I have read about cultures in which the parents wait until a baby is old enough to have a bit of personality before choosing a name for it. I’ve discovered that choosing a title for a book happens in much the same way. I’ve been working on the second book in a series, and although I knew it was about secrets (every character is carrying at least one and lives in terror of it being discovered) I had yet to settle on a working title. “Secrets” seemed too obvious. I mulled over other secretive words and phrases: deceit, deception, mistakes, secret sins… None of these seemed right. Just recently, a word floated to my mind that perfectly framed the mood of the story.
Hidden.
We keep our secrets — our sins — hidden deep within the shadows of our hearts. Perfect.
Even better, it fits well with the title of book one: Shaken. They both are past participle verbs that end in -en.
That’s got me quite excited about choosing a working title for book three. With the help of Google (you can find ANYTHING on Google), I started listing other p.p. verbs that end in -en.
Flash-frozen. Fost-bitten. Overeaten. Shaven. Shrunken. Well, maybe not.
But how about… Forgiven. forgotten, forsaken, driven, forbidden, arisen, fallen, chosen, broken, mistaken, stolen, interwoven or spoken? These all give me goosebumps.
Of course, any name is only a “working title” until it is approved by a publisher. I have heard of countless cases of publishers changing book titles. Perhaps there’s a similar book with the same title. Or it just won’t look good on the cover. Or the editor simply hates it. Whatever the case — it is important to keep in mind that working titles are temporary.
I stumbled over one past particle verb that would cast chills down the spine of every frustrated writer: Re-written.
Maybe I’ll save that one for my next series.
Karen, your comments for other authors, especially the things you’ve been learning along the path to publication, have certainly made be a better reader! Now, along with the story, I love to think about how that story has been crafted and all the work the author has gone through to bring the “baby’ to delivery and life. Thank you for sharing your journey!
Karen,
Great analogy!!
Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support.
Blessings,
andrea