Book titles are everything. First impressions. Book titles should be catchy, whether they are for books or films.
There are times I’ve finished a first draft or even several drafts of a novel or screenplay; for some reason or another I couldn’t find a title for it. Well, I couldn’t find a good one.
I enjoy watching movies. If you pay close enough attention to them, at some point in the movie, you’ll hear either a character say the title of the movie, or you’ll see the title of the movie on something like a sign—not counting the title in the beginning credits, of course.
I had a hard time finding a title for this one screenplay I had written. I just couldn’t seem to nail a title for it. It was a road trip romantic comedy. The main characters were on the run to Mexico. Mexico. This was the title I had when I began the screenplay. Even though it did seem like its natural title, I wasn’t happy with it.
It wasn’t until the fourth revision that I found the official title. The title was given to me through the dialogue of the main character: “This ain’t no vacation, sweetheart.” Bingo. It fit perfectly.
Some book titles reveal themselves in the very beginning, when the lightning of a story idea strikes. They stick. We then write the story around them. Other book titles, however, are stubborn. They come in reverse, after the story is written, sometimes even after several drafts are written.
If the title doesn’t come in the beginning, don’t worry. It will come by the end of the first draft. If it doesn’t, it will come by the second, or third, or fourth. Trust me. It will come. It’s like spaghetti sauce—It’s in there.