Title Troubles: Struggling to Name Your Masterpiece

As you’ll know if you read last week’s post, the manuscript of ‘Against the Clock’ has gone off to my developmental editor. I’ve also sent it to a handful of eager beta readers who have been specifically instructed to be as brutal in their criticisms as possible whilst it’s still in its draft form so I can use their feedback to help me in conjunction with the editorial feedback. And believe me, sending it out at this stage to this select group is more terrifying than publishing the final book! (By the way, if you want to become a beta reader, and have the chance to read and comment on pre-publication books in the future, start by signing up for my newsletter.)

Since all this means I can’t currently work on ‘Against the Clock’ (you should always take a break from something you’ve been working on for a long time so you can get some perspective), I’ve returned to the next collection of short stories. I’m intending there will be five or six stories in all, of varying lengths. Currently, the two shortest are complete in draft form, there’s another which is sort of complete but faulty, and I’m working on the fourth and fifth simultaneously depending on what ideas appear to be sparking on the day. So, the content is in hand… But then of course there’s my nemesis: the title.

You’d think horse-related titles would be easy since there are lots of equine-related phrases that have permeated the English language, (“bit between your teeth”, “on your high horse”, “put the cart before the horse”, “spur of the moment” etc.). But very few of them seem to adapt well as book titles. Those that do have already been done to death (think “Dark Horse” for instance). And trying to match the title to what the book is actually about is even more tricky.

The title of the new short story collection needs to sit easily alongside ‘At the Paddock Gate’. I could go down the route of: ‘More from the Paddock Gate’ but that becomes problematic if I decide to write a third or fourth collection in the future. At the moment, it’s got the working title ‘Tales from the Tack Room’ but I’m not sure that would work since I definitely want to put a horse on the front cover.

Just to make things worse, I’m also trying to decide on the title for book 3 of the trilogy. This needs to continue in the same vein of show jumping-related terms, possibly reflecting the idea of the third in a list, or that it’s bringing the story to a conclusion (e.g. something related to “finish line”).

So, as usual, I’m throwing it open to you guys: friends, if you have any suggestions, hit me with them in the comments. Thank you! 😊