Titles. They are sooo important to a book. How often have you bought a book almost entirely on the strength of its title? Belinda McBride has some winners. I could not pass up An Uncommon Whore or Blacque/Bleu because the titles are so provocative. One of my dear friends, the great Suzanne Forster, is a master (mistress) of titles. Her first book was called Undercover Angel. Who wouldn’t want to publish that book? One of my favorites of hers was The Devil and Miss Moody, and she’s most famous for titles like Blush, The Lonely Girls Club, Shameless and The Private Concierge.
Writers create titles in different ways. For some, the title is a post-book creation and they consider a whole list of possibilities. For me, it’s much more integral. I often think of the title of a book at the same time as the original concept of the story. Genetic Attraction grew right out of the basic idea, two geneticists have a secret yen for each other.The Scientist and the Supermodel was named practically on day one. I couldn’t resist the alliteration and i’ve always loved titles that have a this AND that quality (The Devil AND Miss Moody). These books never had any other titles.
My current work in progress, a romantic suspense, had a brief title misstep.The story is a M/M/M menage, and one key character is a male ballet dancer. I originally named the book Pas de Trois. This is actually a perfect title for this story. Pas de Trois means roughly “steps for three” and it is a ballet term. Now, i’m a ballet freak and i speak a little French — but quickly i started to worry, if you don’t know ballet and you don’t speak French will this title be off-putting? I asked you all — on Twitter and at a couple Yahoo groups — and what i heard back was “better not”. Fortunately, an even better title for the book is The Golden Dancer which is both the name of a statue that is stolen in the book and a description of my beautiful ballet dancer hero.
My summer romance always had two title choices and when i polled my editors Volley Balls was the winner. I like it a lot. Do you?
Which brings me to my title angst! The sequel to Genetic Attraction, a M/M/F menage that involves a beautiful man who looks like a woman and an adorable girl who looks like a young boy, always had a title from day one. It was called Androgynous Dreams. I love this title and would buy any book called this — BUT, my editors do not agree. They think the title is not romantic and the more people i ask, the more people that agree with them. (Smart people those editors). So i am currently trying to find a title that we all like for this book. The funny thing is i realize that this process is AWFUL for me. The title is so much a part of the heart of a book in my mind that not having a title makes the book feel eviscerated. It’s actually a source of anxiety! Which is weird! As i go along as a writer, i’m sure this will happen many times and i better get used to it., but for now my book feels like an orphan! I will keep you up to date and may get you involved in the final selection.
So tell me, seriously! What kinds of titles capture your attention? What are your favorites? I am going to need to know in the near future!!! LOL