more funny. I mean, since my novel´s a parody, I wanted to find a title that sounded funny and let the reader wondering wtf is that.

I think I managed to get what I wanted

https://tapas.io/series/How-to-survive-the-worst-novel-ever-written/info

[liseeclaire]

I either start with a title in mind, or spend months trying to come up with one

Initially I used to use 1-3 word titles, but after a few years of web serials I've used longer ones. So far it's not the audience's age that I link to a title, but rather have it be in the specific genre (going tech based when doing sci fi, and magicky when going fantasy).

At least a few of the things I've done have had objectively terrible titles, though that didn't stop from people liking the story (as long as the titles could be pronounced)