I wrote about choosing a title for your novel or collection some days ago, and I wanted to elaborate furthermore bringing an actual example to the discussion.

It’s very difficult to find a suitable title for a collection. In those cases, I think the approach “A feeling” , described in the other post, is by far the most useful. Each composition or story inside the book has its own title… and still you need to gather them under a common umbrella.

A title for my collection

“The Touch of The White Feather” came to me after months of thinking about a title for my collection. I was focusing on the characters and on the events, and it was very complicated to find that something that was common throughout the entire book.

Then, one night, re-reading my stories for the 1000th time, I remembered what was my original aim, what was the feeling I wanted to convey to the readers: I wanted them to read my stories and experience them like a caress to the soul (Carezza, anyone?). And in my imagination, there is no caress as tender, purer and lighter than the touch of a white feather.

Moreover, think about my rules: the title can be divided in two (The Touch of The / White Feather) easily, it contains an verb, an adjective and an object that aren’t directly related to the content of the collection. It means I could (and be sure I will!) change one of the elements to convey different feelings in future collections, adding a new tool to enhance my brand identity.

I just love that title.

Think about it: we spoke about 50SoG before, and even if I personally don’t like the book series… the title is a masterpiece. It tells the reader something about the book (Grey). It’s malleable enough to be used in other books of the series (of Grey->Darker->Freed), it’s easily positionable in a book cover.

So, try to do something similar. Think about your stories, think about your poetries. What is that thing that links them all?

The answer may bring you back to the very roots of your writing.