This is a bit of a sidetrack.. see what I did there? None of my novels have a train in them.. oops yes they do.. nearly forgot. In ‘Bags’ there was a part of the story where it was getting a bit slow so I took them on a journey. The whole family got on a train. It happened that they lived on the east so travelled on the East coast rail track which took them to Kings Cross and from there a short walk across the road takes you to the Eurostar. Before I knew it they were in Paris for a weekend.
Writing about trips which included train travel allowed me to indulge myself. I love trains and travelling on trains, can’t help it, don’t know where it came from. Colleagues have recently given me a notebook to keep train numbers in.. ooh shiny! You’ll be very pleased to hear I’ve resisted.. mainly because my memory’s not what is was and I can’t remember the number of the engines I like most.. oops did I say that out aloud? Drat.. on to titles.. quickly!
Guaranteed first question, when a non-writer finds out I’m writing a novel, will be what’s it called? That always stumped me! How do I know what it’s called, it’s not finished and I’ve not had to think about that yet. I would be embarrassed and start explaining what it was about, what the overall story involved and some of the characters. The title? Do we have titles to our lives? No. Why should my characters and their lives have titles? When I tell a friend a story, something that’s happened to me, does it need a title?
Eventually I gave in and realised that if the title is important to others I needed to make it important to me. My novels needed titles. Now when I’m asked I can reply, “The current books I’m editing are ‘Bags’, ‘Holiday Stories’ and ‘Dream Gardener’”. What do people ask you when they find out you write novels? When do you get the title?
My AtoZchallenge posts are about writing, parts of my novels or some research I need to do for them. I’m not allowing myself to write about anything other than topics linked to the books, my books.
lynnelives 
I struggle to come up with titles for my stories. It’s not easy summing a 70+K novel up in a couple of words. So far, any titles have been pure luck.
Glad to hear it Patricia! oops.. was I not supposed to say that? I meant that I’m not on my own.
I know some people who have a title for a novel when they begin it, but I’ve never been one of them. Sometimes, I have a working title, but mostly, the book has no title, the document is just saved ‘Sci Fi Story’ or something, till it’s done, and I can no longer avoid giving it one!
Rinelle Grey
Because mine have all been written during nano they’re nano10 nano11 and nano12 then they might be called ‘the one with the bags’.. ‘John’s story’ or something similar so I can distinguish one from another when talking about them. I’ve also referred to them as the latest, last years and the first one..
I almost always have a title right from the start but it doesn’t always stay the same once I have finished the book. I like my WIPs to have a title as it gives them a place in my mind and with my family who will all ask about the WIP by the title, and day by day, it becomes a part of our lives….much like a pregnancy I suppose. I know that doesn’t suit every writer, but isn’t it fabulous that we’re all so different?
My family don’t talk to me about my writing.. Actually very few of my friends do either. Hmm.. I need to ponder that one..
Those that support me while I write and talk to me about my current WIP just talk to me about it without any reference to a name.
Yes it’s fabulous that we’re all so different yet it seems you too come up with a title so you can refer to it with others which is why I needed to find names for mine. I think my future novels will have titles earlier on and yes, I expect they’ll change later too.