Some writers keep a file of plot ideas, or characters they want to explore. Some have whole scenes written, waiting for the right project to wrap around them. I have a list of titles waiting for a story.
Some come from placards. Museums are great places to get title ideas – I found Nodding Onion and Demon Duck of Doom at museums in Seattle. The first refers to a plant, the second to an extinct animal. They could also be great names for rock bands, but since I’m a sci fi writer rather than a musician I’m stuck trying to build a story around them. An Altar of Crockery could be a piece of art, but again I’m a writer, not a potter.
WizTech Flash Foam is an actual product, but it begs to be so much more. The Method of Exhaustion and The Theory of Approximation come from mathematics, but I see them craving words as well as numbers. I first read Volatile Sugar Dust in a news story about a fire, and immediately saw a world made into a vast desert by a sweets-addicted population.
Some day, a plot will develop on the page that will be perfect for one of the titles on my list. Characters will embody the meaning behind those enigmatic words on the cover. In the meantime, a story I have been writing for the last eighteen months is still in a folder labeled “untitled” – nothing on the list fits.
And the irony gods are laughing . . .
Lani, here are a few more titles, for a rainy day:
Department of Mutter Vehicles
Julius Seizure
I’ll See It When I Believe It
Where Are We Going, and Why Am I in this Handbasket?
How to Eat Eggs with a Crescent Wrench
Overly Caucasian
Certainty is for Sissies
Never Shout ‘Movie’ in a Crowded Firestation