Post by account_disabled on Jan 1, 2024 6:01:47 GMT
One solution to finding the right title is to start from the point of view : do we want to highlight the name of our protagonist? Or to his enemy? Or do we want to focus on the setting? Or choose a dynamic title, which immediately shows the reader the main action of the story? Or is it better to leave the reader shrouded in a certain mystery and insert the topic of the story? Or focus on a specific object around which the narrated events revolve? Or help the reader understand the time period in which the events take place? Protagonist : the title focuses on the main character of the story and can appear with the name alone ( Momo by Michael Ende, The Conscience of Zeno by Italo Svevo), with the full name ( Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Il fu Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello), with a surname alone ( The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Mrs.
Dalloway by Virginia Woolf) or with a nickname ( The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino). Antagonist : the title focuses on the antagonist of the story, therefore on the character against whom the protagonist will have to clash. Examples: The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Location : The title Special Data focuses on a particular location. Examples: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Animal Farm by George Orwell, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Action : The title focuses on the main action of the story. Examples: The Trial by Franz Kafka, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. Theme : The title focuses on the theme of the story. Examples: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Pleasure by Gabriele D'Annunzio, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Object : The title focuses on an important object in the story. Lovely Remains by Alice Sebold and Ashes by Grazia Deledda which have a macabre flavour, The Magic Chariot by Joe R.
Lansdale, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Time : the title focuses on the time period within which the story takes place, which does not necessarily have to be too specific: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, The Summer of Montebuio by Danilo Arona, Three Millimeters a Day by Richard Matheson, 1984 by George Orwell. As you can see, in some cases multiple points of view appear, for example action+location or time+location. And a poetic and apparently meaningless title? There are novel titles that make us wonder what the author wanted to say. There is certainly a meaning, maybe someone has discovered it, maybe it's just hypothesized, maybe it's not so immediate but you'll understand it later by reading the novel. Some examples are The Red and the Black by Stendhal, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The 25th Hour by David Benioff, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Some experts say not to choose a poetic title, but the examples I've given all come from best-selling novels. So? As usual the truth lies in the middle.
Dalloway by Virginia Woolf) or with a nickname ( The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino). Antagonist : the title focuses on the antagonist of the story, therefore on the character against whom the protagonist will have to clash. Examples: The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Location : The title Special Data focuses on a particular location. Examples: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Animal Farm by George Orwell, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Action : The title focuses on the main action of the story. Examples: The Trial by Franz Kafka, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. Theme : The title focuses on the theme of the story. Examples: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Pleasure by Gabriele D'Annunzio, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Object : The title focuses on an important object in the story. Lovely Remains by Alice Sebold and Ashes by Grazia Deledda which have a macabre flavour, The Magic Chariot by Joe R.
Lansdale, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Time : the title focuses on the time period within which the story takes place, which does not necessarily have to be too specific: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, The Summer of Montebuio by Danilo Arona, Three Millimeters a Day by Richard Matheson, 1984 by George Orwell. As you can see, in some cases multiple points of view appear, for example action+location or time+location. And a poetic and apparently meaningless title? There are novel titles that make us wonder what the author wanted to say. There is certainly a meaning, maybe someone has discovered it, maybe it's just hypothesized, maybe it's not so immediate but you'll understand it later by reading the novel. Some examples are The Red and the Black by Stendhal, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, The 25th Hour by David Benioff, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Some experts say not to choose a poetic title, but the examples I've given all come from best-selling novels. So? As usual the truth lies in the middle.