Choosing a Book Title

[DSCrankshaw]

A small press publisher with a good reputation has taken leave of its senses and decided to publish my novel.

The editor and I have gone through the first couple of rounds of revisions, and now comes the hard part: choosing a title for the novel. I hate choosing titles, as it requires me to sum up the theme and import of years of work in no more than five words. Also, the good ones are already taken (not an insurmountable impediment, as titles can't be copyrighted, but I'd prefer not to rip anyone off too blatantly). For years now, the working title has been Fire, and I only chose that when I was halfway through and realized that fire was an important theme of the book. It's now time to turn my working title into an actual title, so I thought I'd toss out a few of my ideas here and get feedback.

First, some guidelines: I'd like to keep Fire, or some variation, in the title. I'd also like to hint, at least obliquely, at the actual plot of the book, which concerns a pseudo-Roman empire and a secretive society of magic engineers fighting off an invasion. Finally, this is the first book of a series probably entitled "War of the Elementals." This suggests an obvious theme for future book titles, but it should not be considered limiting here.

So, on to the list:

The First Flames of War
Trials by Fire
Heirs of Fire
The Call of Fire
Heirs of the First Legion

[Maxios]

Firewave
Firewall
The Arcane Fire
Fireproof

Yeah...I'm not that good at naming stuff, as you can see :smalltongue:.

[Sneaky Weasel]

Congratulations of getting a publisher! I really need to do that sometime.

Titles are pretty hard to think of. Of the ones you've come up with, I think The First Flames of War seems pretty good, and it could create a title theme for the sequels. The Call of Fire is nice too. Books with 'Call' in the title seem to do well. Heirs of the First Legion doesn't seem as enticing as the other titles, so I'd avoid that one. Hope this helps.

[Vladislav]

this is the first book of a series probably entitled "War of the Elementals."

Flames of Strife. The next books can be Waves of War, Winds of Discord, and, uhm, let's say Final Battleground.

[MethosH]

Through the Fire & Flames :smallbiggrin:


EDIT:

Better yet...

1. Through the Flames (fire)
2. Across the Waters (water)
3. Over the Moutains (earth)
4. Above the Clouds (air)

[Savannah]

I actually prefer your working title, Fire. It's the only one that would make me pull it off the library shelf and look at the back (my standard for how appealing titles are to me :smalltongue:).

[Zjoot]

Seconded. I think the other titles start to have this cheesy or cliched fantasy sound. Fire is interesting without giving anything away-makes you want to see what it's about.

[Mauve Shirt]

I'd go with either "Fires of War" or just plain "Fire", for the reasons stated.

[DSCrankshaw]

Thanks for all the advice.

Running counter to what I've heard here, my editor has taken a liking to "Heirs of Fire." Now, I can argue for something different, but I was wondering how people felt about that title.

[Savannah]

Well, Heirs of Fire would probably be my second pick of what has been suggested. Personally, I'd go with your editor on this, as s/he presumably has a lot more experience than we do on how to make a book successful.

[DSCrankshaw]

So I signed the contract a little over a week ago. Heirs of Fire it is.