Let's Talk Titles - Titling Time Again

Only weeks away from the release of Small Town Girl, my second Rosey Corner book. It follows up the characters in Angel Sister five years later. And now it's time to title the Rosey Corner book I'm writing now. My working title has been Home to Rosey Corner. I like it but I haven't had any illusions about that title sticking. I've again moved my characters four years into their future. Each of these books will be stories that can stand alone, but it will be more fun if you read them all - especially for me!! :)

The third Rosey Corner book won't be released until the summer of 2014. A long time from now, but that's the way the book business is. You're always working on the book ahead. I feel blessed to have a book ahead to be working on, to be considering a new title for. So let's talk titles.

I'm the kind of writer who would rather wait until I've written the end to the story before I decide on a title. For many years, that's the way I worked when I was writing without contracts. I'd write the book and then try to place the completed manuscript with a publisher. That made coming up with titles easier for me, but it is great these days having the promise of publication in hand while I'm writing the book. That is, if I can deliver a story the editors like. I'm hoping I can do that yet again with my Rosey Corner characters. 

Many of the titles of my young adult books are the ones I came up with or slightly tweaked versions of my titles. Secrets to Tell, Bridge to Courage, A Chance Hero, For Sheila, Wish Come True - to name some of them. That's been true for some of my Christian fiction books too. Scent of Lilacs was my title. So was Orchard of Hope. Summer of Joy was not. I had suggested Sunflowers of Joy, but Summer of Joy is better. And now they are being advertised as the Heart of Hollyhill series. I like that too. 

The Outsider was not my title, but once it was suggested by the publishers, I liked it. It fit the story nicely and suggested titles for my other Shaker books. The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted were all titles I suggested, following the pattern of The Outsider to tie the book titles together. You can see the tie-in on the Hollyhill books too. 

If you pay attention, you'll notice that kind of kinship in titles on most series books. Of course, the writer with a great tie-in with titles is the mystery writer, Sue Grafton, starting with her A is for Alibi. She very successfully is working her way through the alphabet and is up to W is for Wasted that releases in September this year. I used to read Ross MacDonald mysteries and often his books had a color in the titles.  
 
The Rosey Corner books don't have quite as obvious relationship titles, but they do have the echo of small town and family. The new title proposed is Love Comes Home. To my ear, that has the same feel as my working title, Home to Rosey Corner. What do you think?

So we'll see. My editor once told me I wrote to the title. I certainly did in The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted. Those themes were threads throughout the stories. Maybe I will again with this book. Love's a good theme to have in a story and home is a place we all want to go. 

What words do you like to see in titles? Do some words encourage you to pick up a book quicker than other words? What is the best title for a book that you've ever seen?   

Remember to drop back by on Sunday or Monday when I'll be visiting with Sue Harrison, author of the Alaskan novel series beginning with Mother Earth Father Sky. Here's what Publishers Weekly said about the third book in the series, Brother Wind. "Engrossing, dramatic adventure...an emotionally compelling conclusion to a monumental saga." I think you'll enjoy visiting with Sue and hearing how she came to write these bestselling books.

And the Question is...

"Any man who knows all the answers most likely misunderstood the questions."


I certainly can't claim to know all the answers, so maybe that means I did understand the questions. But for sure, some questions are harder for me to answer than others. Right now I'm struggling with the answer to what is my writing style.


Why do I need to know that? Can't I just write and let whoever picks up my books decide if the style is one that they like or sadly, might not like? Well, I could, but I've got this titling questionnaire to fill out about my next book. You see when a contracted book is in line to be published, the publishers have to start working on the book's placement, the cover of the book, and various other things that this author knows nothing about a year in advance of the actual book hitting the store shelves. One of the first things the publishers want to settle on is the title.

When a book is contracted, it's usually from a proposal with what is called a working title. That may or may not be the eventual final title of the book. Some of my titles have stuck. Like Angel Sister. Others have not. I don't expect my working title of this book to stick. So that means we're going to have to come up with a new and improved title very soon.

The first step to that next title is me filling out what the publisher calls a titling questionnaire. The first time I received one of these questionnaires was years ago for one of my young adult novels. That was an eye-opening experience, but at least I already had that book written at the time. None of my young adult books were contracted prior to completion. I wrote the books and then my agent at the time did her best to find a publisher. Now I'm fortunate to have a contract before I write the book, but that doesn't make filling out one of these questionnaires any easier. Especially when the first question asks me to describe my style of writing. I haven't studied writing. I just write. I tell stories. I've been writing for half a century. (I started very, very young! LOL) My style has come from trial and error. It's just how I write.

For every questionnaire I've filled out prior to this, I just made something up. But this time I decided to go out on the web and see if I could find out what styles are out there. I thought maybe there were names for styles like modern or old fashioned or hopeless. So here's what I found on Wikipedia. (Everybody's first and least trusted resource, right?) Writing style is the manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience. A style reveals both the writer's personality and voice, but it also shows how she or he perceives the audience, and chooses conceptual writing style which reveal those choices by which the writer may change the conceptual world of the overall character of the work.

Whew! That didn't get me one bit closer to being able to describe my style. Just made me need to maybe look up conceptual writing. I do like the first sentence. However I write is how I choose to tell my readers my story. Plain and simple. Maybe that's my style. Conversational. With lots of dialogue. Character driven. That sounds good. Maybe I can claim that.

Trouble is, even if I come up with an answer for my style of writing, there are a lot more questions. Questions that are going to strain my brain to answer. But I will come up with answers. Maybe answering the questions, having to really examine my characters and my story will help me focus on the next page and the next chapter. Plus, we might just come up with a new dynamite title. That's the hope and the purpose of the questionnaire and worth a little brain strain.

Here's a quote about questions from Edgar Cayce that I liked.  "Dreams are today's answer to tomorrow's questions." So I'll keep dreaming my story and trying to figure out answers. Could be I'll even come up with an answer about my writing style.

Do you notice writing styles when you're reading? Who has a style you like?

Hope all your questions are easy this week and have great answers. Thanks for reading. Talk to you again Wednesday. 

A New Book in Hand

It's fun when the doorbell rings and it's the Fed Ex driver bringing a new book. Especially when it's your new book or I suppose in this case - my new book! The Seeker is all printed and ready to go. This was an early rush "so I could see it first" copy but the others will soon be on the way to me and to stores. At least that's what I'm hoping. So if you want to be in the drawings I'm doing all through the month of June e-mail me from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/ or leave a comment here. You know something like "Yeah sure, I'd like to win a free book." I even pay the postage. That's because I enjoy hearing from reading and writing friends and I enjoy sharing my books.

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It looks good. They always look good when I see all my words printed out and bound up in a neat book. A lot of people are saying the book as we know it is going to disappear and I'm no teller of the future, but I do know I like holding a book in my hands and turning real pages. You may feel different. A lot of people really enjoy their e-book reading devices and I might like them too for certain books and for researching on the fly, but there's still something about settling down with a real book. And a nice tall glass of iced tea. And oh what the heck, let's eat a little chocolate too. Then we can let our imaginations take off for who knows where. Maybe a little town in the middle of Kentucky. Maybe a world no one's ever heard of before. Maybe a Shaker Village back during the Civil War. That last one sounds interesting. ;o)

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Thanks for reading. Now I've got to get back to work searching for those elusive two words "The End" on my next Shaker book. I'm thinking about the titles The Blessed or The Given. Of course I realize you have no idea what the story is about except that it does return to my Shaker village of Harmony Hill. So what do you think about those titles? Would they catch your interest?