I'm changing the title of my first book... again, and I wondered if anyone else is having this problem. I have a series and I'm not trying to make the titles match exactly, but this one I'm changing stuck out like a sore thumb as so different to the others that it just had to go. Trouble is, I have no idea what to replace it with. Do you use working titles? Do you stick to the original title or do you change it as you go?
Thank you, Louise. I am still thinking it all through. I've come up with some completely ridiculous titles this evening and have decided my choices can only get better from here! Still, it could be worse. I do at least have the first third and fifth titles :)
One of my problems is that I had the perfect title for this book. Then one book became two, two became three and three became five. The original title currently sits at the top of the second book but I think the answer is to move it back to the first and come up with something new for the second.
Adrian, I have often thought of using his name. For a long time his online username was the title and that's the one I've just scrapped because it made so little sense. One of the problems is that the series tells the story of his life but never from his point of view. POV is always with his closest friends and relations. There is an excellent reason for that, but one I do not wish to reveal.
The first book is the romance between he and his school friend Juliet, but the series is about the lives affected by the extrodinary Peter and those closest to him as they he becomes their focus. He pushes them away in an attempt to save those he loves from being consumed by his needs. It is a story not just of love but of faith in people when all reason to believe is lost.
Each book focuses on a different romance in Peter's circle of friends/family and how it is affected by Peter. He is the axis the story revolves around but perhaps the series is better described as the life of Peter's two best friends Juliet and Alex. They are the main POV characters thoughout and it is their struggle to understand Peter which forms the major plotlines.
I think that suitably tells you something without telling you anything. Lol. Just one last thing. The theme of the other titles is phrases or analogies used by Juliet and Alex. I suppose what I need to do is just find two more, but there aren't any that produce reasonable titles and I don't want to force more.
Names work for some series though it seems they've fallen out of favour with most authors/publishers nowadays.
Personally I try to think of a suitable-ish title while I'm outlining the basic story and add more as I go along. Rightly or wrongly, one usually stands out and I stick with that as a working title, same as Louise. I might change it, or might not. My second story started out as 'Children of Saul' and has ended up as 'Leopardkill', though I had six ideas which popped up at various times while writing it.