Our Working Titles

Hi friends.

I spoke in Baltimore on Friday night at the charming Greedy Reads Bookstore as part of the CityLit Project festival. I kind of loved Baltimore? Like the people were really nice there and it was a perfect size for a city and I stumbled upon this fun outdoor performance by just following the sound of a brass band which felt like a very New Orleans thing to do. I wish I’d had a little longer to explore that town. I’ll definitely be back.

And I love love love doing these events, reading from the 1000 Words book, and then talking to sweet and enthusiastic people about their work. It is honestly the best vibe and I often get inspired to write this letter based on what we talk about during the q&a or signing line. I only have a few more events lined up for the year before I switch into promoting the novel and I shall miss them.

Last Friday, one of the things we were talking about is that while some people were generating a bunch of words that felt like a book, they hadn’t started to think about titles yet. I am obviously an advocate for making a nice messy pile of words before figuring out what a book is or wants to be, but I also believe in the power and value of a good title as a guiding light that you can return to as you work, even if you don’t ultimately stick with it in the end.

I also find having a title quite comforting. I am returning to this thing with a title now. I am returning to this project. I am returning to this name. It makes me feel like I own it a little bit more, too. It makes it feel like home.

Now I can’t really be prescriptive about exactly when you should have a title for your book in progress. I can only tell you that it is helpful for shaping it. I’ve written before (at length here in this newsletter!) about how titles can help you because as you write to them, toward them, they can become a big idea of a book. And even if you have multiple titles over the course of the writing a book it can help you push your work into new directions. I think if there’s a day you don’t feel like writing it’s a great time to sit down and just brainstorm a bunch of titles and see what happens to how you feel about your project.

Because later on, after the book is done, and you’re trying to sell (or have sold) a book, you may not have control of what it’s called. I’ve had my titles changed along the way in the publishing process for various reasons, as have many people I know. In recent years a common reason cited is because of SEO, as in “this title is good but also will be hard to search for on the internet because it is a common word/a word that is frequently searched for.” Two friends of mine have had their novel titles changed very recently for this exact reason.

On the other hand what else could The Guest have been called? Or Florida? So I guess sometimes some publishers think a title is worth the challenge of being less searchable. But nothing is a sure bet.

Anyway, all this to say that I recommend being playful and enjoying the dream of the title while you’re working on your book, and allowing it to inspire and influence what you’re writing.

One last thing that came up with someone at last week’s event was how frustrating it can be while you’re sending your book out to agents, especially if there have been some near-yes situations that ultimately turned to rejection. And also especially if this search has been going on for a long time.

What I suggested then, and what I would suggest to anyone, is, in the interim, to try and write again, any little thing you can, and to find the delight in it. Don’t lose track of the pleasure. Don’t stop loving this thing you loved enough in the first place to commit to for the length of writing an entire book. Don’t let anyone else’s responses to your work take away the joy you get out of the act of creation.

OK, that’s it for this week! Next week we will all start getting warmed up for #1000wordsofsummer which starts on June 1. You don’t have to buy the book, but I do think it is super helpful for this challenge. And you can also request it at your local library. I just want you to feel as inspired as possible. Always.

Jami

p.s. This week’s donation went to Daughters Beyond Incarceration.

You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on twitter and instagram.