What's In A Title?
Choosing a title for the novel you have just written should be something given great care and thought. While a general rule of thumb to remember is that your title should be easy to read and to remember, and perhaps gives the reader a hint of what the book is about, you also want to make it intriguing and catchy.
Sometimes, however, the author is not always the best person to choose a title, as editors and publishers (and even agents) often come up with a better one.
Here are some original titles of famous books and what they were changed to.
"Call the Darkness Light" (Domina, by Barbara Wood)
"All's Well That Ends Well" (War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoi)
"Trimalchio of West Egg" (The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
"West of Waukegan" (On the Road, by Jack Kerouac)
"This Golden Land" (The Dreaming, by Barbara Wood)
"Short Pants" (Catcher In the Rye, by J.D. Salinger)
"Lunch At Bloomingdale's" (Breakfast at TIffany's, by Truman Capote)
"Tomorrow Is Another Day" (Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell)
"Venus Rising" (Soul Flame, by Barbara Wood)
"Catch-18" (Catch-22, Joseph Heller)
"Mayapan" (Woman Of A Thousand Secrets, by Barbara Wood)
"Tenderness" (Lady Chatterly's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence)
"The Terror of the Deep" (Jaws, by Peter Benchley)
"Something That Happened" (Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck)
I would have to say that pretty much any change made to Mr. Steinbeck's title had to be an improvement, but in defense of Mr. Heller, there was nothing wrong with his original title for "Catch-22." The problem was another novel had just come out (1961) by bestselling author Leon Uris, called "Mila 18," and it was feared there would be confusion.
Do you think the new titles in the list above are improvements or are there some that should have stayed the same?
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Re: What's In A Title?
as for the titles you mentioned...
"Call the Darkness Light" (Domina, by Barbara Wood)
--> I would have kept the original title. Domina sounds more like a Kathryn Harvey title. LOL.
"All's Well That Ends Well" (War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoi)
--> WAR AND PEACE. more catchy and easier to say.
"Trimalchio of West Egg" (The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
--> I think that nowadays I would keep the old title, but back in Fitzgerald's time I think anything named "The Great ..." was certainly a good choice.
"West of Waukegan" (On the Road, by Jack Kerouac)
--> I personally would have stuck with the first one, just because W.T.H. is Waukegan? That would have been an interesting catch phrase (for me). On the Road is not really telling me anything...
"This Golden Land" (The Dreaming, by Barbara Wood)
--> I prefer THE DREAMING just because a great deal of the book is about dreaming/dreams. It's more mystical and therefore fits the book better, I think.
"Short Pants" (Catcher In the Rye, by J.D. Salinger)
--> either way, great titles. to me both would work.
"Lunch At Bloomingdale's" (Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote)
--> definitely BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. maybe it is just because i am used to that title, but "lunch" just doesn't SOUND as good a breakfast... ;)
"Tomorrow Is Another Day" (Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell)
--> GONE WITH THE WIND - just because it is more poetic.
"Venus Rising" (Soul Flame, by Barbara Wood)
--> SOULFLAME all the way! it sounds more passionate.
"Catch-18" (Catch-22, Joseph Heller)
--> 22 - better number and has 3 syllables (sp?).
"Mayapan" (Woman Of A Thousand Secrets, by Barbara Wood)
--> MAYAPAN. puts a more mysterious note in it. and i like one-word-titles.
"Tenderness" (Lady Chatterly's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence)
--> L C Lover, definitely sounds more interesting that Tenderness.
"The Terror of the Deep" (Jaws, by Peter Benchley)
--> JAWS. i dunno why...terror of the deep sounds a bit "shopworn"...
"Something That Happened" (Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck)
--> both titles would work for me, i guess "of mice and men" has kind of a proverbial touch, but to me as a non-native - if i had to choose - SOMETHING THAT HAPPEND sounded more interesting. because you immediatly ask. WHAT (happened)?