Strange title for a book – Vengeance Hammer, isn’t it? Over the last while, I’ve had a ton of people ask how the titles of my books come about and the honest answer is – usually they come from me. For some strange reason, I cannot begin writing a story until I have a title. I know it’s weird and, trust me, nothing about my creative process is normal or follows any kind of pattern.
In my day job, I am a numbers person, a totally logical A to B and then to C person. Throw in a tale and logic flies out the window. Being a normally (and I use that word with the utmost caution) rational individual, I have tried over and over to document and improve the way I write. What has this to do with titles, you ask?
Well the fact is I can’t start a book without a title. Go figure. It may take weeks or months or a single second to come up with the right title – A Paratrooper in a Pear Tree took minutes, Alpha Me Not I labored over for months, and yet in one week this year, I came up with the ideas for not one, but seven books!!! And I cannot tell you how or why any single one of those came about.
It drives me batty.
There are times when I actively dislike this need to write- truly- it’s simply not explainable or in any way shape or form, logical. I like rationality, I relish predictability, I savor order- and none of that ever applies to how a book evolves in my head. Why do you ask am I telling you this? Because overnight the ideas for three new books sprouted.
Shoot me.
I can’t keep up with my poor, irrational, obsessive writer brain.
*Thunk, thunk* – that’s the sound of me hitting my head on the wall.
Stop. Stop. No more ideas.
That’s it – I’m off to write as fast as my hands and Dragon Naturally Speaking will allow me. BTW – I am in edits for Vengeance Hammer, and cannot start anything new – isn’t that justifiable suicide karma?
*Thunk, thunk*
Cheers,
Jianne
P.S. One of my best titles came from Georgia Woods – The Bear and The Bride – kudos G, and many thanks.