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Brian Stansell replied to the topic The trouble with titles in the forum Fantasy Writers 4 years, 10 months ago
Hi Rose,
I think, since you are doing a trilogy, one thing that seems to work well is a unifying title, with each installment as a subtitle.
One to two-word titles seems to work for unity very well in the market.
Think of it this way:
1. Dune – by Frank Herbert – keyword: “Dune”
2. Star Wars – by George Lucas – keyword: “Star Wars”
3. Lord of the Rings – by J.R.R. Tolkien – keyword: “LOTR”
4. The Chronicles of Narnia – by C.S. Lewis – keyword: “Narnia”
5. The Sword of Shanarah – by Terry Brooks – keyword: “Shanarah”Each of these famous titles generated several books in the series, but they all had a unifier word that they could be referred to in a pinch.
Let each novel have a distinctive subtitle of one of these:
The first ideas were: Goldenblood Shadowshards Thundercrown I kinda like these, but not a lot. The second one is my favorite, but the others are still a little bland. Now, the second option, in a similar vein, but slightly to the left. Gilded blood Starless shards Fractured Crown
But come up with a keyword that unifies each serial novel as part of the whole.
In my series, the singular word I use is “Excavatia”, a word that hints at something hidden or buried that must be dug up or discovered. As such, I can refer to the whole set as the “Excavatia novels”, in the same way someone might refer to C.S. Lewis’s novels as the “Narnia novels” or Tolkien’s works as the “Middle-Earth novels” (which would include The Simarrilion and related material along with The Hobbit, etc.). See how this simplifies things?
My four planned books (tetralogy) are titled:
1. Excavatia: From Dust Arise
2. Excavatia: A Swirl of Ashes
3. Excavatia: Walls of Stone
4. Excavatia: In The FleshEvery subtitle has a distinctive hint at a component of the emerging story that has a milestone of the building story arc.
The first novel’s subtitle “From Dust Arise” hints at the creation of mankind and their discovery of who they are and their “calling” as awakened, living beings. Book 1 is also a discovery and orientation novel that sets the characters into the mysterious place where they begin the quest that will reveal to them who they are.
The second novel “A Swirl of Ashes” deals with a trial by fire. Fire is very much a large part of the second novel, but it also hints at major tests and trials of a Refiner’s Fire that purges them of their assumptions, misunderstandings and places them in further jeopardy with the quest suffering what seems to be a major setback, which is actually pivotal into the next phase of the story arc.
The third novel “Walls of Stone” hints at the almost impossible tasks before them as the threat level surges upward and seems to overshadow and block the actions they seek to accomplish, but it also introduces them to their most dangerous ascent of a wall of mountains where the ancient creature sleeping for millennia, must be confronted to fulfill their quest objective.
The fourth novel “In The Flesh” reveals the final climactic sequences that have personal implications to the characters who have made the journey that impacts, not only their experiences in the novel’s mystical lands, but in their own personal lives back in the places in time from which they were called and transported.
The whole series is about finding the prophetic gate stones and bringing them to the captured crown to complete the opening of the Hidden Kingdom of Excavatia that will usher in the emergence of the High King’s total rule and the overthrow of the strongholds of warring sub-kingdoms.
The concept and very name of that term “Excavatia” is the unifying theme and central point of the series. The story is replete with mysteries both within the story but also resonates within actual biblical passages that indicate more profound concepts.Find that short key concept for a unifier and that may help.
The inaugural movie, now called “A New Hope”, kicked off the Star Wars series and the franchise was originally only referred to as “Star Wars” in 1977. It was only after the prequels were made in 1999 that they recast the first as synonymous with the subtitle in the famous scrawling texts of the opening.












