Concept V Title

My agent recently asked me to come up with a title for my Scarlett series, which I did after much deliberation. I struggled to think of something that was short, snappy, memorable and encapsulated all the major themes of the books. I toyed with something Shakespeare themed, to go with the titles, but Shakespeare quotes tend to be unwieldy. I don't want my titles to be longer than my books. And there's always a chance I won't be able to keep the book titles, so best not get too attached to the Bard. (Although I feel I owe him - my essay on Hamlet got me a first at university.)

Anyway, while I was coming up with increasingly bad puns in my attempts to find a series title, I started thinking about titles of previous stories I've written. Which came first, I pondered, title or concept?

Ill-Met By Moonlight - definitely the concept. The idea of giving my Scarlett books Shakespeare-related titles was a late flash of inspiration derived from Scarlett's admiration of his work. I'd had the characters for years and had started and abandoned several novels based around them. Once I settled on the plot for Ill-Met, which revolves heavily around werewolves and midnight escapades, the title seemed obvious.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - title first. Once I'd decided to use Shakespeare quotes for the Scarlett books, I knew I had to use this one. Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play. Luckily, the title suits the book perfectly. It's dark, it's dangerous and it's a promise of all the evil lurking in the shadows. Mwhahaha.

Deadline - this was a short story I wrote at university. It's a pretty bleak piece, but a truly great story (in my biased opinion). Concept first: I found myself wondering what I'd do if I knew exactly when and how I would die (told you it was bleak) and figured it might make a good story. The title came after I'd written the first few pages and needed some terminology for the near-future world I was writing about.

Painless - this is the short story Midnight Times will be publishing in the autumn. Again, concept first. Theo Kane, the main character, cannot feel physical pain thanks to an accident in her youth. I really loved the idea of a character who lacked pain as a basic defence mechanism, who would keep pushing her body long after she ought to stop because she didn't know any better, and once I had that idea, the story wrote itself. The title was an afterthought - there didn't seem to be anything else it could be called.

Mercury Bones - this is currently online at Mightnight Times and it's another case of concept first. I had the opening scene in my head for ages but no story to really go with it. Once I finally figured out what happened after that first scene, I realised I needed a title. It's a pretty obscure one and doesn't have an awful lot to do with the main characters, but I loved it and knew nothing else would fit.

So, based on the evidence above I would say I pick my concepts before my titles, but I know a lot of writers who work the other way round. I don't know if it says anything about us as writers, but I'd like to know how you all work. What comes first? The idea or the title?