Need help with a title!

I've been writing a trilogy of teen fantasy books for about a year now and I'm a third of the way through the second one when I realised that I have no title. Okay, so I kind of realised this before but it's become slightly more urgent because all of the stories I'm working on are called 'Story' on my computer and it's getting confusing. The story was originally called Abandoned when it was a short story (I adapted it because the characters were too awesome to leave alone) but I refocused it away from the plot line that made me call it that in the first place so now I'm stuck. Here's a quick overview of the plot (kind of a blurb) and hopefully you guys will have some ideas:

Jane Evans is pretty normal for a sixteen-year-old. You know, if you ignore the fact that her school attendance is shocking due to some weird illness that she refuses to go to the doctors about and she's lived alone for the past year, since her mother lost it. On the whole though, her life is pretty normal. Until her Aunt has a friend of the family come to stay with her on her seventeenth birthday. An eighteen year old friend who makes her heart stop still every time he walks in the room. And then the weird stuff starts happening. Between a visit from a ghost claiming to be her real mother and a demonic encounter, Jane is left wondering who she really is and if the world is really as straight forward as she'd always believed.

Tags: fantasy, help, novel, story, teen, teenage, titles, trilogy

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alix Cohen on April 1, 2012 at 1:25pm

"The Inner World" comes to mind. Is that too melodramatic?

Permalink Reply by Caroline LM on April 1, 2012 at 1:27pm

I don't know... I like the world bit. Maybe a title about how truly weird the world actually is?

Permalink Reply by Alix Cohen on April 1, 2012 at 1:58pm

Yes, but then you have to avoid making it sound like a sideshow. I'm racking my brain right now for a suitable Doctor Who reference...

Permalink Reply by Caroline LM on April 1, 2012 at 2:13pm

The annoying thing is I liked the title 'Abandoned' but I haven't concentrated as strongly on the whole adopted theme so it no longer makes sense...

Permalink Reply by Alix Cohen on April 1, 2012 at 2:34pm

Secret Worlds? Neil Gaiman said something to that effect. http://xkcd.com/52/

Permalink Reply by Alix Cohen on April 1, 2012 at 2:34pm

Or perhaps it's the world that's been abandoned? "Places Left Behind" perhaps.

Permalink Reply by Caroline LM on April 1, 2012 at 3:19pm

I like that! She does leave everything behind in the end and that theme continues in the sequels.

Permalink Reply by Dave Tarragon, NerdFighting Herb on April 1, 2012 at 4:33pm

If it's a trilogy, you could keep that theme in the titles, like.

"Places Left Behind" "Places Of Exile" "Places To Return"

Just an Idea. I had a similar problem with my intended series of books.

Permalink Reply by Alix Cohen on April 1, 2012 at 6:09pm

or "Places Left Behind" "Places to Stay" "Places to Return To"

Permalink Reply by Katharine Hinson on April 1, 2012 at 3:57pm

What's the feel? Because this could be completely different depending on how humorous/depressing/thoughtful/dark/light the series is.

Permalink Reply by Natalia Sierra C. on April 1, 2012 at 5:28pm

Nothing in particular comes to mind, but there are several web pages (this, for example) that assist writers in titling their works.

You should keep in mind that the title should depend on the feel of the book as much as it's literal content, and also don't forget literary devices such as alliteration and assonance.