Sometimes, they are there from the beginning.

From early on the title for the next novel comes to mind.

At other times, the last chapter has been written, the entire story endlessly edited and still the title remains elusive.

T.S. Eliot might have considered that the naming of cats is a difficult matter but I can assure him that the naming of a novel can be equally challenging!

And this is the situation that I am currently in, trying to come to a firm choice about the title of my fifth novel, close to its completion.

It’s always said – pretty obviously -that a novel must pull the readers in.

And by that, pull the correct readership in for the novels that suit a particular demographic.

And genre.

Very specific genres automatically suggest the type of title to suit. Horror, romance, cosy crime et al have obvious features and styles that a title can easily serve, attracting appropriate readers.

And such titles will be reflected, no doubt, in the cover image.

But if an author’s novels are less genre specific – like mine – the task is far harder, I find.

And it needs to be memorable. You want a reader to be able to hold a title in their head and hopefully recommend the novel to someone else if they’ve enjoyed reading it. A title that is too convoluted or, possibly worse, too vague and unspecified, is so easy to forget.

Then there’s the need for some originality.

Of course, with the number of novels that have been published over centuries and the proliferation of new books coming out – especially now with the resources of self publishing online – it’s impossible to be sure of finding a title that is entirely unique.

Yet the novels that are remembered, that have lasted the test of time for their quality and popularity all seem to have titles that are both unique and memorable.

And, on the whole, simple!

I mean …..Jane Eyre, Bleak House, Great Expectations, The Great Gatsby, Emma, Sons and Lovers, The Go-Between …

And yes, all these are principally composed of two words. Two nouns.

So perhaps this is a guide when choosing a novel title.

There are, of course, exceptions – Far From the Madding Crowd, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society, We have Always Lived in a Castle.

None of these initially seem to trip off the tongue – and take up a lot of space on the book cover – but that has not daunted their popularity.

So the idea of a short title being best is an argument soon destroyed by this evidence …

Yet, glancing at my overstocked book shelves, it’s true that shorter titles by far dominate.

Or at least they do on my shelves – which might actually say more about the genre of books I acquire and read rather than being a rule generally applied.

There do, after all, seem to be a lot of suspense, police procedural, domestic noir, gothic novels etc with more abstract and longer titles – along the lines of (I’m inventing these!) The Last Time I saw her – or I Know Where You Are or As Long as It Takes Me or According to the Rules of the Game.

I stress that all the above have just come out of my head and I apologise if anyone reading this is thinking of using one of them for their own novel – you can have it with my blessing!

Looking back again to late 18th and 19th century novels, there seems a definite preference for simplicity, brevity and, basically, going straight to the protagonist or premise to make the concerns of the novel patently clear:

Tom Jones, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, David Copperfield, Silas Marner, Middlemarch, Jude the Obscure – so nothing at all vague or ambiguous in such titles.

Which brings me back to my own difficulties in finding a title for novel number 5.

Let’s consider its ingredients: WW2: London: Conscientious Objection: Love: Family Obligations: Social Change.

Anything come to mind? No – me neither!

Actually, I had alighted upon a title right at the start of writing this novel but have since found several books with identical or similar titles which relate to WW1 – and as I now have that knowledge rather than stumbling over it after publication, it no longer appeals.

So what was going to be called By the Green of the Spring – a quote taken from a Siegfried Sassoon poem called Aftermath – currently remains untitled.

Suggestions would be welcome!

I am hoping that while completing and working through endless edits over the coming months, I will suddenly become enlightened and arrive at a title that is suitably succinct and relevant and tugs at readers’ interests.

It seems there is only one thing more difficult than coming up with a good title – and that is writing the blurb for the back cover and a synopsis for the press release ahead of publication.

Now those two tasks really do stretch patience – but more of them another time!