The Naming of Things

A writer friend of mine recently had an epiphany while running on a treadmill. The name of a collection of her stories she has been working on came to her as she ran. While she caveated this revelation with the fact that she wants to create about twenty-five percent more original material, and the fact that an editor may want to change the name of the collection at some point, it is still powerful to have a name for something you are writing.

You see, for writers, “naming” a thing is a powerful way to dig into an object’s essence. For a writer, it is not a tree but an elm, not a cloud but a cirrus cloud, not a dog but a German Shepherd. In fact, it’s even better if it’s a whithered elm, whispy cirrus cloud, and emaciated German Shepherd. Names bring to mind images, and the more specificity with which you name things, the clearer the picture that is translated to the mind of the reader.

Of course, there are exceptions to all rules and sometimes less specificity is called for. This is the art of writing, but if a writer knows what to call something, and a little more about the object than is apparent at first glance, then the writer can make choices. Artfully done, an image will come into the mind of the reader so subtly and naturally that the reader will be unaware of its entry and fall deeper into the “fictive dream” the writer has created.

That said, as a writer be ready to adapt. For two years now I have been working on a novel that I gave a title to early on. The book is almost done, almost ready to go to my agent. Last week I happened to Google the name I’d given the book and was shocked to discover that a book in the same genre is coming out this month with exactly the same title. Hard to describe the shock of seeing that result pop up on Google, but there is was. A forthcoming book with the name I have lived with and used for my work for two plus years. Those are the writer-ly breaks though, and because the other writer got there first, I will change the title of my novel.

Still, as I work to finish my novel off and polish it in the re-write process, I will likely continue to think of it by its old title. At some point I will make the internal shift over to a new name for the work and I will be careful in my selection because names have power. Names make things more real. So by all means focus on the content of your writing but remember the importance of naming things well.