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Wednesday, June 6, 2018

#IWSG: Titles or Characters

It's the 1st Wednesday of June. Happy Insecure Writers Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. 



This month's question is: What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

First, I want to thank everyone who gave me so much support in February and March, when the winter blahs/blues had me down in the dumps. Your thoughtful advice and good wishes pumped me up and made me work through it. BTW, my daughter gave me a "happy lamp" for Mother's Day so winter won't get me down again. 😎

Now to the question. Perfect timing. The short answer is sometimes the title and sometimes the character. For my work-in-progress, both the title and characters were a problem. I went through many titles, never liking one that much. It started as “Kate’s Story”—my catchall name when I don’t have a title, just call it by the main character’s name. Because some of the story takes place camping, I thought of “Unpredictable Nature” yet I was never totally happy with that. As I reworked the story, it became more obvious that the story centered on an accountant's discovery. That's when the title smacked me up the side of the head: Numbers Never Lie.

This story also had character name problems. When I started the book fifteen years ago, the main character’s name was Kate. Now, I have a daughter-in-law whose name is Katy. It would feel weird to write romantic sections using her name. So, she became Maggie. The other main character started out as Alex. I have a mystery series where the female P.I.’s name is Alex. So, scratch that one. I wanted a Scottish first name to go with Campbell. That's how he became Andrew, nickname Drew.

Here’s the blurb for Numbers Never Lie.

A shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie. 

As kids, they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack's an accountant; Drew, a lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Returning from a weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe her brother’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only recourse.

Drew Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that—an accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if he thinks she’s wrong.

A break-in at Jack’s condo convinces Maggie she’s right. Then her home is searched. What did Jack leave behind?

Now that I’m almost through revising/editing, I’m happy with my final choices. The plan is to release this book at the end of this month. So . . . I’m organizing a blog tour. If you are interested in hosting me, here's a form to fill out.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtq0uq2nARRiSy1Gb85U0MgUhoACL-7HA5oaM23wY9zkqEjQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Thanks so much for all your support!

A reminder: I'm always happy to help you celebrate a new release. Just drop me a note at dmburton72 (at) gmail (dot) com


Until next month, happy writing.


Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.



31 comments:

  1. Love your title. I can relate to the problem. I am currently using New Story as my title. And glad you got such a great present from your daughter.

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    1. Thanks, Natalie. Since my daughter has the same problem (and solution), I thought the light was a super idea. We'll see how it works next winter.

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  2. Hey Diane, glad you're feeling better. I might need to get one of those lamps! I just signed up for your release party. Let me know what else I need to do. Congratulations and good luck!

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    1. Thanks, Lisa. My daughter says the lamp works. thanks, too, for signing up for the blog tour. I sure appreciate it.

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  3. I am so backwards. Bright sunshine hurts my eyes so clouds make me happy.

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    1. Tamara, everybody's different. LOL What works for one person might not work for everybody. What's saying about every cloud having a silver lining?

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  4. Great title. I also don't like to use the names of people I know. It's an awkward distraction writers just don't need. So glad to hear that the happy light works for you and you're feeling better!

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    1. Thanks, Lee. After writing many books with lots of characters, it's getting hard finding names of people I don't know. LOL

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  5. What a "happy lamp"? I need to see one. :D

    I'm like Tamara, though. The sun hurts my eyes. I don't necessary want to to be cloudy, but I enjoy the darker seasons.

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    1. LOL, Chrys. You should live up here in Michigan if you want darker seasons. In fact, we could switch places in the winter.

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  6. Katy probably appreciates that you changed the name in your story. I had to change one of mine last year when I realized I'd named two main characters Victor. (One became Nicholas.)

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    1. I'm sure she does, Diane. Names are hard to come up with sometimes. I like Nicholas--he's the romantic interest in my cozy mysteries. Victor reminds me of Victor Mature, the old time actor. He was quite a heartthrob in his day.

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  7. Glad you've shaken the blah's, Diane. Keep that lamp light shining! You killed it with the new title "Numbers Never Lie". My curiosity is peaked! Sounds intriguing.

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    1. Thanks so much, Sandra. Glad my title captured your interest.

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  8. I love the title. Inspiration hit you hard this time. :-)

    https://emaginette.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/iwsg-49-using-word-association-for-naming-a-book/

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  9. You ended up with the perfect title. Just signed up for the tour and looking forward to it!

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    1. Thanks, Julie. Glad you liked the title. And thanks for signing up.

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  10. That title is EPIC. I'm glad you had the patience to wait until it came to you, because seriously, it's perfect.

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    1. Thanks, Crystal, that is so sweet. Patience is key. Sometimes the title comes right away and sometimes it doesn't.

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  11. Numbers Never Lie - that sounds like a movie!

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  12. Yay, happy lamp. I keep thinking of picking one up for myself, but never remember.
    Numbers Never Lie is a great title. Best of luck on your release!

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    1. Thanks. I don't even know where my daughter got mine. I hope it works.

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  13. Finding a title that's related to your book's plot and yet is intriguingly interesting is hard. I do like your Numbers Don't Lie title. It's catches the attention.

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    1. Thanks, Ken. I hope it catches many people's attention.

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  14. Numbers Never Lie is a great title. I'm having trouble now with character names. My main male was Garrett, then I found out my next grandchild will be name Garrett. I have twelve other grandchildren who'd be jealous. Now the full name of my heroine is in the title of a new Netflix show. :(

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    1. Sandra, I feel for you. I agree about the grandkiddies. I mentioned Alex is the name of my female P.I. My newest grandson is Alex. My books were first. LOL

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  15. The Happy Lamp sound cool I will have check that out. I agree with everyone else Numbers never Lie is a great title. Happy IWSG Day.

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  16. Congrats on your upcoming release! Sounds like May was a really productive month for you. And I'm glad to hear you're feeling better.

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