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Wendall --- every other Thursday

I was having a discussion with my film students last week about the importance of titles and it got me thinking about whether their function is any different for novelists than for screenwriters. 

Did its one word title land it in the top grossing movies of all time?

 

Many studies have been done that suggest films with one or two word titles do better at the box office. When I checked a list of the 50 biggest hits in film history (adjusted for inflation) 31 of the 50 were indeed short ones, including Jaws, Star Wars, Titanic, Ghostbusters, The Exorcist, Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, The Sting, Home Alone, Forrest Gump, Grease, and The Graduate. But that left 19 that were three words or longer, and in fact, the top four on the list are slightly longer: Gone With the Wind, Star Wars: Episode V A New Hope, The Sound of Music, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Hit book and film. Was it the single word? Or the shark?

 

Another hit book and film. Was it the two word title, or the nylons?

For me, one of the most important things, after the length, is the tone of the title and whether it suggests the genre it’s going to deliver. I remember once reading a script called The Hitler Family Reunion. You can imagine my dismay, and disconnect, to find out it wasn’t a comedy. So it needs to prepare you for what is coming, particularly in the submission stage.

 

When I began to look up this question in regard to novels, the opinions seemed to be all over the place. Some sites suggested one word titles were preferable, because they left more room for cover art. But many said the length didn’t really matter, citing the enormous popularity of books like Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or any of the Harry Potter titles . . .), All the Light We Cannot See, or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

 

Title length didn't seem to hurt this book. . .

 

Or this one.

Perhaps with novels, the writer’s name means more than the title—Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and Sara Paretsky have largely varied titles (many of which I can’t recall in this moment) but I bought all of them. Of course, when you have a famous author and a title with a hook—Sue Grafton’s A is for Alibi and the rest of her Kinsey Milhone alphabet series or Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Stephanie Plum series—you appeal to the audience in two ways.

 

This hook worked the first time, and for almost 25 more. Sob.

 

First edition of Cornwell's bestseller-- all about the title.

 

And a later one, all about the writer.

Certainly, most of the novels by Dickens and Austen fall into the “two word” category, but Faulkner and Hemingway usually spilled over to at least three or four.

 

So, it’s hard to know what changes and compromises you need to make to your title, for the marketplace.

 

Most of my scripts and novels have gone through a few “working” (and ultimately non-working!) titles before I finally settled on the right one. My first script, about a woman who says no to a genie, started as a nod to Bruno Betelheim, The Uses of Enchantment, but on the advice of my agent, became Wishful Thinking. My second script, about the “Robin Hood” of insurance started and remained entitled Premiums for 20 years, until it was optioned by two Australian producers who wanted it rewritten for that market, and so I renamed it The Kangaroo Clause.

 

When I wrote a script about my experiences as a woman teaching Jack Kerouac novels at an all-male boarding school, it started as In Loco Parentis, then Lunatic Lit, and finally went out as Off the Road.

 

My favorite rom/com script started as Our Little Secret, then, Liars in Love, was submitted around town as A Case of You, and currently exists as 15 Reasons to Live.

 

Now that I am writing screwball mysteries, which have an amateur sleuth, but don’t obey the rules of the cozy, I needed titles that might attract open-minded cozy readers, but would also indicate a slightly zanier tone and suggest the travel aspect of the series. All four book titles have been a challenge.

 

Lost Luggage was based on my original script, Animal Instincts, which, in the end, I thought sounded too much like soft-core porn. But when I started with a two word title, it seemed I was locked into that for the series. Thank goodness, one of my dear friends came up with Drowned Under, which totally captured the Australian cruise element, but it took me months to land on Fogged Off for Cyd’s adventures in London, after testing truly horrible ideas like Thames to Die and Death Tube.

 

 

My peek into the world of endangered bird smuggling, was initially Bali,Why? until the copy-editing stage, where my editor vetoed the idea, saying everyone wouldn’t get the joke. I lobbied for The Big Tweet, until Elon Musk ruined that. Fowl Play was taken. We were right down to the wire in finally settling on Cheap Trills.  I’m really happy with it, aesthetically, but it has proved problematic, since no matter how many times I’ve written Amazon, when you type in Wendall Thomas, Cheap Trills, it takes you straight to a page full of cheap, wild-headed TROLLS! 

 

See below!

 

I have to admit, I enjoy choosing short story titles much more, since the pressure to buy the book isn’t on my shoulders, it’s down to the editors’ title choice. In Murder A-Go-Gos, where all the stories were inspired by Go-Go’s hits, my work was done for me. But I feel like my first published story, “Loser Friend,” as well as the two below, are my favorites.

 

From Sisters in Crime LA's Anthology, Last Resort.

 

From this year's Crime Under the Sun.

Readers, writers, and MIE compatriots, do you agonize over your titles? And how often do you choose a film, or a book, based on the title alone?

 

---Wendall

 

Wendall’s fourth Cyd Redondo novel, Cheap Trills, has been nominated for a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery of 2023 and she will be attending Left Coast Crime April 10-14.

 

Please find her on the Best Humorous Panel (Friday the 12th), the “Dogs and Cats and Birds, Oh My” panel on Sunday the 14th, at the table she is hosting with James Bartlett, or stop and say hello in the hallways or the bar!