Arresting Title

    Arresting Title

 The right word is essential in poetry. Every word must pay its weight. If not, it's OUT.
     At a writer's conference a similar instruction was given for respect to the title of magazine articles, stories, chapters, or novels. A title must stop a viewer and engage a potential reader to investigate your work.
     One of the two words I chose for my family/faith novel is burdens. Usually no one looks for burdens. Life gives us enough demands. Why look for more? A burden isn't a challenge, a goal that you choose. A dictionary definition––a burden is an onerous or difficult concern.
     If someone close to you has a burden, you may want to help her or him. Depending on the nature of the friend's problem, a draining, lengthy commitment may be required. That's the situation that Joseph, an important character in my novel, finds himself in. To him, Jill is worth it. Her past, a daughter of a violent, heavy drinking father, means he needs to be a patient, gentle man. No problem.
     Yes problem. If burdens is seen as a noun, a plural noun then a reader may suspect that  Jill has more than one problem. While Jill is vaguely aware of  past scars caused by her problem-drinking father, she has another problem, which she has repressed. Neither she nor Joseph is adequately prepared to face these burdens.
    If burdens is seen as a verb, then an active, even aggressive influence is implied. My title departs from the norm. The first letter of burdens is in lower case. A period follows. If the sentence title catches a reader's eye, then an alternate meaning for the title may be suspected. If not, after reading the novel a reader will see that dealing with another's baggage, can be a mistake.
     The second important word in the title is baggage. If baggage conjures the image of luggage, of travel. One might anticipate adventure. Since baggage is coupled with burden, then the impression may be of a person coming with baggage, with issues, with problems they haven't or can't solve. Such individuals are usually avoided. If the baggage is small, concrete, clearly definable, like a piece of luggage, problems may be manageable. If the scars are psychological, as Jill's are, then husband Joseph and Jill are in for a roller coast ride.
     Two loaded words make up the title of my novel, Baggage burdens.