Working on the Working Title

The "industry" (am I allowed to use that word without sounding pompous?) defines "Working Title" as the title you give your project either while you are working on it, or before it is finalized by a publisher/you if you're self publishing.

Now, I'm going to say up front that I don't find the working title to be very important when it comes to writing. In fact, tons of things are more important: plot, character, setting description, good metaphors, etc. But, when you're in a bind, it could help to think about your working title. Not only because it gives you a break from fretting over your current problem scene, but because a title helps you understand your work as a whole.

Writing can force you to work on your manuscript on a scene to scene basis. This is a good and bad thing. It's good because you want every scene to be as good as possible. It's bad because you can lose sight of the work as a whole. Coming up with a decent working title (note the word choice - not "good", just "decent" because this can be changed rather easily down the line) helps you to re-grasp your manuscript as an entire piece of art or entertainment.

Choose a working title that fits the feeling, mood, and voice of the story. Is your writing terse? Your title should be too. Is your writing fanciful? Try a matching working title. Do you write spiritual or inspirational work? Keep that thread in your working title.

Another plus side of the working title is, if you're like me, it allows you to deflect the, "What are you working on?" question.

"The Pharmaceutical Hippopotamus." Nuff said.