I Hate My Title and Playlists on Crack

It wasn't too long ago when I told you my working title for my WIP, The Formula, as well as shared my playlist for it. Well, I've sort of backtracked, because I hate my title again. So now I'm all alone and titleless. It's like standing in the rain without an umbrella.

Here's the thing--if it wasn't for that contest I entered a while back with the first five chapters, I probably wouldn't have picked a title at all. But since I had to, and had to live at least temporarily with that choice, it grew on me. But then I didn't even advance to the final round of the contest, so I realized I really didn't have to commit to this title at all. And when I didn't have to commit to it, I realized I really didn't like it as much as I thought.

I really think titles are the hardest part of writing a book. If you're trying to make a point in the story, you can spend pages drawing it out, using every word you could possibly think of to get that point across. With titles, you're much more limited. How are you supposed to sum up everything that your novel is about in one short phrase? That's why I realized I didn't like my title. What did it actually say about my book? What about it was going to draw readers into the story? Nothing, really. Because it's not good enough.

But how do I come up with a title that is good enough? Is it even possible? I've been trying to come up with one for over two years and I've got nothing to show for it. Ah, well, the struggle continues.

And for a little added bonus, I wanted to share a little playlist I made. This little story arch between Chapters 12 and 13 is one of my favorite parts of the book. So a lot of songs spoke to me when I wrote it. But I realized that if someone looked at this mini playlist without knowing the context, it probably looks like I was on crack when I made it. But of course, it makes perfect sense to me!

I know I should explain each song choice, but that would just take the fun out of it, wouldn't it? Plus I'd have to explain every detail of those chapters. So instead I decided on an emotion or mood (there can be a violent mood, right?)  that occurs in the book and sort of goes with why I chose that song. (Although I think 1 & 2 could also be swapped or mingled or...whatever!)

1. Lust

2. Insanity

3. Jealousy

4. Regret

5. Violence

6. Forgiveness


What do you think? Was I on crack? How do you choose your titles? Will I ever figure out which chapter is which?

More Vacations Stats:

Word Count: 14,017. Got through Chapter Fifteen. I know I want seventeen chapters when this is all done, and that eighteen should work for the first draft because of the Chapter Two cut, but I feel like I'd be rushing the story if I try to cram everything else in to only three more chapters. So I'm just gonna go with it for now and figure out how to restructure it when I go back and edit.
Poems: ....*crickets*
Blogs: Three. So, as usual, my plans to have blog posts written ahead of time never work.
Reading: I gave up on Tinkers (temporarily, I suppose) because I just had to attack my new stack of books. I couldn't really get into it. I started Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble, got almost halfway through in one day, and talked with the author on Twitter for a bit. Remind me never to fight my reading habits again.