You Name It!

There are a lot of steps in getting to know your novel, don't you think? Some of them have to flow in a certain order, but others can... you know... occur when they may.



One though, that can, out of nowhere, give you coherence and direction is the title. Oh, I know. Important not to get too attached in case your publisher wants to call it Biscotti con Leche or something. But I find most of my books have a MOMENT. Sometimes it is early (like before I even really start:  Kahlotus Disposal Site or Player Down) and sometimes it comes later. But it is this sensation of 'THAT'S IT!'

Really my yard. Really my wine.

And you know, sometimes a name can make all the difference in whether somebody is interested or not. Take this wine, for instance. Normally I buy my wine in a box. It has to do with quantity and price... but there was just SOMETHING about this I COULDN'T resist... If you spot it, maybe you could let me know...



The catchy title of course was complemented by the sale price, but between the two I thought... Hey, surely I will have host gift needs or dinner guests at SOME point in my future... I'll take TWO!





But back to books...



With Confluence, my first book, I don't remember when it came to me, but it has a triple meaning within the story, so if I ever manage to get it published, I am going to fight like heck for it. It is literally a river confluence, a confluence of blood lines and a confluence of events. Legacy has at least double meaning... the intentional and unintentional legacy left from adults to children...





These mysteries are a little tougher... they don't have quite the same narrow path and epiphany moments. So I've come to play a game with them.



They have a THEME... and then there is all that DEAD stuff (murder, slay, kill, death...) and they tend to have a lot of clever word play, eh? Some more than others.



So it started to bug me last week that I didn't have a title for my WiP yet, and I decided to play a little game...

What tools did I have to work with?



Beer

Ale

Brewing, though I confess Cleo Coyle has mostly hogged all the good brewing ones for her coffee mysteries (that note of jealousy should be taken with a heap of admiration—I love her titles)

Pub

Hops

Yeast (erm... yeahno...)

Barley

Malt...

TAPPED... (Say... that's one I may come back to …)



And I thought about it...



Probably you need a speck more info.



My fictional Microbrew Pub is called the Beer Boutique. It's an art theme (fine art) and the ales are named for artists (did I say this last week? It seems I may have). So HERE is the list of names I came up with:



Artisan Ale-ments

Trouble Brewing (one that blasted Cleo has surely used)

Microbrew/Macro-slew

Beer Boutique Blues (which held place overnight)



But... I am going with:





What Ales Me





So there. And just HAVING a title gives me a new sense of commitment... whatever that is... I mean... it's not like I am a girl who doesn't follow through. But it has renewed my excitement on the matter.



How about you? What's your naming process?  Do you feel like you NEED it?

Don't forget to come back tomorrow. Elizabeth Spann Craig, who knows more than me on pretty much every front (except maybe statistics) is coming by for a visit and she's going to be sharing some tricks to writing in serial (not to be confused with writing in cereal, which really you can only do with Alphabits).