Book titles have changed: From abstract to full sentences..

[HarryGarland]

When I was growing up, titles were quite short and abstract. The Jungle Book, Tarzan and Pocahontas. Pokemon, Digimon. Harry Potter and such and such, the Lord of the Rings, Sword Art Online, Fifty Shades of Grey. Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts.

Then, I left the creative world for about 17 years, and I come back and see titles that are one full sentence: something happened to someone and now that someone has to deal with something, or in similar fashion.

How did it evolve? I find it... Foreign. Like, it's telling too much. Is that the point?

 

[L1aei]

How did it evolve? I find it... Foreign. Like, it's telling too much. Is that the point?

Because the source of where it all began is foreign and those original titles were short, but the translation was a full sentence... or more.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Don't you just love reading semi paragraphs before you even actually read the story?

 

[L1aei]

Don't you just love reading semi paragraphs before you even actually read the story?

There's the "...or more." I was talking about.
Okay, here are some good examples:

Japanese: ダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうか
Transliteration: Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka?
English: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
The Short version of the original title: DanMachi (ダンまち)

See the shortened version? But nobody would know what the hell that meant unless they were already aware of it. I've got another too. Check this one out:

Japanese: 転生したらスライムだった件
Transliteration: Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
English: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (or literally: "The Matter of Reincarnating and Being a Slime")
The Short version of the original title: Tensura (転スラ)

Getting the hang of it now? I've got more. Here:

Japanese: この素晴らしい世界に祝福を！
Transliteration: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!
English: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! (yeah, this one literally translates: "A Blessing to this Wonderful World!")
The Short version of the original title: Konosuba (このすば)

Or maybe this one too? See how little the shortened version is compared to the rest? Here:

Japanese: 勇者になれなかった俺はしぶしぶ就職を決意しました。
Transliteration: Yūsha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita.
English: I, Who Did Not Become a Hero, Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job.
Once again, the short version of the original title: Yuushibu (勇しぶ)

Short and sweet, but translate that into English and you get a mouth full.

 

[Tetrahedron]

When I was growing up, titles were quite short and abstract. The Jungle Book, Tarzan and Pocahontas. Pokemon, Digimon. Harry Potter and such and such, the Lord of the Rings, Sword Art Online, Fifty Shades of Grey. Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts.

Then, I left the creative world for about 17 years, and I come back and see titles that are one full sentence: something happened to someone and now that someone has to deal with something, or in similar fashion.

How did it evolve? I find it... Foreign. Like, it's telling too much. Is that the point?

some Japanese web novels/light novels had grown more straight-to-the-fact in directness than what it used to look like more than a decade ago, so you shouldn't be surprised if the modern title gave away what the story told you firsthand.

 

[Jerynboe]

The reason? People don’t read the back of the book or the description anymore because there are so goddamn many stories that they COULD be reading, so light novels adopted the practice of including the entire premise in the title. It spread from there.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

A single word or two doesn't tell me anything about the novel. Maybe I would be okay with one or two word titles if books actually had a good synopsis these days.

 

[Eldoria]

Please read this thread: https://forum.scribblehub.com/threa...tle-thats-both-reader-and-seo-friendly.26148/

 

[CinnaSloth]

I think it's pretty freakin idiotic, and ridiculous that the titles of these, more times than not, really lame animes/ mangas have stupidly long names..
and THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I TITLED MY BRAND NEW BOOK AS SUCH!!

I was isekai'd within my isekai after being previously isekai'd, and my Isekai Goddess is starting to get really angry at me for dying, and needing to be reborn again after being isekai'd for the tenth time in a row within the first day of every new world I was isekai'd into; So now, she made me immortal, and somehow managed to cast me back into my original world with every power imaginable to keep me from dying, and am forbidden from stepping foot into her Trans-dimensional Goddess Realm ever again, or else!!!

Or Ise-se-Kai 20 for short! (because SH wouldn't allow me to put the full title in the title.) lol
Try saying the full title in one breath 10 times. (Suck it, all you long title having nerds.)

 

[HarryGarland]

There's the "...or more." I was talking about.
Okay, here are some good examples:

Japanese: ダンジョンに出会いを求めるのは間違っているだろうか
Transliteration: Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka?
English: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
The Short version of the original title: DanMachi (ダンまち)

See the shortened version? But nobody would know what the hell that meant unless they were already aware of it. I've got another too. Check this one out:

Japanese: 転生したらスライムだった件
Transliteration: Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
English: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (or literally: "The Matter of Reincarnating and Being a Slime")
The Short version of the original title: Tensura (転スラ)

Getting the hang of it now? I've got more. Here:

Japanese: この素晴らしい世界に祝福を！
Transliteration: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!
English: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! (yeah, this one literally translates: "A Blessing to this Wonderful World!")
The Short version of the original title: Konosuba (このすば)

Or maybe this one too? See how little the shortened version is compared to the rest? Here:

Japanese: 勇者になれなかった俺はしぶしぶ就職を決意しました。
Transliteration: Yūsha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shūshoku o Ketsui Shimashita.
English: I, Who Did Not Become a Hero, Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job.
Once again, the short version of the original title: Yuushibu (勇しぶ)

Short and sweet, but translate that into English and you get a mouth full.

Now I understand. I heard of Konosuba before, but I never watched/read it (hadn't returned to the creative world at that time). So there is a practical use for such a long title. I thought creativity had gone.

Thanks, that is very helpful.

Please read this thread: https://forum.scribblehub.com/threa...tle-thats-both-reader-and-seo-friendly.26148/

Thanks, this is helpful too.

Hmm... Perhaps I should make one of those 'full-sentence titles' for my story too.
I was aiming for 100% abstract and symbolism when I made it . (Like, "Damn, this title is so cool!")
Perhaps that's what costing me some engagement .
Haha.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Now I understand. I heard of Konosuba before, but I never watched/read it (hadn't returned to the creative world at that time). So there is a practical use for such a long title. I thought creativity had gone.

Thanks, that is very helpful.



Thanks, this is helpful too.

Hmm... Perhaps I should make one of those 'full-sentence titles' for my story too.
I was aiming for 100% abstract and symbolism when I made it . (Like, "Damn, this title is so cool!")
Perhaps that's what costing me some engagement .
Haha.

Eh - my most successful story here has a bland title and synopsis (Strange Awakening) - a title used for at least one non-fiction and three other fiction projects per the google search I did last year, after the fact. Ironically, a search on character names turned up a woman with a similar job to the lead, and the same name, but she looked nothing like her.