Choosing a Title is Hard

Right now I’m working on two pieces of work: Becoming Lena and The Blue Room Cafe. Coming up with the titles for them hasn’t been easy, and I still feel like the titles could change at any moment. Sometimes the more I work on something, the more I see that another title would be more appropriate.

Mascara and Wings were both easy titles to think up, and I feel they fit the stories perfectly. So far, I feel like for my novel the title The Blue Room Cafe is going to stick. As far as Becoming Lena is concerned--the title for that is definitely not in stone. As I work on the story more, the title may morph into something else.

I find it very easy to come up with a title if there is a setting that is central to the story. Mascara takes place in a make-up store called Mascara. The Blue Room Cafe happens in a cafe. Super simple. But when I have to come up with a title that has to express an idea, that’s when things get more complicated. Becoming Lena is that type of title.

Becoming Lena is a play on the first name of the main character Allena. The core of this story is about how she discovers who she really is as a person as she gets involved with a rock band. The novel that this story is based on is called TruHeart--which is the name of the band. But I’m thinking about changing the band name right now too so...Due to the different things that are working as inspiration for this story, I'm thinking about changing the name to "Lovely Riot." It sounds more manga-ish, and it fits the story, but I'm not sure yet.

It’s a work in progress. I’m just glad that everything is digital so I can change the title on the covers of my works as quickly as I change my mind. 

I think when looking at the titles of other books, I really like titles with one or two word names, like Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli or Being Nikki by Meg Cabot (which I just realized sounds a lot like the title of my manga...interesting). I think Stargirl is one of my favorite book titles. Too bad it’s already taken. ^_^