"Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic." Today's question on the YA Highway Road Trip is:
NAME THIS LIFE: What would your memoir be called?
Can I just say, this question is hard? Really. Coming up with titles for your fiction is hard enough. Encapsulating the essence of your life in a title is daunting! I decided to brush up on recent memoir and biography titles for inspiration. Here are some of the best and worst:
Best
1. LIVES LIKE LOADED GUNS: EMILY DICKINSON AND HER FAMILY'S FEUDS by Lyndall Gordon
This biography of Emily Dickinson and her family uses a line of her poetry for the title. Of course, when you're working with Dickinson, you have a wealth of possibilities for a title. This title is both lyrical and a representation of the content of the biography.
2. BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER by Amy Chua.
Philosophy aside, this title is really catchy.
3. SAVAGE BEAUTY: THE LIFE OF EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY by Nancy Milford.
This title is a little florid, just like Millay's life and work.
Worst
1. LIFE by Keith Richards.
I mean, come on. The man has probably forgotten more outrageous anecdotes than a dozen of us put together will experience in a lifetime. There was nothing more specific they could come up with than LIFE?
2. JUST KIDS by Patti Smith.
What is it with musicians and flat titles?
3. SOULA COASTER: THE DIARY OF ME by R.Kelly.
Can you see my eyes rolling so hard I'm afraid they might get stuck? I have faith you can. I assume "SOULA COASTER" is supposed be a play on "rollercoaster?" Yeah. Not working for me.
I would probably go with a phrase of poetry or a lyric. Maybe TANGLED UP IN BLUE after the Dylan song? It implies that the memoir will be tragic, which isn't really what I'm going for, but it sounds good. Like what would your pseudonym be, this is another YA Highway question I'm glad I don't have to answer in real life!
Oh I liked the title "Just Kids!" But, that might just be because I've heard so much about how wonderful that book is.
ReplyDeleteThis question sounded so easy when I read it, but then I took forever coming up wtih something too! I like "Tangled Up in Blue." Definitely sets a mood.
Yeah, it's hard to separate the title from the content when it's supposed to be good. I haven't read it, so maybe the title makes more sense or seems better if you have.
DeleteI'm not very good with titles either, which is one reason this RTW was hard for me too. If I were ever to write a memoir, the title would be the last thing I think of, after I've written it and had a chance to reflect on its theme. And even then it would probably suck. :)
ReplyDeleteAgreed! It would be the last thing I'd do, and I'd probably be asking everyone I knew for suggestions!
DeleteLife is nice and straight-forward, which is a good contrast to Keith Richard's, ah, life :P
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the Tiger Mother title. It definitely leaps out at you!
LIFE is either too ambitious a title or not ambitious enough. I can't decide!
DeleteOh dear, Soula Coaster? That just makes me want to face palm. Every time I read Emily Dickinson's memoir title I keep thinking of Alice Cooper's song Love's a Loaded Gun and mistake it for that.
ReplyDeleteRight? He should be embarrassed! I don't actually know that Alice Cooper song; will have to check it out.
DeleteOh yes this was a hard on for sure. Oh a lyric would be cool. I like the Tangled up in blue, it makes you want to know more.
ReplyDeleteI admire Dylan's ability to title!
DeleteThis memoir title thing was harder than I thought it would be. Soula Coaster just sounds lame and would actually keep me from picking up the book. Edna St. Vincent Millay's memoir on the other hand? I'd read that for sure. But then I love her poetry so I'm a little biased :) I like your idea of picking a string of song lyrics for a title.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally biased too! I wonder if the R. Kelly memoir sold well, because even if I were interested in his life, that title would drive me away too.
Deletehmmm is it bad that the only one I heard of is this one: BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER? :D
ReplyDeleteWriting a memoir is not something in the works for me, it was even strange to think about it but then I just tried to look back...that´s when I realized how much the little things, decisions had an impact on my life (like everybody else) :D
Well, I've heard of them, but only read 2, so I'm not much better off. I fictionalize a lot of my life, so I'm not sure what would be left over to put in a memoir.
DeleteI absolutely love this title. I hate coming up with titles.
ReplyDeleteThough I have to admit, I might pick up Soula Coaster because it made me laugh so hard.
I think my two favorite memoirs are THE GLASS CASTLE by Jeanette Walls and LUCKY by Alice Sebold.
Oh, LUCKY is the best. The way it plays against & into her story? It just punches you in the gut. Such a good title.
DeleteMy all-time favorite is "Good-bye To All That", the autobiography of Robert Graves. I like that it suggests, I dunno, shrugging off the burden of the past, I guess. Second place: Isaac Asimov's "In Memory Yet Green".
ReplyDeleteGOODBYE TO ALL THAT sounds like a lyric or a line of poetry. I wonder if it is? Asimov's is very Frost-ian. The titles definitely sound like retrospective memoirs of an entire life.
DeleteACK-shully, Asimov's is only a retrospective of about half his life. The second volume is called "In Joy Still Felt". I just looked it up on Wikipedia (the sum of all knowledge), and there's a kind of funny story behind the titles.
DeleteI actually really like the memoir title "Just Kids." While some simple titles may be lame ("Life"), I think that one suits the book well. And it's easy to remember. (While a great title, I"ll never recall the title "BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER." I like your title, too.
ReplyDelete