Thursday, April 28, 2011

What's in a Name?

I am chugging away on the rough draft of my novel (which you can read about here and here). In spite of having had Easter and a birthday this week, and a party coming up this weekend, I still managed to sneak away for an hour and half to Starbucks and add about 1,800 words to my manuscript.

Even more exciting, last week I had an awesome Yahoo chat with my great friend Tori, who always functions as my story sounding board. She can take all the vague statements I make about what I "see" and "feel," ask just the right questions to get me thinking, and offer just the right suggestions to flesh things out. It is truly amazing. Thanks to our chat I have solved all of my major plot issues and have a lovely road map for the rest of my story.

I am feeling really good about the direction that my novel is heading, and I have some really exciting news about it to share soon!

Illustration by William A. Breakspeare

The only thing I am not happy with currently is my sad, tragic, depressing lack of a title. Sleeping Beauty 2.0 (working title) is just not cutting it anymore. I've taken to calling it The Sleeping Beauty Project which kinda, sorta works. But I am in search of a really kick-butt title.

I'd really love a strong, one word title like "Enchanted." Unfortunately, Disney already beat me to that one. Of late, Disney has had some pretty cool titles. "Tangled," for example, is quite literally a perfect title.

Robin McKinley also has an amazing way with fairy tale titles. Her Sleeping Beauty story is called Spindle's End. And it rocks, by the way.

There's a balance, I think, in novel naming. You want to entice the reader without giving away too much of your plot.

So, my poor little baby, for the moment, remains un-named.

What are your favorite book titles? Have any suggestions for mine?

7 comments:

  1. It looks like your sleeper is a man, so maybe something like Beauty's Sleeper (assuming you're reversing the story and that the beautiful girl wakes the prince)

    (I'm assuming this isn't a romance, otherwise you could go with the puntastic Sleeping Booty)

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  2. One word? Awake. Especially since your story opens with the wake-up scene, doesn't it? Instead of that being at the end?

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  3. Kim - My sleeper is a man, it's not quite a reversal, but close :) Sleeping Booty kills me! Lol!

    Nancy - OMG! You may have just named my novel ;)

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  4. Okay, here's my long list of brainstorming-ness. Some of these could maybe stand on their own, while others should probably be combined with something. Take something if you like it. :)

    Dream
    Trance
    Slumber
    Briar
    Rose
    Sleep
    Curse
    Kiss
    Spin
    Talia
    L'Aurore
    Gift
    Thorn
    Petal
    (the Awakening Kiss)
    Princess
    Once upon a dream
    Slumber
    Spindle
    Spellbound
    Awakening
    Secret
    Magic
    True love
    Woods

    Also, just for fun… Sleeping Beauty's mother is never named in the film itself or the character reference sheets but according to Disney legend around the studio she was meant to be called Queen Leah, but is otherwise always referred to as "the queen," whereas both her father and that of the prince are given names that are used several times, both in dialogue and narration.

    Good luck!

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  5. Loving AWAKE - that's like "wha? whats she talkin' about? i wanna knooooow!" :o)

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  6. I like Awake, or maybe even better, it's variations: Awaken or Awakening. Or turn sleeping beauty around to Awaken(ing) Beauty. Or "WAKE UP, Beauty!" Possibilities are endless.

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  7. I love all the variations of Awake (it made it into Rebecca (Miss Anderton's) list as well with The Awakening Kiss. Leaning towards Awake or Awaken. Will have to see what tense I'm feelin' like when it's all written.

    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!!!

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I love comments! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me!