I’m terrible at titles. Both in my blog posts (as can be seen here) and for my creative works. I can spend hours upon hours working on them and never get to the point where I feel like I’ve managed it successfully. How in the world do you possibly come up with a simple phrase to capture the essence of a 300 page novel while also being catchy enough for someone to want to pick it up?
That’s not to say I don’t have some titles that I’m proud of. The Agora Files is one that I think was particularly clever on my behalf, especially considering I initially named the book Run! and almost released it with that name as well. The Long Chron was the first name I came up with for that book and the one I stuck with, as well as possibly being my favorite title of them all, but Daddy of the Dead still sticks with me as being grossly misleading, as it does not feature a father figure for zombies.
And so it goes that my current nearly-complete work in progress is now undergoing a moment of redefinition. I’ve been referring to this book as The Right to Liberty for years now. This was the title I gave to it before I even began writing it. And although my wife has long told me how much she doesn’t like the title, it wasn’t until a few months ago that I really started realizing how little this fits the vibe of the book.
So, for the past few months, I’ve been slowly whittling away at the concept of the book and trying to come up with a fitting title for a novel about a man who tried to secede from the country at the same time he enters retirement, while also starting a revolution in the middle of the Northwoods of Wisconsin, which involves a large number of millennials camping out on his lawn.
I have a few I thought I’d share with you today. Feel free to comment on how terrible they all are if you must, but I’m still working on getting that final perfect fitting title…or at least the one I dislike the least.
- The Four Hundred Acre King
2. Jim Monroe’s Country for Young People
3. The Nation of Jim Monroe v. The United States of America
4. The King of the Northwoods
5. Moonshine Monarchy
Thoughts, critiques, ideas? I’d love any and all of them. Or just give me the best name for this book so I can stop spending time wondering what it is?
Love you!
Adam Oster: Unfocused Creative 
Of these, 4 and 5 seem the catchiest. But is Jim really a king? He’s a “sovereign” but what grows up on his 400 acres is more of a commune or autonomous collective, right? (Insert Monty Python reference here.)
Curmudgeon’s Commune/Collective, anyone?
The government of Monrovia isn’t very well defined, but there are times where he’s referred to as a king by those around him. It’s more of a loose designation.
or an honorific title, I suppose