Title Trauma
Feb 23rd 2010Madeline HunterMadeline Hunter & On Writing!
Today is the release of Provocative in Pearls, the second book in my Rarest Blooms series. It also marks the first time that a title that I chose ended up on one of my covers. This is pretty pitiful when you realize this is my 19th book. I mean, I know authors who have titled all their books. I have too, just my publishers have changed my titles to other ones.
I used to pick the title when I started writing a book, so those later changes bugged me at first. I had lived with that title for months. It was my book’s name. It felt weird to see it with another name attached to it. This happened often enough that I got the message, though. My titles sucked.
By about my fourth book I stopped thinking up titles until after the book was written, so I wouldn’t bond with it too much. I would have skipped it all together, but I had to put something on that cover sheet. I worked at those titles and even loved some of them. However, those did not survive either. I think the problem was that I tended to pick titles that made great sense to me, but I had read the book. To someone who had not read the book (like the publisher’s marketing director) the titles said nothing at all.
If I could just be removed from the entire titling process now, I would not be upset. Only it does not work that way. I still have to try and think of great titles even though the evidence is that this is overwhelmingly futile. My editors always asked for ideas and help, and it is my job to give it a shot.
My current editor (I actually had her for books 1 through 11, and now we are back together) likes to brainstorm when it is title time. We spend a few days trying to come up with title ideas that have zing and zip, will fit on the cover, will catch the eye, and will evoke all the things we want to evoke in what amounts to maybe fifteen letters of the alphabet. I shoot her emails filled with word pools, with combinations and variations of title words, with take-offs on songs and movies and all the other tricks. I ask my fans for help (and one time a fan did provide the title that was used.) It is pretty stressful for me.
My editor never says mine are horrible, but we never end up with one of them. We do, however, find a title. Or she does. The final title doesn’t seem to have any of my ideas within a hundred miles of it, but she honestly thinks our “brainstorming” produced it. I guess all my sucky titles help the good ones emerge in her head.
Anyway, with this series, we went through that whole process and somehow—I truly do not know how it happened— we ended up with a set of titles that we thought were very good, very cool, very apt, and also different. Well, except for one. The title for the second book, while it fit with the others, was “meh.” We got into that thing where you both try to convince each other and yourself that it works, really it does, but both of us knew it didn’t.
Then suddenly, in a split second of inspiration, Provocative in Pearls came to me. We both knew at once it was perfect for this series and this book. It was brilliant. I was brilliant.
One out of 19 is a pretty sad score, but I could have struck out again. And who knows, maybe when it is time to title my 38th book, I’ll be brilliant again.
Publishers consider titles a crucial marketing tool. Have you ever been drawn to a book by its title?
Can you think of a book title that you thought was perfect for the book? Can you think of one that made no sense?
Is there anything about the way romances are titled that bugs you?
I have heard that the word Duke in a title helps sell an historical romance. Are you attracted to Duke books?
Are you the kind of person who is good at things like titles? If so, can I adopt you?
In case you are wondering, the next two titles are Sinful in Satin, and Dangerous in Diamonds. If you are curious about Provocative in Pearls, you can read an excerpt on my web site There is a video for PiP there too.
To celebrate this release date, two of the visitors who comment on today’s blog will win a signed copy of Ravishing in Red, or any novel in my backlist.
The Great Artiste. I have never met anyone who actually fits this profile. I just read about them in articles about literary geniuses. Often they write longhand, but not always. Sometimes they use old Underwood typewriters instead. They ponder each word, and spend three months crafting one chapter, then throw it all out and start over. If they get published—yes, it happens— they are coddled by editors, who fear that demands for more timely production will forever warp their creativity, lead to a deep depression, and mean the next book will be four years overdue instead of two. 
The Pager. There are a lot of these. They know that in order to complete the book on time they need to write X pages a day, and they methodically do so. Or so they say. If they miss one day, they double up the next. Or so they say. This approach is admirable. It is disciplined. When done consistently, with time left for editing and revisions, it is the most logical way to get through a manuscript. The writer loops are full of writers who swear by the Pager approach. I even do it this way. Well, except that I miss a couple of days early on and never catch up. Then I miss a couple of more. Then I catch a cold, and relatives come to visit, and somedays I just don’t feel like writing.
There is forced total immersion in the story, for one thing. There is a natural high produced by adrenaline and sleep deprivation. There is also the possibility of having an excuse to leave home for a few weekends, hole up in the peace and quiet of a hotel, and order room service. At least one very experienced, well-known author is famous for her self-imposed isolation in hotels when deadlines loom. I suspect she would not become a pager if you paid her.
How do you approach big projects? Lots of planning and research, or diving right in? Dividing it into daily bites or blasting through to the end?
Our special blog celebration coincides with a week that ends on Valentine’s Day. That is appropriate for a romance blog, don’t you think? But I have a confession to make. I have had a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day. Due to February 14th, I have been to both hell and heaven.
who had that as their favorite line– why make a big deal about it? As I became wiser (it did take a while) I realized that what they were really saying was– why make a big deal about ME? So Valentine’s Day became a day when I often faced more than I wanted to face about just where a relationship really was going.
Instead I was pleasantly surprised. He wasn’t bad at all. It was not the date from hell that I had anticipated. He was a little older than I was. He was established. He was responsible. He was, oh thank you Lord, a grown up man. We began seeing each other. And when February rolled around, one day he showed up with a dozen red roses. Picture me looking impressed, dumbfounded, and confused. Valentine’s Day, he hinted. Oh, yeah. Valentine’s Day. I looked at those roses, at that BIG DEAL, and I almost cried.
about.
Now, maybe you think the title of this blog should be Cheers, Celebrations and Delerious Happiness but, well, this is ME and I like to be honest with all you other goddesses. Trust me, my title is more appropriate to where my head is today.
opinion there is nothing irrational at all about being afraid to fly. (Lemme see—great big metal object weighing many tons rises into air and speeds along on wind and wings, and I am afraid it might fall? Nope, nothing irrational there.) There isn’t anything irrational going on with my NRNS (New Release Neurotic Syndrome) either. I am just having, in both cases, a normal human reaction to being unable to control a situation where the final result really matters to me.
The recent rerelease of a book got me thinking about my private collection of little gems. These are books or films or even television shows that are not necessarily famous, but that impressed me either for their emotional content or because they were beautifully crafted. Often they are quiet stories, or are told in a different way from others of their ilk. Sometimes they defy conventions, or seem out of the mainstream. On occasion they are stories that are not especially unique, but the artistry of the writer or director made them special.
early in their careers.
On one of my email lists, some writers were talking about a special writing program available only for Macs called Scrivner. I only paid passing attention because I don’t have a Mac. However, it was pretty clear that this program falls in the category of Cool Stuff. It was so cool that I think some of us were thinking of changing computer platforms just so we could use it.
and helped me get snags out of programs too.
It is hard to resist cool stuff that is not too expensive. I am weak when cool stuff is a beautiful piece of china, or artistic lampwork beads (You made that by hand with a torch and molten glass? That is so cool!) Office supply stores are cool stuff heaven (wow, a purple accordian file with color coded dividers and a bungee cord closure!)

A few years before a publisher agreed to put me in print, one of my writer friends got “the call.” Just in time too. Her 5 year plan was almost up. She had given herself five years to work at this, at which point, if she had not yet been published she would—-?
Now, lest you think I am only going to diss Goals and Plans, I’m not. In doing a bit of research for this blog I learned some interesting things about setting Goals and ensuring you reach yours. I’ll pass them along.
stuff. I make it a point not to. I think if I visualize achieving a goal, I will jinx myself.

















