The Power of the Right Title and Memory Replaced by Writing @TheOrphanMan #TheOrphanManSays #OnWriting

(Applicable to stories, essays, poems, and identity)

           When I write a title, there is a basic, subconscious ritual I enact. Due to the immersive experience that writing provides to me- I forget my ego and replace it with the themes or events that lay within whatever I am writing. In fact, each piece of writing can be viewed as a symbolic death of a self, for the purpose in writing is to learn, for if writing originated as a recording – then it is parallel to the most basic construct which allows human consciousness as we know it; that is, memories.

           The wheel replaced our legs before the script replaced our minds. Script can, therefore, be the technological projection of the intellect- in the same way as the wheel is a projection of the body; in other words, if a wheel is meant to save us the energy while traveling, then writing is to save the effort of remembering and to make us gain efficiency in the future.

In other words; in the same way as the ancients created maps, casting out in different directions and approximating- so writing strives to develop a network of understanding through the same method of mapping of our subconscious, reality, and identity. But why am I telling you all this in a ‘how to write a title’?

Because I believe it is essential to giving your writing itself character or voice. A great title weaves itself like a stream of memory through the strands of your writing- a standard line you can always come back to.

Think about how people remember things. We remember fear, nostalgia; we remember new arrivals and fresh starts- whether physical or mental. We remember getting what we want, or not. Any of these situations is a good place to invoke your title verbatim. By doing this you will forge visible links between the different pivotal moment in the character or idea arcs of your story or essay.

Take this example of how I use the title of ‘the Changing’ to invoke fear and mystery in the exposition of my dystopian thriller.

           “She is the fire, the purpose, the reason to go on. She is the freedom of my legacy and the protégé of all those who I once held dear. I see the broken pieces of myself in her. She is a reminder of what they made me.

I must protect her. But how? So much of the future is uncertain.

The end is near. It has been coming for a long time. Warnings came too, but they were pushed aside by more pressing concerns. The human consciousness was too congealed and self-indulged to change- or to inspire one-another to Change.

So many years, so many miles between us. Separated by country, culture, and bloodline. A racial divide as strong as history. Wars of water, wars of blood, then none were left but the strongest- but our time will come as well.

The Changing.”

           Or the way I use it in the exposition of my Epic Fantasy ‘The War of Saints and Sages’

           “Gamlin stared at the sigil as the Lord-General passed. Gamlin himself had no desire to forge a logo of his own. When Gamlin received his generalship from Saint Arcadius the King had asked him if he might choose to take on some sigil.

“As far as I am concerned, the sigil of the black lion is the one I stand under.” Gamlin had answered, simply. The Saint had smiled at this at the high table where he had sat, next to the King. The King had only frowned.

No. Gamlin would not take up a sigil of his own. He was a servant to his Saint, that was all- and there was a freedom in that. No nation-state, no family, no King had his allegiance, only that which was divine. Only Gods, Saints and Sages.

It was different for a Saint. The Saint had to play the games of Kings and Lords in order to affect any change. In fact, it is part of the Saintly Duty to keep those men in check.

Gamlin would always be steadfast, for he knew the Covenant of Saints as well as any high Priest on all the earth. He believed in Arcadius. He would always be there for his Saint to form the men to march, and do the dull work of these Wars of Saints and Sages.

He invested.”

           When I write a title, there is a basic, subconscious ritual I enact. Due to the immersive experience that writing provides to me- I am to forget my ego and replace it with the themes or events that are within whatever I am writing. This state of consciousness and attitude is always essential to have turned on when deciding a title. You should not even exist out of the contemplation of the title of that story, or piece of writing and totally ‘in character’ with the themes.

If narrative memories are essential to human identity systems, then the title is the same to a book as a name is to a person. Whether or not the contents of what is inside live up or down to the name depends on the strength of its center- book or person, and even then the name changes other people’s perception of the contents. And now we get to why I switched my name.

           My legal name is Shamus, but I use Julius publicly because Shamus sounds like ‘shame-us’ and I don’t want those negative sounds being the first impression of my name. So, I chose the name Julius, a similar 6 letter name starting on a higher note than my most despised childhood nickname “Shame”, called thus by sister, mother, and other- I have never admitted my hate for it off paper because I don’t want my parents to think that I think they suck at writing titles!

The best titles encompass everything inside the book. Depending on what kind of writer you are, they can be the worst or happiest part of the project. Still, no matter what your personal creative aptitudes are geared toward, title writing is a skill gained project by project. The result of finding ‘the right title’ is one of the great rewards of the process of writing.

