As a writer I am often asked "Do you come up with the title or the story first?"
In my opinion there is no wrong or right answer. I think that it depends on how the idea comes to you and how you were inspired.
For me, usually I am inspired by one of two things: a Character or a Story Idea. Once I have one of these, the other usually comes pretty quickly. After I let them marinate in my mind for a little while, a title usually comes pretty quickly to me. So for the most part I come up with the title first, then write the story. In fact, I have a list of at least 30-50 working titles at any given time. Some will eventually turn into books, some will probably never fully manifest themselves into reality.
In my personal experience, the only exception to this was a story that I am still revising about military life and the different ways couples and children adapt to it. While it is a work of fiction, my own experiences weigh heavily upon the main character. Also, because I wrote the story first without a title, I am having an extremely hard time coming up with the right title. I've played around with Personal Battles, Wounded, Home Front... but nothing seems quite right. Due to this, I will probably need suggestions for a title when the time comes to publish it.
For all of you authors out there - what are your thoughts on this?
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