There was an interesting article in The Guardian today about the titles of books (which can be read here).
It got me thinking about the current trend for titles with ‘girl’ in it. Suddenly something occurred to me that went way beyond thinking about the trend; it was more a revelation about western culture, obsession with youth, and the potential diminishment of adult females. How did it do that?
Because I suddenly realised that although the titles reference ‘girl’, every single one of the characters is in fact a woman. Would it be such a terrible thing to acknowledge this? Would sales be affected if it were ‘The Woman On The Train’ instead of ‘girl’? How about ‘The Woman In The Ice’?
I suppose the alliteration of ‘Gone Girl’ just about justifies its use; that and the fact that the main character has a little rant about such things herself. She talks of the illusion of the perfect woman – note the word illusion. The sad thing is that everyone else using ‘girl’ seems to have missed that point entirely, and instead seem simply to use it because it is a buzz word that encapsulates something young, beautiful, and to be coveted. I wonder if Gillian Flynn is tearing her hair out now over that?
It can certainly be frustrating when someone misses the point of a title that has been agonised over for months. Take my debut novel, Invisible. One reader in their review said that they didn’t understand why it was called that because it didn’t have anything to do with the book. I was amazed. To me, Invisible sums up the story entire. This is about a woman who has spent her entire life being overlooked in one way or another: by family, friends, and more than anything by her husband. She even becomes the one victim of crime that no one notices. Even when she becomes one of the most infamous women in Britain, still no one truly sees her.
But how important is a title? Is it worth spending months pondering over? Should it be something that encapsulates the story, or merely intrigues? Does a poor title mean fewer sales?
And also, more importantly, should a title go beyond the book and try to be something bigger? Should we, as authors, all make an effort to drop the ‘girl’ and instead embrace the ‘woman’? Would our subtle change have a subliminal effect on society, and help to stop the pointless, continual pursuit of youth? No, I’m not convinced, either…but I think it’s worth a go.
Barbara Copperthwaite | Barbara Havelocke 
Excellent piece, Barbara! I agree entirely. It does feel as if authors are jumping on a ‘girl’ bandwagon. I’m tired of correcting people (usually men) when they refer to me as a girl, or worse, frankly, a lady.
“Should we, as authors, all make an effort to drop the ‘girl’ and instead embrace the ‘woman’?”
Absolutely!
For what it’s worth, your description of your book tells me *exactly* why you called it ‘Invisible!’ (My own forthcoming book, Ghostbird, was originally called something else. It took a wise editor to point out to me that I was in fact missing my own point!)
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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, Carol, I really appreciate it.
I think the term ‘girl’ is meant to be an endearment, but ultimately it does diminish us as grown women. It makes us sound more helpless, less intelligent and articulate, etc. I suppose that is the point of the use of it in title; these are woman who are victims and need rescuing in some way. But it is a sad state of affairs that this is still the way we WOMEN are being portrayed.
I love the sound of your book. Isn’t it funny how sometimes, as authors, we are too close to see the book as a whole! 🙂
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Quite. And thank you! The ‘point’ I missed was staring me in the face! Each time I sat down with my editor it was like a tick-box exercise. She made her comments & I ticked the boxes. I owe her so much.
I hear you about the victim status of ‘girl’ characters but since women are victims too that makes it even more important to me that we call a spade a shovel – & a woman, a woman.
I don’t blame writers for adopting the ‘girl’ label – I do think it lacks imagination. ‘Gone Girl’ is a terrific book & I feel the title worked, but it’s been done now.
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Great post! What’s in a name? Answer: A lot when it comes to book titles. Yes, the ‘Girl’ thing is now done to death. Let’s hear it for ‘Woman’. There does seem to be trend thing going in with titles – a sort of bandwagon effect following a bestseller name that’s worked. A bit of a minefield really for authors.
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Good points, writeanne – thanks for commenting. I wonder, does the bandwagon effect come from publishers or authors? Well, The Widow seems to be becoming huge at the moment, so perhaps there will be lots of ‘widow’ titles next. That will be a strange one! 🙂
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‘The girl with the interesting tattoo went on the train and now she’s gone’ – my next book title 🙂
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Love it! 😉
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For me, when I’m in a bookshop, it is the title on the spine that I am looking at that prompts me into picking up the book so I think they are important. However, once I have read the book it isn’t really the title I remember the most but the content. It is interesting trying to assess the importance of a title. I completely agree about the use of ‘girl’. With some of the titles though, it could be considered that ‘girl’ was used merely because it rolls of the tongue easier. Great article 🙂
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Thanks for the comments, Abbie. I have to admit, a good title always captures my attention.
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