I am stating right now that I am not a fan of the new long title trend. Or perhaps I should call it TITLES THAT GO ON AND ON FOR DAYS AND DAYS BUT DON’T REALLY SAY ANYTHING THAT TWO WORDS COULDN’T HAVE SAID BETTER. I blame Louise Rennison for the long title fad. I really have no proof of this, but ten years ago (or so), her book ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL FRONTAL SNOGGING hit the shelves and titles have never been the same since. Now, the truth is that I love her titles and a lot of them are long. But the rest of the long titles out there I can do without.
I would happily rename THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN simply PART-TIME INDIAN. Easier to remember and still says pretty much the same thing. And don’t get me started on…well, actually, I can’t remember any other really long titles which is exactly my point! How are people going to buy your book if they have no idea what it’s called?
There are exceptions. Like I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU works for me because it’s already a saying. Same with the sequel (sort of), CROSS YOUR HEART AND HOPE TO SPY. But most of the time long titles are not like this.
So, why am I ranting about this? Well, mostly because it’s my blog and I can.
Maybe it’s just me, anyway. Maybe young people, the target audience for these books still have plenty of brain cells and have no trouble remembering the title of “that Frankie book that everyone loves” or “A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE” or “MY ROAD TRIP TO THE PRETTY GIRL CAPITOL OF THE WORLD” (by the way, these are all books I like, but can never recommend on the fly because…yeah, the titles are so friggin’ long! And yes, I just looked them up!).
I know that authors don’t always name their books, and sometimes there’s a lot of input before a title is decided on, but all I’m saying is while I’m very flexible when it comes to editing and even my title, I will go down fighting if my editor wants to name my book THE STORY OF A GIRL WHO TAKES HER FIDDLE ON THE ROAD AND FACES HER FEARS AND FINDS EXCITEMENT ALONG THE WAY WHILE REACHING NEW LEVELS OF ENLIGHTENMENT. Or anything along those lines.
What about you? Do you like long titles?
I have to admit that I like long titles. I agree that not every title works as a long ‘un, but some books out there are just so dang quirky that a long title seems exactly right for them. Like Kate DiCamillo’s THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: BEING THE STORY OF A MOUSE, A PRINCESS, SOME SOUP, AND A SPOOL OF THREAD. What a mouthful! But it’s so great on two levels. First, because it can easily be shortened to THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, but second, because there are some nutters out there like me that think the title is super-intruiging, like a mini jacketflap! So I guess I’d say that to satisfy both the short-title fans and the long-title fans, if you feel you must name your book something long, make it shorten-able. Personally, I dig long titles. But I agree that sometimes they’re hard to remember. By the way, Joelle, thanks for your advice on my LOOOOOOOOOOONG title! I will use it!
Flannery O’Connor’s stories made me a huge fan of using complete sentences as a title. I love A Good Man is Hard to Find and Everything That Rises Must Converge.
Hey there,
I partially agree with you. I cannot get ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN right no matter how many times I practice. I always end up saying something like “partly true diary of an absolute indian” which is just wrong. Same with FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS. Yet I can’t really see re-titling either of them.
Sometimes I really like the longer titles. Hell, my client and I titled her book THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF AMY FINAWITZ, EIGHTH GRADER. If it was good enough for Laurence Sterne, it’s good enough for me. Then again, another client’s title is a one word punch: CANDOR.
I guess it just depends on whether it captures the right element of the book for me. You get more real estate for a quirky book with those titles sometimes, and I certainly wouldn’t go that route on everything.
~Elana