Your memoir’s title, Part 3: The art part

 

There’s an art to fashioning a book title that’s just right.

 

The pros don’t all agree on the “rules” for creating a strong, compelling title, and some tell us to break the rules anyway. But we all recognize when a title does not work, so if you hope to market your memoir, put extra effort into choosing your title.

 

Since that takes time, don’t wait until you’re finished writing your manuscript before working on your memoir’s title. Try out a few working titles (temporary, unofficial titles) before finalizing your choice.

 

Notice your working title’s melody, its sound, its rhythm.

 

Lynn Seraffin says, “The ‘rhythm’ of a title has to do with rise and fall of words, the number of syllables and the strong/weak accents within them. . . . ”

 

In Priscilla Long’s delightful book, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, she explains that “Sounds have frequency. Sound travels in waves that come at more frequent or less frequent intervals. The shorter the wave, the higher the frequency. Eek! is a high-frequency sound. The longer the wave, the lower the frequency. Blue is a low-frequency sound.

           

“… [T]hink of high-frequency vowels as high-energy vowels. Pie in the sky! Let’s get high! Dream on! Scream!....

 

“Low-frequency vowels are low-energy vowels. They bring us down. We have the blues…. We are lonely. We feel moody….”

 

In her book, Priscilla gives us a list of the lowest frequency vowels:

long o (boo)

long o (bone)

short o (book)

 

Here’s Priscilla’s list of the highest frequency vowels:

long e (bee)

long a (bay)

long i (buy)

 

When choosing your memoir’s title, ask yourself if you want a high-energy title or a low-energy one, and choose words accordingly.

 

In working on my second memoir, I played around with titles. My first working title was Tattered and Breathless and Full of Tales because years ago I stumbled upon Janet Chester Bly’s poem, “Breathless Tales.” It captured, so succinctly and in such a delightful way, the quirky life I’ve lived—so different from what I’d always dreamed I would live. Here is her poem:

  

Breathless Tales

 

I would rather clutch my invitation

and wait my turn in party clothes

prim and proper

safe and clean.

But a pulsing hand keeps driving me

over peaks

ravines

and spidered brambles.

So, I will pant up to the

pearled knocker

tattered

breathless

and full of tales!

~ Janet Chester Bly (Many thanks to Janet for permission to use "Breathless Tales" in both Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir and Grandma's Letters from Africa.)

 

Although that first working title, Tattered and Breathless and Full of Tales, was a direct quote from Janet’s poem, it wasn’t a problem—I didn’t need to ask her if I could use it—because I knew I’d use it only temporarily.

 

My second working title was Scruffy and Winded and Full of Tales. “Scruffy” instead of Janet’s “tattered,” and “winded” instead of her “breathless.” But that was still too much like her wording.

 

My third working title was Winded and Wrinkled and Brimming with Tales. It was probably different enough from Janet’s words.

 

And I liked the rhythm of that third working title. See for yourself—read these two titles aloud:

 

Scruffy and Winded and Full of Tales

Winded and Wrinkled and Brimming with Tales

 

The rhythm needs the two-syllable “brimming” instead of the one-syllable “full,” don’t you agree?

 

In that working title, I also liked the repetition of the short “i” sound (assonance). 

 

I also liked the repetition of two-syllable words: winded, wrinkled, and brimming.

 

On Priscilla Long’s frequency scale from low to high (which I did not include above), the short “i” sound is right up there next to the highest frequency sounds, and that seemed to be a good fit for my memoir’s contents. (I encourage you to buy Priscilla’s The Writer’s Portable Mentor. It’s a gem!)

 

In the end, I chose a different title—Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir—but that’s a story for another day.

 

What about your working title?

Do you want low-frequency vowel sounds

or high-frequency?

Read it aloud. Does it have a good rhythm?

A pace, a beat, a cadence?

 

Then ask yourself Lynn's suggestions:

 

“Does it feel too long? Too short?

Is there a musical quality

that makes it pleasant to say?

Does it feel like it should have ended

a few syllables earlier?”

 

How can you make your working title better? 

Keep tweaking it until you’ve crafted your permanent title

—your winning title!