As planned, I’ve put the novella aside for now, and I started the anthology submission. I’ve frequently said here that titles either come to me right away or they don’t. For this short story…I got nothing. Nothing good, anyway.
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say I have nothing, as I have been brainstorming a few ideas with friends. A lot of what I came up with just seems so generic, though, like it could apply to a hundred other stories. Also listed in my criteria was that I don’t want the title to give away any major plot points. Unfortunately, with a ~5K word story, there’s not a whole lot to go on except major plot points.
But then I realized something: Does a title matter as much in an anthology? I mean, obviously I do want something better than average, but if it does get accepted, it’s probably not likely that the title of my story will make or break whether or not a reader buys the book. I guess it also depends on how people read anthologiesādo they start from the beginning and blaze right through, or do they start with the title that grabs them the most and then jump around? (In what should come as a surprise to no one, I’m a “start at the beginning” person.)
I don’t have a good answer. Right now, the frontrunner is “Another Hero”. Which, yeah, I know. Snooooooore. It’s not set in stone, and I still have some time to figure it out. At least I won’t be kicking myself too much if I can’t come up with anything better.