           I’ve heard it told that a title should be the last thing you should write, while I wouldn’t intentionally arbiter myself away from this method, it is not the method by which I have found ‘the right title’,

           Quite the contrary in fact- in everything I write the title always comes to me, less than a quarter of a way through the piece- still in the exposition; in fact, I came up with the title of this piece by the end of the second paragraph.

           For me, the title is something that comes when I know exactly where I want to go with the rest of the piece of writing. An article like this is one of my shortest forms of writing- while my longest form would be my epic fantasy “The War of Saints and Sages”- a potential 21 book epic fantasy series with several additional books of world, character, and plot building. It wasn’t until I completed the first 100 pages of the first novel. Considering the size of the project- this puts me even far less than a quarter into its manifestation- then having found ‘the right title’.

           My point in telling you this is that the timing for finding the title won’t come at the same junction for every piece of writing. The more complex the story or piece- the sooner you will find the title because you will be more aware and intimate with the themes. My longest form of writing is a mega-essay which I won’t tell you the title of. It’s sheer philosophical complexity gave me the titles before I had written 20 pages.

           Complexity itself is always an indicator of the title. A complexity of title can change with the number of words and is also, I believe, a good indication of the ambiguity of the themes presented within. Take for example this article, it may be short form- but it has complexity because it is talking about a complex and almost all-encompassing topic in title writing. Therefore, its main title is a word longer than ‘The War of Saints and Sages ’- even if it is 12 books longer- the themes in this essay relate to all of the language and how we create labels in the first place and so are therefore massive themes.

           The obviousness of your title should, in my opinion, always depend on the intended size of the piece of writing. Anything as short form as this type of writing, which you would post on the internet for free should tell you all the basic content and theme of the piece, especially if it is a ‘how to’. The use of titles and less ambiguous subtitles is essential, especially when trying to send a limited message.

If you are writing a story with multiple complex, intertwined themes, however- then you want to use a title that has the opposite effect and retain a level of mystery. For a story like ‘The War of Saints and Sages’ the title is obscurely hidden deep in the worldbuilding of the story but give you three important but disjointed clues just to give you enough to be thinking about what the title could mean.

The words Saint and War are used often in the exposition of WOSAS, but it soon becomes clear that it is not simply one single war that is being fought, nor is the term Saint- in this secondary world, anywhere near as simple as the term used by the Catholic Church- and that’s saying something.

Another story I wrote with almost as many complexities as ‘The War of Saints and Sages’- but executed in 1/12th of the word count of my epic fantasy is called ‘The Changing’.

           In the story ‘The Changing’ refers specifically, at first to an event in which the mysterious ‘regime of the dystopia mandates the trans human conversion of all their remaining citizens due to the global health crisis that came because of global warming. The Changing, however, is a title of multiple meanings. First of all, it refers literally to the transhumanist agenda. But also, it refers to the parallel journey of our two main characters. Having lost his wife, the father has had to both seek to rebuild himself and adapt to a sick society in which he was forced to enroll his child. Look at the way I use ‘The Changing’ as a homophone term in this example from a short article on writing ‘The Changing’,

“After the Changing their world is dropped out from underneath them, and things they could have never imagined doing- they must do to survive. This is the story of Names Old and New; of a Changing world- pushed to the brink, and of identities forced to grow in the cracked soil of a futuristic hell manifested by human carelessness. This is a story of survival and family, of hatred and love, of bloodline and vengeance, of oppression and rebellion; each one cannot exist without the other, our family is who we love and we would spill blood for, plot vengeance and send hatred to anyone that might oppress them- but to survive there must be a Changing.”

The two methods I use most for making more interesting titles are homophone and alliteration. Alliteration is useful for making the name of the story stick in somebody’s mind, like, ‘the War of Saints and Sages’ uses the letters 4 times. If you use homogony it makes the reading of the book itself more interesting, like finding little Easter eggs each time a new condonation is added to the title. If you can use both, then you have truly found ‘the right title’, like ‘The War of Saints and Sages’, which is also a homophone term.

An acceptation to these methods would be when your title is required to specify some information that they want. An example of when this might happen would be in historical fantasy, but also in many short form articles. Take for example, my 1 book historical fantasy ‘The Son of Ares’, uses neither homogeny or any noticeable alliteration- but because it is a historical piece this is ‘the right title’ because establishing the time period and culture in the title of a historical fiction is essential for finding readers interested in that time period and avoiding confusion. The same holds true for short form essays and articles.

Really, finding the right the right title is up to you because only you know the full themes of your piece of writing. Empathize with those themes, let them own your mind and forget your ego and you will find the right title. Stay cool and peace!

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