What's In A Name?

The first thing anyone ever learns about a book is almost always the title. That one little phrase/word can be the make it or break it point for your book: it can lead a reader to decide whether or not he or she wants to read the book or to just put it back on the shelf. No pressure, right? Right.

The perfect title should convey three things to a reader: it should introduce the tone, represent the main topic of the story, and intrigue the reader—all while being short and easily pronounceable. It’s one of the hardest parts of writing a book in my opinion. I am sort of terrible at naming things. (Especially characters' last names, but that's a whole 'nother blog post)

So how do you come up with a good title for your awesome novel?

Get ready to groan, because my first example of a good title is Twilight. I know, I know. TWILIGHT? But seriously, I think the title sets the tone for the book perfectly. On the outside, the book is about a human girl who meets a few vampires. But underneath the surface, the story is really about helplessly falling in love with the wrong person—it’s about being afraid and excited at the same time. In nature, twilight falls just after sunset, which is the time of day when all the light has just disappeared from the sky; when you’re still reeling from the magic of the setting sun, but yet wary of all the things you can’t see in the dark. The book is full of angst between the two main characters, and I believe that the word, “twilight,” correctly sets the tone. With the myth that vampires can only come out at night, it also poetically represents the main topic of the story.

 A book that is dead on with presenting the plot to the reader is my favorite middle grade book, The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Just by reading the title, the reader knows that something is going to be stolen from someone, which of course, makes for an interesting plot. With the use of the word, “always,” it leads the reader to wonder what exactly is it that is going to be stolen? Time? Life? Afterlife? The possibilities are infinite, and it makes the reader want to crack open the cover to see what the synopsis is. 

 Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor immediately caught my attention when I first saw it on shelves at the bookstore. The possibilities of magic, voodoo, and family issues all ran through my head, so I picked the book up—I wanted to learn more about it. A play on words with a popular phrase, using a single word that provokes strong feelings, or choosing a few words that create a compelling thought are all good choices for choosing a good book title.

Another important part of choosing a title is that it must be easily pronounceable. I’ve found that I’m less inclined to pick up a book that I can’t pronounce. If I can’t even say the title, then what is awaiting me inside?

You also want to make sure that if you choose a phrase from inside your book, that it doesn't sound forced. I tried that with Wicked Illusions, and everyone that read the sentence, "I knew it was just a wicked illusion" told me that it sounded forced-- and that's because it WAS. I'm not saying that you can't take a nicely worded phrase from your novel and use it as your title, just make sure that it flows well in the context. Don't make the reader roll their eyes at you.

All in all, the title is the first impression for the reader. If the title is no good, then the reader is most likely going to think the book is no good. It may be a hard feat to execute all the things I talked about in just a few words, but with hard work—and often suggestions and opinions from friends and critique partners— you can do it! 

(I actually got the title for my work in progress from someone's personalized license plate on the car sitting in front of me at a red light. Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to look for it!)

A Look Inside The Writing Process

People who aren't writers sometimes think that writing a book is a glamourous thing. It's actually quite boring if you aren't the one doing the writing. It usually involves sweat pants and fatty snacks and a cat who insists on lying on your keyboard. But here is a 3 minute glimpse into what I did tonight while working on my new book. :-)

On Starting Over (again)

I've mentioned in my past posts that I have a finished novel and have been querying agents for a few months now. I finally got some (minor) feedback from a couple of agents, and they both said the same thing: they didn't connect with my main character's voice.

So. (I've said that a lot lately) SO.

I decided to rewrite Wicked Illusions. Again. For the fifth time.

The past rewrites? ALL of them have given me a complete 180 turnaround on my manuscript, making it better. And better. And better again.

So when I sat down to write it this time, I started out excited. Like, *really* excited. I just knew that this time I would have the draft that would take me somewhere. But you guys, I this draft is NOT better. It's probably the worst thing I've ever written. It's like I've forgotten how write or something. I keep second guessing myself and rewriting sentences over and over on an endless cycle of sentence-structure-doom. I've lost all my prose, and instead of being happy to write about these characters, I find myself choosing to stare out the window or eat cheerios or scrub the toilet or ANYTHING but work on this fracking novel.

And I think it's because I've already said all I have to say about it. Sure, there a couple of scenes from the last draft that I've gotten better ideas for and know that I could make better. But rewriting it from Blank Page One? It's just not working.

SO.

I am going to try to fix those scenes I mentioned above, morph it into first person present instead of first person past (I've been wishing I'd done this for a long time) and then focus on making Lilly's speech less formal and making her more proactive in certain situations.

But I'm not rewriting the whole thing again. I can't. I'm giving myself one month to do these things, send it to my crit partner, then query the last five agents on my list (and one agent who has already read it, but has graciously agreed to read it again after the edits).  And then...

If it doesn't work out this time, I'm laying it aside. Come February 12th, I'm not looking at it again unless an agent requests it. Y'all, I LOVE this story. I've said it before. But I mostly love it the way it is, and I don't WANT to change the way it is inside my head. If my very best try doesn't make other people love it as much as I do, then that's okay. I want people to love it, but it's more important that I love it *the most*.

So here's to hoping that the *new* draft #5 (which will only differ slightly from draft #4) will be good. But if it has to live forever in my head and in the heads of the few friends and family members that have read it and love it, that's okay with me too. There are plenty of other stories waiting to burst out of this ole brain of mine.

How Writers Write (Maybe?)

I had a discussion the other day with a friend about how it must be hard to live with someone who writes novels for a living. The more I thought about it, the more I felt sorry for my husband. My friend thought it would be tough living with a writer because she imagined that it would be difficult for that writer to transition from the world that he or she creates in his or her books to the real, "normal" world. I pondered that thought for a moment and realized that I have never lived in the real world. EVER. Logical is not my strong point. Now, I may just be crazy, but I have a hunch that many other writers and creative people have this same problem.

I have words and stories inside of me ALWAYS. I remember even when I was a small child, I would tell myself stories to keep my brain occupied (I get bored very easily). For years, I would tell myself these stories out loud. I'll never forget my older sister warning me that I when I started school, I would have to stop talking to myself because people would think I was weird.

But really, I will always be "weird". Most people don't have characters popping up in their heads having conversations with other characters. But I always have. I know that sounds a bit like schizophrenia, but I never talk back to them, if that counts.

These days, I stick to telling myself stories strictly inside my head or on paper. Hopefully one day, other people will want to read them too. If so, maybe I won't feel quite as weird. And if no one likes the worlds I fathom, that's okay with me. I have to entertain myself somehow.

But my synapses are constantly firing, creating new characters and plots and scenes. And if I let all of these jumble up in my brain, I can't sleep or perform logical, everyday matters. But as soon as I write them down, it's like they leave me forever. Then of course, I immediately (and unintentionally) start thinking of new characters and plots and scenes, creating a circle of inevitable doom.

My point is, the creative process never ends. It starts with a simple idea, and then grows and branches into something bigger. Only you have the power to control those thoughts, so get out your lasso and tame those babies. Because isn't it the coolest thing EVER to know that YOU have the ability to create a person, or a world, or whatever the heck you want, into something that never existed before YOU thought of it? I might be biased, but I sure think so. Living with a writer is probably like living in multiple worlds with multiple people, but isn't that all the fun of loving and living with a writer in the first place? It never gets boring. I promise. Just ask my husband.