Julianna Keyes's Blog - Posts Tagged "names"
"UNDECIDED" RELEASE WEEK - POST ONE
NAME CALLING
The working title for “Undecided” was “Love the One You’re With.” That’s actually still what the Word file is called. I used it mostly because it was the first thing that came to me and stuck. But I had my doubts, chief among them being that I’d read an Emily Giffin book by the same title and even though these stories had nothing in common, it still felt like copying. A search on Goodreads showed several more books with that name, and when choosing a title, one of the concerns is finding something that is both appropriate for the story, and not likely to be confused with others. (Especially when those “others” are huge authors whose search results are going to bump yours down to page 117.)
I don’t actually remember when “Undecided” occurred to me, but when it did, I knew I had a battle on my hands. I really liked “Love the One You’re With.” I’d been calling the book that for months, and every time I thought about it I sang the chorus to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song of the same name. I wished someone would do a mashup of that song and Van Halen’s “Crazy Love.” How great would that be? Why aren’t I more musical? What else can I do to procrastinate?
What ultimately tipped the scales in favour of “Undecided” was theme. The entire New Adult genre is about people at an age and time in their life when they’re discovering who they’re meant to be. They don’t have to make a decision—they have to make choices. Mistakes. They try things, some work, some don’t. Some find what they’re looking for right away, some take a bit longer. And since the “Undecided” of the title isn’t expressly a statement of Nora’s romantic choices but rather her life choices—or lack thereof, as it may be—it ended up winning by a landslide. (And by landslide I mean my one vote.)
Some people have criticized the cover/title combination of giving the impression of a love triangle (there isn’t one), and I see their point. But the story is also about not judging a book by its cover. (I’m, like, super meta.) Nora assumes Kellan is one thing, Crosbie another, and they view her as something else altogether. But given time, they learn about each other and themselves, and grow up. Sorta.
The biggest “downside” to this title choice is not the love triangle assumption, but the fact that whenever people ask me what my book is called and I say “Undecided,” they think I mean that I haven’t chosen a title yet. So when I say the title out loud, it sounds more like, “The title of my book is ‘Undecided.’ Like, that’s the actual title. ‘Undecided.’ Not the status. I have a name. It’s ‘Undecided.’ That’s—Oh, dammit.”
Are you a title wizard? What would you have called this book? Feel free to pitch in in the comments. :)
The working title for “Undecided” was “Love the One You’re With.” That’s actually still what the Word file is called. I used it mostly because it was the first thing that came to me and stuck. But I had my doubts, chief among them being that I’d read an Emily Giffin book by the same title and even though these stories had nothing in common, it still felt like copying. A search on Goodreads showed several more books with that name, and when choosing a title, one of the concerns is finding something that is both appropriate for the story, and not likely to be confused with others. (Especially when those “others” are huge authors whose search results are going to bump yours down to page 117.)
I don’t actually remember when “Undecided” occurred to me, but when it did, I knew I had a battle on my hands. I really liked “Love the One You’re With.” I’d been calling the book that for months, and every time I thought about it I sang the chorus to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song of the same name. I wished someone would do a mashup of that song and Van Halen’s “Crazy Love.” How great would that be? Why aren’t I more musical? What else can I do to procrastinate?
What ultimately tipped the scales in favour of “Undecided” was theme. The entire New Adult genre is about people at an age and time in their life when they’re discovering who they’re meant to be. They don’t have to make a decision—they have to make choices. Mistakes. They try things, some work, some don’t. Some find what they’re looking for right away, some take a bit longer. And since the “Undecided” of the title isn’t expressly a statement of Nora’s romantic choices but rather her life choices—or lack thereof, as it may be—it ended up winning by a landslide. (And by landslide I mean my one vote.)
Some people have criticized the cover/title combination of giving the impression of a love triangle (there isn’t one), and I see their point. But the story is also about not judging a book by its cover. (I’m, like, super meta.) Nora assumes Kellan is one thing, Crosbie another, and they view her as something else altogether. But given time, they learn about each other and themselves, and grow up. Sorta.
