THE URBANE INDIAN: There is much to be found in a name

I've been studiously word-processing away on my first novel. My working title is A Contemporary Gothic Indian Vampire Story. I know what you're thinking. "Oh God, not another Indian vampire story!" In the last little while, I've done a lot of investigation into the topic and the most important thing I've come away with from all that research is that when I go out on a date with a woman, if for some reason there should be hickeys involved at any point, I can write off the whole cost of the date as a legitimate tax expense. You can do stuff like that as long as it's research. Darn clever those white people and their accountants.

The other thing I've been contemplating lately is how to come up with the right title. Titles are very important and have a lot to do with whether you will pick that book up. They have to catch your interest, describe the book, and be memorable. Having spent the last 35 years reading extensively I've discovered that there are basically four types of titles, be they for books, plays or movies.

First on the list is what I call the "on the nose" title. As the name suggests, it's a title that basically tells you what the book, play or movie is about. No great leap of logic there. For instance, The Handmaid's Tale. Gee, I wonder what that movie is about? I wonder who the main characters are in Cats? Death Of A Salesman... what could that possibly be about? Hamlet... three guesses who the central character will be. Night Of The Living Dead. I wonder what that movie is about? And when it happens?

The other kind of title is the "hint" title. It refers to what at first appears to be an obscure title, but in reality relates in some way to something that happens within the work making you pay attention when you actually read or view the thing. Some examples are To Kill A Mockingbird. There are no actual mockingbirds hurt or killed during the reading of the novel. But there is a reference to them that if you aren't on the ball, you'll miss and remained confused. Same with The Glass Menagerie. Green Grass Running Water also comes to mind. The Silence of the Lambs, and Atlas Shrugged too.

There's also the metaphoric title. It relates to titles that have no direct mention within the book but the overall themes of that work of art can be viewed in a broader context. The Outsiders, for example. There's Apocolypse Now, though those words are briefly glimpsed in the film painted on a rock. Crash. Body Heat and so on.

The fourth and most confusing (or the most fun, depending on your imagination) are titles that, off the bat, have absolutely no mention or obvious relationship to the contents of the work. If you're like me, you're just left there trying to find the correlation. Then it becomes a game to figure out the connection. Or if you are not like me, you probably don't care. The movie Brazil is an example. The play Olleanna too. The novel Neuromancer comes to mind. The Crying Game.
It's the same with the work of Native writers. There does, however, tend to be more concentration on titles in the first two categories? Halfbreed. Class, who and what is this book about? Drylips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing. Class, where does the author get this reference and what does it refer too? The Rez Sisters? Anybody have the vaguest idea about who the characters might be? The Almanac of the Dead. No surprise there.

Medicine River. I need a location and a community. Reservation Blues.... in that situation, you get both an approximate location and the kind of atmosphere it generates. Indian Killer. What is this book about... don't be so quick to answer that one, young man!

My personal favorite (though written by a white person) is How A People Die. That certainly sets the tone, doesn't it?

On the more obscure side, House Made of Dawn. It won a Pulitzer, so it must mean something.

Be that as it may, I'm still sitting at home trying to figure out if A Contemporary Gothic Indian Vampire Story says what I want it to say as a title. Is it gripping? Kinda. Is it eye-catching? Could be. Will it force a person to grab it off the shelves and run screaming from the bookstore (after properly paying for it of course)? Possibly.

I've also given my book a traditional Indian name. Amongst my people it's known as Drew's-sad-attempt-to-cash-in-on-the-Harry-Potter-craze.
Maybe I should put that on the cover.