# Advice on a Title



## Peterf (Jul 25, 2009)

*I'm writing a book that consists of four novelas. The theme for all the titles is music, each is also the title of a song.*

*Seize the Day:*

Fourteen-year-old cocaine dealer who ends up in several fights that end in the deaths of a close friend and his pregnant thirteen-year-old girlfriend.

*Dirty Little Secrets:*

Fourteen-year-old boy rapes and murders his five-year-old cousin. HE covers it up with the help of his older brother, and the ensuing events send him swirling through his and his brother's pasts to see all the dirty little secrets that led to that event.

*My Michelle:*

A twelve-year-old girl named Michelle does everything in her power to get popular. At the end she is pregnant and her best friend is AIDS positive.

*The Wicked End:*

An Avenged Sevenfold obsessed teen forms a group with his friends known as the Seven Avenged to take revenge on their bullies. Things get out of hand and people end up dead.

*I need a title for the whole book. It needs to be the name of a song, but I can't think of any that properly summarise the theme. I was thinking of Smells Like Teen Spirit, but that's all I have. I would like some help please.*


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## Galivanting (Jul 25, 2009)

if tragedy's appealing, then disasters an addiction


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## dgirl1986 (Jul 25, 2009)

I find it ... interesting... that all your tragic story lines involve underage teens


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## GraysonMoran (Jul 25, 2009)

"Underage"?    Teens are teen-age, right?

Titles might not be protectable, but I'm think using the Cobain title for a book might be a problem in many people's head.  Like calling a book Sergeant Peppers or something.

Maybe you could come up with an inclusive musical title.  Joan Didion did a novel called "The White Album"  (which was not the actual Beatles title, by the way).

Something like "The Lost EP"   or "Hit Singles"  (you get some entendre play with that one)   or "MP3's From Hell"    or  "Short Cuts"    there are a lot of good terms out there floating around.


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## T.N. Kettman (Jul 25, 2009)

Sour Notes.  Broken Strings.  Untuned Instruments.  Broken Records.  Scratched Records.  The Uncut Album.  Life: The Uncut Version.


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## cyberspecter (Jul 25, 2009)

Under Pressure - Queen/David Bowie

When Doves Cry - Prince

Broken Wings - Mr. Mister


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## lilacstarflower (Jul 25, 2009)

broken strings and uncut sound like winners to me


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## Peterf (Jul 27, 2009)

I'm considering 2. Broken Strings, and Disaster's an Addiction. Thanks for the suggestions.


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## Niko90 (Jul 27, 2009)

you can also do the opposite, like making a title that makes you think its a happy book or something, like some of the most popular books I've read (can't remember names, sorry)

Niko90


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## MeeQ (Aug 3, 2009)

You can use a title i can't seem to use myself.

"You stole my ending"


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## MOONLIGHT SKYWRITER (Aug 6, 2009)

Peterf said:


> *I'm writing a book that consists of four novelas. The theme for all the titles is music, each is also the title of a song.*
> 
> *Seize the Day:*
> 
> ...


 

How about "Ten Thousand Angels Cried"  LeAnn Rimes   Or "Running Away From Love" Bob Marley


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## michaelknost (Aug 13, 2009)

I agree with Broken Strings.


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## michaelknost (Aug 13, 2009)

I like Broken Strings, too.


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## michaelknost (Aug 13, 2009)

Sorry, double post . . .


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## Cefor (Aug 19, 2009)

Survive - Rise Against seems appropriate. One problem though, unless you aren't planning on selling these stories I doubt very much that you could take the names of the songs like that... Just a small issue, I hope that all goes well with whatever it is you are planning though.

Cefor


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## Peterf (Dec 1, 2010)

I don't know where I used a Cobain title. All American Rejects, Avenged Sevenfold twice and Guns N Roses


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## Olly Buckle (Dec 1, 2010)

> I don't know where I used a Cobain title.





> I was thinking of _Smells Like Teen Spirit, _but that's all I have.


If you were thinking of a follow up you could call it "Greatest hits, Volume one."


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## Bilston Blue (Dec 1, 2010)

A play on the GnR album Appetite for Destruction, you could go with Appetite for Disaster.

Alternatively; Dirty Pretty Things.


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## munsungun (Dec 2, 2010)

Teenage Wasteland?  The real name of the song is Baba O'Reilly by the Who but that just about covers it.


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