The Trouble with Titles

It really is quite an art to come up with a good title. I know I've been attracted to books because of the title, such as David Wong's 'This Book is Full of Spiders' or 'John Dies at the End'.

Tom Holt has an endless list of good ones:
The Good, the Bad, and the Smug
You don't have to be evil to work here, but it helps
Who's afraid of Beowulf
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages

And then there are those titles that are succinct but tell you exactly what to expect. Gail Carriger has a knack for these. She writes Victorian-esque paranormal steampunk. Her series about a finishing school that teaches espionage and assassination is particularly well-named:
Etiquette & Espionage
Waistcoats & Weaponry
Curtsies & Conspiracies
Manners & Mutiny

I mean, don't you just get Victorian + espionage + humour + schooling from those?

Now, I'm writing a series of humorous fairy tale retellings set in a Discworld-type universe. But coming up with a good series of titles (and a title for the series) is proving most challenging. I want to convey humour + Victorian + fairy tale + romance. Even just the first 3 would do. But how to go about it?

Here are some ideas I've had for the first book in the series (a Goblin King + labyrinth inspired story):
The Sensible Lady’s Guide to Goblins & Red tape
This book has Goblins in it
The one about the Goblin King
The Goblin's Advocate
How to train your Goblin King

IDK. Any of those look appealing to you?

And I still have to come up with a series name. Fairy Tales for Sensible Young Ladies? The Nulli Verse?

It's sooooo haaaard.

What's your favourite book title? One that made you go 'I have to read that immediately'?
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Published on July 28, 2020 22:39 Tags: book-titles, favourite-book-title, names, naming-things, titles
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