How do I title my books
I saw a post asking about how people came up with book titles, and I'm like ... how did I do those?
So far every book has been a little different. Book 1 was like "There's a dragon ... and curses ... Dragon's Curse?" then the next 3 were that series so it was like "Dragon's+Noun" which was easy. Then it was like, "Magic system called Beggar Magic ... that's catchy."
Then middle grade and the "character name and the thing" trend was popular so I did Thaddeus Whisker and the Dragon ... Cora and the Nurse Dragon which came later was the same thinking.
I'll admit to also doing the trend at the time with both Lands of Ash and Call of the Waters because "Noun of the Noun" was a pretty common thing then.
An Ordinary Knight was the theme of the book and like a constant thing brought up by the main character (that he was so ordinary ... but also a knight).
Back to YA and the "Charter and the Thing" so I had a series of Nyssa Glass and the (thing or person relevant to the story) books.
Spellsmith & Carver was just because the two leads had surnames that sounded super cool together, but since I wanted a series, I took their profession (Magicians) and tied it to a word that went with the theme or conflict of the story (Magicians' Rivalry, Trial, Reckoning).
Coiled ... because sneks.
Flower, Fallow, and Flourish were conceived together when I realized I was doing plant magic. They are plant centric words that all start with an F and in some way relate to the book they are tied into.
Spice Bringer I had the title before I even wrote the book. I knew it was about a magical spice and it just sounded fancy.
To Court a Queen ... I actually do not like this title. I couldn't think of anything better, and it just kind of got slapped on the story when I couldn't think of anything else.
Heart of the Curiosity was me being, "well, they are going after a treasure hidden in the heart of an old theater ... plus it's all about the figurative heart of the institution ... I'll do "Heart of" whatever I name the theater. Let me ask my reader group what to name the theater ... oh, that's good. Done.
Daughter of Sun, Bride of Ice ... me: how many keywords can I get into this title ... ooh, a sequel ... more keywords!
Reformed (also Redeemed, Reborn, Refined, Reunion) hmm, another series. Would be cool if they all had really similar names. It's about Reformed villains ... how many "Re" words are there?
Ashen fought me the MOST of anything as all the good titles that fit the theme and plot were taken. I ended up writing lists of potential titles then crosschecked them against Amazon to see if they were taken. Ashen was the first that wasn't like oversaturated but still in some way fit the story.
Blind Date with a Supervillain. Me: Screw it. Let's just say what the book's about and call it a title.
So as you can tell, I have a very detailed and thoughtful process for all this.