In Developmental Editing, Norton defines an emblem as “a well-chosen detail from the text, often a concrete noun.” Is there a significant moment in the book that you can reference? A turning point in your life? A hilarious moment? Something powerful and symbolic?
#PERSONAL MEMOIR PROFESSIONAL#
Memoir titles occasionally use what developmental editor Scott Norton (no relation to the bowler or professional wrestler) calls emblems and paired emblems. A more creative person probably will have an easier time than a less creative person. Memoir titles are usually more creative than narrative history titles and biography titles. You want it to resonate, and you don’t trust that it will.īut beyond that, coming up with a good title for your memoir is more difficult and more subjective than, say, coming up with a good title for another type of nonfiction book. You have to define your story in a handful of words, and that can be difficult.
Part of it is the closeness you have to the book. What, then, is so tricky or challenging about coming up with good memoir titles? Or you come up with an idea, only to talk yourself out of it, change it straightaway, or become so attached to it that no amount of pleading, no amount of chocolate, coffee, hard cash, or whatever it is that gets you, can convince you to give it up. But you’re completely stumped when trying to come up with a title for it. Maybe a friend put an idea in your head and you decided to run with it, and there’s no looking back.įor other authors? Um, yeah, not so much. For some authors, a title for your memoir magically appears to you: when you’re in the shower, chopping vegetables, trying to go to sleep, or in some other random moment.
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