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Title Suggestions



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Sat Oct 20, 2018 9:13 pm
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Mageheart says...



Back when I first started writing The Novel, I struggled with creating a title and ended up settling on Broken Magic. Now on the verge of starting the third draft, my struggles with the title haven't gotten much better - it's been called Shattered Souls, Winter and, most recently, Asphodel. While I know that titles tend to be chosen at the end of the writing process, having a good title always helps me to stay motivated when working on a story.

I'll give a little blurb on what the story is about and highlight what it'll mainly focus on down below, so, after reading it over, please let me know what you think some good titles for it might be!

The Premise: Asmira Sapienti had a relatively normal childhood. She grew up with her Aunt Rosa, became best friends with Lydia Kilstrom in kindergarten, and developed a love of reading at the tender age of seven. But in the summer between seventh and eighth grade, after a heartbreaking betrayal by her former best friend Lydia, Mira discovered a spell book - and, with it, her ability to cast spells. Now a junior in high school, Mira has become quite skilled at hiding the existence of magic from her aunt, while simultaneously drifting farther and farther away from her peers.

A possible form of friendship arrives in the form of Kentaro Hinamori, a boy who she tried (and failed) to befriend when he moved to Wildegate their freshmen year. After catching her casting a spell, he begs her to help him with a problem of his own - a demon, Prince Asteri, is going to take over his body in the near future, and there's no telling when.

Mira eagerly agrees, but there's just one problem: despite her love of spells, she can never quite make them reach their full potential.

And, to make things even worse, she's starting to see ghosts.

Other: The biggest themes of the story are friendship and learning to accept your true self, but, besides that, there's also a very, very heavy emphasis on death and the mythology that surrounds it. My current ideas for the title are to reference that, but anything that has to do with any of the three major ideas will probably work!
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.
  





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Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:16 am
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AvantCoffee says...



General possibilities:
Spoiler! :
I tend to base the title of my stories off its main theme, overall meaning, or something significant within the story. Like for example, if the setting of this story is unique or influential to the characters you could name it after that. Or if a certain character drives the main plot/motive of the story (maybe Prince Asteri?) you could include that name in title. If there is a certain emotion that keeps showing itself more than others you could base a title off "symbols" or whatever that depict that emotion. And on that note, if there's a reoccurring anything in the story that is meaningful you could use that in the title.

From the premise (which is awesome by the way! :D) the main struggle seems to be Asmira trying to master her spells so she can prevent Prince Asteri from possessing Kentaro's body, all the while doubting friendship because she's been hurt by it in the past. How this is resolved at the end of the novel could be a good focus for the title. I don't know how you plan to end it and what you want to focus on, but maybe if, say, in order to "defeat" Prince Asteri Mira needs to use a certain spell, but that spell has never worked before because it requires her to fully trust the person whose body the demon wants to take over (Kentaro). In this setup, you might consider naming the novel title after the spell's name (idk my advice is horrible).


Title suggestions:
- Friendship is Magic
- The Sunrose or [insert yellow simile] Rose (you had Asphodel before which is a flower; yellow roses are the "flower of friendship", but they can also mean extreme betrayal)
- Moment of Possession (dunno about the sound of this one, but it's referring to the uncertain "when" Kentaro's body is taken over)
- Elusive Spirits (?)
- Elusive Presence
- Passing Intensions
- The Sunrose Reaper (??)
- A Cold Incantation

@Saen I edited this post since I had to rush before, and in doing so I added a couple more title suggestions with an emphasis on death. I hope you find the perfect title for your novel, whatever that may be. ^^
  





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Fri Oct 26, 2018 3:40 pm
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mellifera says...



I think @CoffeeCat's general suggestion is pretty good! I know how hard finding a good title is, and to be honest, I'm not great at it. Still, I thought I'd try to help- if nothing else, maybe spark something for you.

Spoiler! :
-The Problem with Spirits
-Almost Magic
-Death's Request (or some variant that has to do with demons? Representing Prince Asteri possessing Kentaro, or wanting to anyway)
-Ghost Visions (I was trying to come up with something that could tie in Mira not quite fulfilling her magic and seeing ghosts, but I couldn't think of a great way to do that? Or even playing on the term "ghostwriter" for Prince Asteri possessing Kentaro, as in like, it's not his body but he's the one controlling it...is that makes sense)
-The Halfway Witch (I'm not sure what magic-users are referring to as though)
-Temporality


I hope you find a good title for your novel! <3
I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people that do.

You and I, we are matter, and it matters.

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Sun Oct 28, 2018 10:21 pm
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Mageheart says...



Thank you so much for the suggestions, @CoffeeCat and @mellifera! I love all of them, but I think The Halfway Witch is the perfect title for this specific story!
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.
  





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Sun Oct 28, 2018 11:45 pm
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AvantCoffee says...



Yay I'm glad you found a title that works for you!!
  








You are beautiful because you let yourself feel, and that is a brave thing indeed.
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