OK, I am starting a new series but I want to bounce it off a few people first.

BOOK 1 TITLE- I Fell in Love With a Ghost.

THE WORLD- The world is a place of not just evil, but evil on purpose: the color white is illegal, there is no word for love- or compassion- or caring. Why? Because the leaders have learned that channeled hate lends great power to magic. From the cradle, select children are taught to harness hate and become pawns in the petty wars of the rulers.

HERO AND HIS STORY- He just doesn't get it. His capacity to hate is limited and so he is considered backwards and weak. He would probably be cannonfodder in the upcoming war except during a walk he sees a beautiful girl who just happens to be a ghost. He is drawn to her white form and begins spying on her. He begins to yearn for good and his power weakens more. He brings himself to rebel- against rebellion- and finds something worth living for, something that is greater than hate- love.

PLOT- The hero graduates from magic training and is preparing an assault on an enemy tower. He meets and falls in love with a ghost. Through a series of events he learns how his castle actually gains its power. It is through magical doorways into sinister lands where they leach and enslave the monsters there. However, to make the bridge to these lands it takes an innocent. Yep, you guessed it... the ghost girl. Little does she know her body lies on one end of the bridge, her heart at the other. The hero enters the doorway and steals back her heart- reuniting it with her body and bringing it back to life. In the climax it is his love that overpowers the antagonists hate and they escape with their lives.

GENRE- The idea is a fanciful Harry Potter type style. Evil will be depicted as a little zany so as not to make it macabre.

So what do you think? Any good world name tips? Any certain names come to mind?

Chaplain

That's a unique premise if I ever heard one. Having never read Harry Potter, I can't comment on the style, although I would say that whatever the story ends up being, you need to put your distinct twist on it. I was also struck by the fact that the hero is different and thus ostricized because of his lack of hate, which is viewed as a weakness. It's much the same in our world, where God uses the perceived weaklings to accomplish the greatest tasks.

How many books are you planning on writing for the series?

I can't think of any names at present, but that's probably because I visualize them better with a map in front of me.

That's a unique premise. The title might need to be more fantasy-ish, though. As it is, it might make some people think of a contemporary comedy.

Never been great at titles. I read somewhere that titles should be either really long or really short...

So here are a couple of one or two word ideas...

Twisted Faith (the idea that he has to twist his concept of good and evil around)

Boiled Hope

"Kaleidescope" (the idea of one's vision being both distorted and confused.

Doorways! (the idea is both the doorway to another world and then playing off the doorway where he learns to care, however, I am thinking the whole series will be the "Doorways" series.)

Hatefull (Get it! Full of hate... hmmnn, maybe I need to think a little more.)

The Dark after Dawn.

Now for some really long ones.

"The story of how I fell in love with a two hundred year old girl."

"The door, the girl, and the Sorcerer in the Broom Closet." (The crazy sorcerer in the broom closet gives him a clue to her curse)

"How I learned the secret word." (Of course the word is love)

All in all the book has a humorous tint so the title should be a bit flippant.

Did any of these really grab you? Any tweaks or ideas??? I am sort of partial to "The door, the girl, and the Sorcerer in the Broom Closet."

Any ideas? Suggestions?
Chaplain

By the way, not sure how many books it is going to be. This time, instead of writing a single book I am going to outline the hero's complete story. Then, I hope to go through and find the natural divisions.

My favorite 2 (besides Doorways):

Twisted Faith
The Dark after Dawn

I find that titles can encompass two main categories: a short phrase, or an object or occurence in the book; and an overall theme of what takes place in the book. Look at my signature WIPs titles for examples of what I mean.

Kaleidoscope has an interesting ring to it... I really like "The story of how I fell in love with a two hundred year old girl" for the humorous side of it although it is a pretty long title for a book

What is the hero's name? Perhaps you could have a title in the style of Harry Potter, such as:

[hero's name] and the Ghost of the Bridge

[hero's name] and the Beautiful Ghost

[hero's name] and the Castle of Doors

I'd be partial to just calling it The Sorcerer in the Broom Closet myself.

Woooooh, you all have some great ideas. Naturally they are all different ideas... but good nevertheless.

I will take all these and brainstorm again. I think I can take a little from everyone.

I sort of like the idea of inseting the Hero's Name and then maybe using an object...

Maybe I will go with something like...

Hero's Name and the Sorcerer in the Broom Closet. Better yet, maybe I'll pick about 5 of yours and conduct a poll. Just choose the most popular one. Can you do a poll on this forum?

Thanks!
Chaplain

Yes, there's a poll feature.

What a unique idea. I actually like it..so many good names, you definitely might want to get a poll going.

Nice job!