Giving It A Name
Writing has always been a passion of mine. I can remember at the ripe old age of 11 sitting at my desk in the 6th grade writing a sci-fi book instead of listening to the teacher’s lecture in what else?… Science class!
I love writing so much so, that sometimes, I consider my poems, or even my books I’m working on, as one of my children, and finding a title or name for the book, can be the most difficult thing of the whole creation process.
I mean, when you think of names for your child, you go through all the possible negatives that they can be called, right? When my brother was born, my Mom probably wasn’t thinking that my brother’s nickname in elementary school was going to be Ronald McDonald, because McDonald’s was the furthest thing from her mind when she wanted her boy named after his father. But it just so happened that my brother got that stigma attached to his rather normal sounding name, early on. He was recognized by his peers, however, and remembered by them. My name was easy to say because no one could make up anything negative sounding to it, but it’s just Kimberley or Kim. And that was pretty bland and boring–in other words, not so memorable.
A title is kind of the same as what my brother went through– so to speak. You want the title to mean something and above all, you want it stand on it’s own for what it represents with little negativity behind it, however, you want it memorable. I think that’s the main reason why I have such a hard time with the title of a book. But , I’ll still make that title happen by coming up with one, sharing it with my friends and family to see what they think, and even asking complete strangers if the title sounds good. I like to ask strangers because I know that they will give me a straight- forward answer that isn’t bias because they know me. That helps when I either want the title to be catchy or I’m just not attached to it to begin with, and I want that extra opinion.
