I worked on this idea and came up with nothing. Because now I don't think it's possible to have a bad title.
"Donald Trump is God," sounds like it should suck, but I think we could all work magic with that. Or an awful curse word, or a disgusting meme -- depending on the writing, it could be great. There is the question of advertising -- that is, of getting a reader to actually click on your title or buy your book. But let's talk about writing and not trickery.
Yes, I'm thinking that no title on its own can be inherently good or bad, its value is only in how well it interacts with the story. Some titles do sound great on their own, but do a bad job of resonating with the stories inside (A Visit from the Goon Squad was mentioned elsewhere on this thread). Other titles are nothing on their own but feel perfect against the story (for me most one-word titles fall into this category).
I would love to hear the worst title in existence.
I Picked My Nose on the Way to the Election. ЁЯХ╢я╕ПЁЯХ╢я╕П
I picked YOUR nose on the way to election.
IтАЩd read that story.
Amazing title
Keep the aspidistra flying
I worked on this idea and came up with nothing. Because now I don't think it's possible to have a bad title.
"Donald Trump is God," sounds like it should suck, but I think we could all work magic with that. Or an awful curse word, or a disgusting meme -- depending on the writing, it could be great. There is the question of advertising -- that is, of getting a reader to actually click on your title or buy your book. But let's talk about writing and not trickery.
Yes, I'm thinking that no title on its own can be inherently good or bad, its value is only in how well it interacts with the story. Some titles do sound great on their own, but do a bad job of resonating with the stories inside (A Visit from the Goon Squad was mentioned elsewhere on this thread). Other titles are nothing on their own but feel perfect against the story (for me most one-word titles fall into this category).