It’s time to get down to serious work on my next novel. I know this because in the last week, three crucial scenes have played out in my head. Of course, I can’t really spend my time writing because I’m not yet done preparing Brevity for publication.
As I said in a previous post, I have the print version formatted and I’m re-reading one last time for errors. And through the magic of Kindle, I’ve seen Brevity with new eyes and rooted out some bits of clunk and junk. I’ve also been working on the cover painting, and I’m happy to say the under-painting is done—unless I totally change my mind again! Next step is to format the ebook.
ANYWAY, back to the next novel. Though I refer to it as Fall, I have a full working title. It comes from what—right now—will be the last scene in the book. (At this stage, I don’t write in order. I record dialogue and sketch out scenes as they come to me.) The working title is a fairly decent one, but I started wondering if it will stick or change. Then I tried to remember when I titled The Brevity of Roses, so I looked at some old drafts to see if I could tell. In it’s first incarnation, in May 2008, it was only a short story first titled “Wisdom” and then “To Be Missed.” But then, a second story grew from that, and that one I titled “Short Life.” When a third story followed, I titled it “Third Sound.”
At that point, I started referring to these three stories as a novella with no working title, just a label, Trilogy. By November 2008, the file bears the name Novel_The Brevity of Roses. I searched that file for the word brevity and when I found its use, other than in the title, it was in a passage I’d forgotten and long since deleted.
Your turn: Let’s talk titles. Do you find it easy or hard to title your work? Do you start with a title or does it come to you later? Do your titles change as you work? Do you remember how you chose your titles? Has an editor changed any of your titles, and were you happy or sad about it? Do you have a title tale to share?
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Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I almost always have a title in mind first, whether it’s for a book or a blog post. When I don’t, I find the writing comes much slower — it’s like the title is the “on” switch for me.
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Interesting, Amanda. Do those titles usually stick?
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Most often they do stick, or the changes are slight — same words different order.
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Now I’m wondering how it would be to write TO a title, Amanda. Maybe I’ll try that sometime.
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I love that image of the title being the “on” switch, Amanda!
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Thank you!
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Titles are sometimes a struggle. It uncommon for me to have a title before I start writing. But as with everything, I am consistently inconsistent so who knows. The title to my next story might just fall out of the sky immediately.
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Watch out for falling titles, Laura. 🙂 Titles are a bit of a struggle for me too.
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We need titles? Seriously? Joking.
It happens in this order for me. Idea, Title, Ending, Plotting, Writing. Pick new title because by then I’ve already talked too much about the book online and it has morphed into something new. LOL Fortunately, generating titles comes easy for me. 😀
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Titles certainly don’t come easy for me, DS. And I can only think of one or two of my stories or poems that kept the original title. But they’re not published, so if they were the titles might change.
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