The biggest “downside” to this title choice is not the love triangle assumption, but the fact that whenever people ask me what my book is called and I say “Undecided,” they think I mean that I haven’t chosen a title yet. So when I say the title out loud, it sounds more like, “The title of my book is ‘Undecided.’ Like, that’s the actual title. ‘Undecided.’ Not the status. I have a name. It’s ‘Undecided.’ That’s—Oh, dammit.”
Are you a title wizard? What would you have called this book? Feel free to pitch in in the comments. :)
"The Good Fight" Release Week - Post Four
RELEASE WEEK POST FOUR
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
My grandfather’s name was Oscar, so when I chose this name for a minor character in “Time Served,” it was meant to be a private nod in his memory. Using the name of someone I know for a small part in a story is one thing, but using that name for a major character—the POV character—is a much bigger deal. I mean, it’s kind of weird. And my grandfather isn’t here anymore so he’s not going to read the book and think, WTF? but I really didn’t want to write *this* type of book with that in the back of my mind. Plus…Oscar’s not exactly the name of a romance hero, is it? Hence the hero’s nickname, Oz.
Susan is in the middle of a divorce. She goes by her married name, Dr. Susan Jones, but she’s in the process of becoming (or re-becoming) Dr. Susan Dufresne. (I also never intended to give Susan a book, so her name was really just a throwaway when I first introduced her in Caitlin’s story.) Susan’s changing names represent very different points in her life. They symbolize her reclaiming the parts of her past that she wants to keep in the present, and shaping the present pieces so she can become her full self.
I wasn’t planning to have Susan insist on calling Oz by his proper name throughout the story, but that’s what she did, so I went with it. As the story progressed, I realized that the names here were more than just names—they were indications of the characters’ growth and development. Oz spent ten years working on Wall Street before returning to Camden, and now he can’t figure out if he’s Oscar, the thug that grew up here, Oz, the suit-wearing guy he became when he moved away, or someone in between.
I never intended to incorporate any sort of name game when I started writing, it just sort of occurred to me that if the pieces were already there, it was up to me to do the best I could with them. Sometimes those pieces don’t end up making the final edit, but these ones did. So if you’ve been wondering why, in a time when characters have names like Kinsley and Sage and Grayson and Zane, these two are named plain old Oscar and Susan, now you know. It was an accident.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
My grandfather’s name was Oscar, so when I chose this name for a minor character in “Time Served,” it was meant to be a private nod in his memory. Using the name of someone I know for a small part in a story is one thing, but using that name for a major character—the POV character—is a much bigger deal. I mean, it’s kind of weird. And my grandfather isn’t here anymore so he’s not going to read the book and think, WTF? but I really didn’t want to write *this* type of book with that in the back of my mind. Plus…Oscar’s not exactly the name of a romance hero, is it? Hence the hero’s nickname, Oz.
Susan is in the middle of a divorce. She goes by her married name, Dr. Susan Jones, but she’s in the process of becoming (or re-becoming) Dr. Susan Dufresne. (I also never intended to give Susan a book, so her name was really just a throwaway when I first introduced her in Caitlin’s story.) Susan’s changing names represent very different points in her life. They symbolize her reclaiming the parts of her past that she wants to keep in the present, and shaping the present pieces so she can become her full self.
I wasn’t planning to have Susan insist on calling Oz by his proper name throughout the story, but that’s what she did, so I went with it. As the story progressed, I realized that the names here were more than just names—they were indications of the characters’ growth and development. Oz spent ten years working on Wall Street before returning to Camden, and now he can’t figure out if he’s Oscar, the thug that grew up here, Oz, the suit-wearing guy he became when he moved away, or someone in between.
I never intended to incorporate any sort of name game when I started writing, it just sort of occurred to me that if the pieces were already there, it was up to me to do the best I could with them. Sometimes those pieces don’t end up making the final edit, but these ones did. So if you’ve been wondering why, in a time when characters have names like Kinsley and Sage and Grayson and Zane, these two are named plain old Oscar and Susan, now you know. It was an accident.
