# Help me with my novel title! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603 "2015-01-12T04:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/21 "2015-01-12T06:43:34Z")
Stone’s Bridge Riven in Stone Stepping Stone Came up with these before the Enough Already with the Stone! but maybe they convey the split, or the span. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/22 "2015-01-12T06:48:55Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Riven in Stone. Not to be pedantic (though I often am), why “in”? 😕 _ **Riven Stone** _ sounds cool! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/23 "2015-01-12T06:50:18Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I do appreciate all the suggestions, though! File them away for future reference? You never know when they might come in handy! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/24 "2015-01-12T06:52:16Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > What do you call a guy with no arms and legs in a hot tub? “Stu!” Leper. A leper in a hot tub. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/25 "2015-01-12T06:54:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not to be pedantic (though I often am), why “in”? 😕 > > _ **Riven Stone** _ sounds cool! A play on “written in stone.” But I like “riven”, too. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/26 "2015-01-12T06:57:17Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > A play on “written in stone.” But I like “riven”, too. _ **Written in Stone** _ is also good.\* \*Not whooshing you here, honest! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/27 "2015-01-12T07:54:53Z")
Given California, hidden things shifting under the surface, and good vs bad life choices, I think fault lines could work in a title, with the double meaning of “fault”. **"Stone’s Mystic Faultlines"** **"Stone’s Secret Faults"** **"Shifting Faults"** **"Stone, by appointment"** **"Malibu Stone"** ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/28 "2015-01-12T08:05:44Z")
Not “stone” related, and possibly a bit generic, but… **The Primrose Highway**? It’s not my area of expertise, but you might consider looking up jewelers’ or diamond-cutting techniques and technology, which would surely have some peculiar industry vocabulary that could be scavenged for a title, or at least serve as an inspiration for one. The only other idea I can think of offhand would be **Free Stone** , but that only mostly works if you’re making an oblique Frankenstein reference. Personally, my own story-titling techniques tend just to be veiled puns, references to songs/poems, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/29 "2015-01-12T08:06:14Z")
The Stone’s Path Stone’s Portal Hope you have some nice pens, and a blank book for your writing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/30 "2015-01-12T08:25:58Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > something about being caught between two worlds, being forced to make a choice between two sides, _Diametric_ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/31 "2015-01-12T09:03:17Z")
The Path Less Traveled. From “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” The end of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. “The Road Not Taken” would be good title in itself and there don’t seem to be any books already called it. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/32 "2015-01-12T11:37:53Z")
**Set in Stone** **Bound in Stone** **Stone Walls** (as in “Stone walls do not a prison make\Nor iron bars a cage…”) **The Stone Stockade** **Releasing the Stone** ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/33 "2015-01-12T15:16:26Z")
Everyone: appreciating the suggestions, but please, no more Stone titles. I think that one’s been sufficiently mined. 🙂 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/34 "2015-01-12T15:23:59Z")
Stone’s Stony Stones! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/35 "2015-01-12T15:26:23Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Stone’s Stony Stones! And we have a winner!!! :D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/36 "2015-01-12T15:35:40Z")
Is there some scientific term or phrase that means something like “at the point of no return” or “poised on the brink” or “could go either way”? That’s another possibility, if there is. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/37 "2015-01-12T15:37:33Z")
High Road Stone Stone’s High Road Paving Stone, as in the road to hell, or this case easy road, is paved, ie easier. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/38 "2015-01-12T15:47:24Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Is there some scientific term or phrase that means something like “at the point of no return” or “poised on the brink” or “could go either way”? That’s another possibility, if there is. Epiphanic? The state of having an epiphany - learning something that changes everything. Watershed - the moment that causes something important to happen ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/39 "2015-01-12T15:50:43Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Is there some scientific term or phrase that means something like “at the point of no return” or “poised on the brink” or “could go either way”? That’s another possibility, if there is. Spitballing here “Event horizon” would be a point of no return. “Crossing the Rubicon” or just “Rubicon” or “X’s Rubicon” or “Rubicon of X” “At the Crossroads” or just “Crossroads” or “X Crossroads” “When Push Comes to Stone” (Sorry!) “The Crux of the Matter” or “X’s Crux” or “Crux of X” “Moment of Truth” Something about “poised,” or “balanced,” or having a tiger by the tail. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603/40 "2015-01-12T16:54:38Z")
_The Fulcrum in the Basement_ _The Stone Fulcrum_ (I’m sorry, too!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-novel-title/709603.md?page=3)