Yes, it was fine when Bill Clinton called his memoir simply My Life. However, since the rest of us aren’t ex-presidents, we’d do well to look for a bit more interesting title for our memoirs or family history books. Titles say a lot about your book and its contents. Consider keeping your reader interested by applying these guidelines to chapter titles as well as book titles.
If you want to attract your target audience, an expressive, imaginative title is important. Augusten Burroughs’ Running With Scissors and Dorothy Alison’s Two or Three Things I Know for Sure used interesting titles to intrigue readers and draw interest to them.
To create an interesting and memorable title for your memoir or family history there are several things you should consider: First, some broad guidelines. Good titles are generally:
- Unique
- Concise and clear
- Descriptive
Consider how your title will pique the reader’s interest. It should draw the reader’s attention. Titles like LouAnne Johnson’s Dangerous Minds or John McGahern’s All Will Be Well both cause the reader to ask, “Why?” and want to read them to find out.
It should make the reader ask, “What is this book about?” David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty Some Day and Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking are good examples of tantalizing, intriguing titles.
A good way to develop such interesting titles is to ask yourself questions:
- Why would someone want to read my story?
- What makes it interesting?
- What are the key elements of the story?
Try to answer each of your questions with a title. You will come up with a list of ideas of possibilities.
Spend some time perusing the memoir or family history shelves of a library or bookstore looking at titles. See which one draw you toward them. Look at why. Then see how your list of possible titles might be tweaked to be more like the most successful titles you saw during your search. This may help you narrow the list down.
Finally, when you think have some good ideas for a title, ask friends or a writing group about them. Listen carefully to their comments. What they have to say about the titles you have shown them should make your choice of which one to use easier. It make help you make last minute changes that will improve the title.
If you have decided to title your chapters rather than simply numbering them you might consider using a similar process to generate ideas.
