Looking back at how I titled my last novel, I actually cycled through three different methods before landing on something that felt right. The first thing I tried was a book title generator website, but honestly most of those spit out completely random word combos that were either too generic or just plain weird. 'Echoes of the Crimson Oracle'? That sounds like a parody. What worked better was digging through thematic keywords from my own manuscript and mixing them in unexpected ways using a simple thesaurus and a spreadsheet. I'd list core concepts, settings, and emotional tones, then just brute-force combine columns.
Another angle that surprisingly helped was listening to music, instrumental stuff mostly, and jotting down any phrase that popped into my head. The rhythm of certain tracks seemed to unlock a different part of my brain. I ended up with a shortlist of about twenty possibilities, then ran them by a small Discord group of fellow writers. Their immediate gut reactions—which ones sparked curiosity, which felt forgettable—were the final filter. The name I chose wasn't on my initial list at all; it emerged from a comment someone made about a minor character's role. Sometimes you need that external nudge to see what's already in your own work.