Titles are the Hardest Part

People have known for a while how much writing is something I love, something I feel passionate about. But in truth, I haven't always had the drive to do it. It's difficult sometimes. Sometimes I just didn't feel like it. But I think the error in my thought process was this whole waiting for inspiration to strike. Because sometimes inspiration won't strike, and you just have to go and find it for yourself.

True, I'm still not finished with all of the projects I've been meaning to work on. I still am not much further than I was months ago on my second draft of Life, Love and the Fourth Wall, though admittedly I have changed the title. Clearly, calling it Life and Love Along the Fourth Wall counts as significant progress, wouldn't you agree? I'm still not certain that will be the final title though. Perhaps Life Along The Fourth Wall? Maybe something even more different.

A while back, I recalled hearing a commercial for National Public Radio that referred to NPR as being like “A little bit of tofu and a little chocolate cake.” I immediately thought that would make a great title for a play. I don't know why I thought that. I wasn't nearly as entrenched in reading and writing plays as I am now, and I had only just begun to really think about theatre seriously. But that has still stuck with me for all these years.  

Looking at it in print, it looks a bit long, but long play titles are nothing new. For instance: The Future is in Eggs or It Takes All Kinds To Make The World, or perhaps A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Talking, or the brilliant and ridiculous Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Those are definitely lengthy titles, and that's one of the things that I always liked about theatre. This way of not taking itself so seriously that it can't have ridiculous titles that would make a Fall Out Boy album shiver with envy.

So that will be something to think about. As will actually writing scene 2 for my play. And then revising the rest of it. And then probably transcribing the whole thing into a scriptwriting program for my third draft. And then seeing if anyone wants to produce it. Okay, so the journey is far from over. But writing each day, this is part of it. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, as any Successory will be happy to tell you, and writing is no different. Except for being measured in miles or actually involving walking.