Tag Archive | alliteration

Author Confessions: A Love of Alliteration

Nov11
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: A Love of Alliteration

Alliteration is when you have a phrase with a similar letter or sound starting words that are in close proximity to each other. I’ve had people accuse me of loving alliteration. Why? Well, simply because of some of the titles of my books. Before I start listing those that have this lovely literary feature, let me first say that it wasn’t intentional when I started, I just liked the way the first book titles sounded in two series and then decided to keep writing in that same vein. Having titles that are somewhat similar in length or content can be helpful for the reader in recognizing it as your book, especially when there is a series. Alliteration can capture attention and as an author I want people to be drawn to my books, but that is not the only way to get their attention. Designing a captivating title is an art in and of itself.

My first was my Regency series. I started with The Virtuous Viscount, then wrote a prequel called The Baron’s Blunder. Subsequent books as I went on realizing I had enough ideas for an entire series are: Lord Phillip’s Folly, Lord Harrow’s Heart, and The Captain’s Conquest. That series came to an end, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t abandoned the idea as I have some Regency novellas with this feature: The Doctor’s Daughter, and Gabriel’s Gift. Some of my other Regency Christmas novellas do not have that feature. I try to use whatever works best for the story I’m writing.

I started writing contemporary after I tried my hand at historical and then every year for many years I was writing one of each. That first book was Pesto and Potholes, only because I wanted something that would work potholes into the title and be intriquing. Then someone suggested I write another book called Salsa and Speed Bumps and well, I liked the idea of that so I did. After that the challenge was on to pair a food-related item with a road-related item. How do you think I did? Titles include: Feta and Freeways, Root Beer and Roadblocks, Bratwurst and Bridges, Donuts and Detours and finally, Truffles and Traffic (as a fellow writer really wanted me to write a book with truffles in the title!). I actually have a sheet of  ideas of possible future titles for this series, so who knows? That one could continue indefinitely if I wished, and could come up with titles. The challenge is that the food must be part of the story, which is the easy part, and the road-related reference has to be a metaphor used in the story, whether obviously as in Pesto and Potholes or subtly in others. The title must make sense to me and to the reader.

Most of my contemporary Christmas novellas do not have this feature.  Sugar Cookies and Street Lamps was originally supposed to be Sugar Cookies and Street Crossings but that was nixed by my Editor-in-chief. Oh well, she felt it sounded better as street lamps and she featured one on the cover. Who am I to argue? It’s more about the story than the title and as I’ve written about in the past, not everyone gets the title they want. Just doesn’t always happen that way. The metaphor worked either way but I lost the full alliteration I was trying for.

I’m not the only author to use this for purposes of titles. Consider:

Also in visual entertainment:

  • Mamma Mia
  • Dr. Dolittle
  • Mork and Mindy
  • Midsomer Murders
  • Gardians of the Galaxy

Character names as well:

  • Lois Lane
  • Peter Parker
  • Bruce Banner
  • Bilbo Baggins
  • Big Bird

So here’s the question, do you like alliteration in titles? Why or why not? I’d be curious to know!

Author Confessions: The Trouble with Titles

Apr15
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: The Trouble with Titles

A title is the first thing people see or hear about a book. Interestingly enough, they are not copywrited. The story is but not the title. Probably a good thing since they contain so few words it would be challenging to come up with a nice sounding title for any book.

Just because you have a working title for your book doesn’t mean that is what it will still be be called by the time it’s published. I’ve had a few stories that had title changes:

As I’ve worked with other authors there have been times before contracting them when I told them I would want to change the title. Sometimes the Editor-in-chief will decide that after the book has been contracted. Usually the title doesn’t change before then. When I’ve worked with authors on brainstorming titles I will  come up with absurd and ridiculous choices but sometimes when you have a lot of those and some decent ones mixed in, one will rise to the top.

Once or twice that process went on without me and all of a sudden I’ve discovered an author has a different title after the editor-in-chief contacted the author directly. That’s totally fine! The reality is for us it is a collaborative process but that is not necessarily true for other publishing houses.

One of the things I am known for is my use of alliteration in some of my titles. It stared with my Gothic Regency Series: The Baron’s Blunder, The Virtuous Viscount, Lord Phillip’s Folly, Sir Michael’s Mayhem, Lord Harrow’s Heart, and The Captain’s Conquest. I also did that with my contemporary Orchard Hill romances: Pesto & Potholes, Salsa & Speed Bumps, Feta and Freeways, Root Beer and Roadblocks, Bratwurst & Bridges, Donuts & Detours, and Truffles & Traffic. I do have more possibly to write in that series but being locked into that alliteration as well as them being metaphors makes it challenging! I also try to not repeat a letter combination in a series to help keep them straight. Not all my titles are alliteration however so it’s not something I obsessively feel I need to do except in a series where I’ve already started with that.

Brainstorming a title can be fun and most of the time a publisher good about leaving a title alone but authors need to have a loose grip because that title might change after you’ve signed that contract and whether they include you in the decision making or not, it is the title you will have for your masterpiece.

Sometimes an author will have a book go out of publication with another publisher and decide to republish it. This not only involves a new round of edits but often a title change and new cover to give it a fresh appearance. Sometimes in the description it might state that it was originally published under another title. It’s not like we’re trying to do a bait and switch but sometimes even a fresh title suits the story better than the original did. Usually, that first story was published long enough ago that perhaps fans of that author would enjoy the new improved version.

One of my favorite titles of an author I’ve worked with is Murder of Crows by Anita Klumpers. Delicious title! Not an original one but unique for Christian suspense. Her first novel, Winter Watch has a title I love as well but it was not the original. I can’t remember what the original was!

Coming up with a title that will capture a reader’s attention as well as encapsulate in a few words the feel of a book is not an easy task, but it can be a fun process if the author can have a loose grip on their working title. If you can’t let that go traditional publishing might not be for you. When you self-publish you can title a book  whatever you want. The trouble with titles, however, is trying to come up with something that will stand out and sometimes a team is a good way to get there.

What are some of your favorite book titles of author’s you’ve come across?