What's in a Name?

I've been trying to rename a book I wrote a couple years ago. I've been going through it, doing some edits, and one thing it has ALWAYS needed is a really good name. I'm not good with titles in general, at least not my own titles. So this is something that plagues me every time I write something new.

And I know, for me at least, a title really does make a difference. I've chosen to read or not to read books on their title alone. I just finished a book in fact that I bought several months ago (I had a new Nook and the ebook price was cheap) :) but I hadn't really had an interest in reading it because of the title. The description sold me on it, but every time I saw the title in my library, I just passed it by. It has a really bad title that really has nothing to do with the book now that I've read it (and it turned out to be a pretty good story, one that has me wanting to read the many, many other books in the series).

So I'm curious, do you have a hard time naming your books? Do you stress over your titles? And do you ever judge a book by its name?

Does A Name Really Matter?

I know this has been discussed around the Webs before, but an incident with my son this weekend brought it to mind again. I was making lunch (grilled cheese sandwiches..can you guess where this is going?)

Me: "Would you like a grilled cheese sandwich?"
Son: "Nooooo."
Me: "Well, your sister and I are having one. What do you want then?"
Son: "A boy cheese sandwich."

Nothing I did, no explanation I gave, not even a cooking demonstration while making them would convince my son that there were no boy or girl cheese sandwiches, just GRILLED.

Finally, I said, "here's your boy cheese sandwich" and he promptly scarfed it down. The content of the sandwich didn't matter to him at all - it's what I called it that made it edible.

So it got me wondering....

How important is a name to you? Does the title of a book or the name of a character, or even the name of a creature or other item in a story make or break it for you? 

There have been a few instances where I hated the name of the character (Bella from Twilight is a prime example - though I did like her as a character...more on that later this week (I realize I'm in a huge minority on this one)) :D

But it didn't put me off the story. There have been instances where the name of a character or the title of a book have bugged me to the point where it pulled me out of the story or made me not pick the book up until peer pressure forced me to cave.

Has this ever happened to you? Does a name really matter that much?

Titles, Titles, My Kingdom for a Title!

Well, with my novel winding down to completion, I decided it was time to give the poor thing a name. After all, I can't just go around calling it Untitled (although the thought does appeal to me, let me tell you!)

I generally suck at titles. Every now and then, I'll get lucky and one will present itself to me. I think I have the title of my next book all picked out, but then, I thought that before I started this book as well. However, it turns out that the book is nothing like what I planned it to be...and therefore, the title I had chosen no longer works.

So, my crit partners and I have been brainstorming and stewing and agonizing (at least on my part) over what to call this nice little stack of papers I've got going. And so far...it is still nameless. We do have a few front-runners, but nothing concrete so far.

Now, I realize that if this book ever hits the shelves, chances are good someone somewhere up the line is going to change the title. So I try not to get too attached anyways. But still, a catchy title can help snag some attention. So, here I stew. If this keeps up, I may make this my next contest. Name my book and win a gift card! Hehe....I'm only half joking :D

How about everyone else? Do you have problems picking titles? Do you get attached to your titles, or do you just give it a name so you've got something to stick in the query? Anybody got an extra title they aren't using? ;-D