By John Gilstrap
I have a hard time with titles. To date, of the nine books I’ve published, only three bear the titles I proposed. Here’s the history:
Mine: Nathan!
Title: Nathan’s Run
Mine: Most Wanted
Title: At All Costs
Mine: Even Steven
Title: Even Steven
Mine: Scott Free
Title: Scott Free
Mine: Six Minutes to Freedom
Title: Six Minutes to Freedom
Mine: Grave Danger
Title: No Mercy
I confess that after No Mercy, I stopped trying. My working titles became Grave 2, Grave 3 and Grave 4. My editor came up with Hostage Zero, Threat Warning and Damage Control. I love them all, but I’ve come to embrace my limitations. And typically, the title is just about the last element of the book to be written.
When Damage Control hits the shelves in June, though, it will contain the first chapter of the book that will come out in 2013–the one I have been writing under the title, Grave 5. That’s a little under-inspiring, so we had to scramble to come up with a title earlier than we usually do. Since the book deals with some issues regarding the first lady, I thought I had a winner: First Traitor.
Everyone was excited until we said it out loud, and we realized that the title would be heard as First Rater. That’s bad for radio interviews.
In the end, we decided on High Treason. I love the title and I am utterly shocked that it hasn’t already been used for a big thriller.
Here’s what I’ve come to understand about titles: It’s more important for them to be compelling and cool that it is for them to apply directly to the story. The clearest example of this in my writing is Hostage Zero, which actually means nothing, but sounds very cool. The title has done its job when a reader picks up the book and reads the back cover and thumbs through the first chapter. That’s where the buying decision is made.
What do y’all think? I know writers who can’t write unless they’ve got the title nailed down. I also know writers to fight for the title of their choice, even though their choices are often not very commercial.
How do you deal with titles?
Category Archives: Even Steven
The Pain of Rejection
Ten years ago this month, my career hit rock bottom. The wounds of 9-11 were still raw, the lingering malaise still thick. I’d just been screwed out of a screen credit for the movie, Red Dragon (actually, I wasn’t screwed; I’d merely lost an arbitration, but when you’re living it, there’s precious little difference). I’d been orphaned twice on Scott Free, my second book of a two-book contract with Atria, on the heels of Even Steven, on which I was likewise orphaned twice. The publisher had lost interest in me, and they’d made it clear that they were going to ship a tiny number of books and do nothing to support them.
My book-writing career was in severe jeopardy.
I was able to keep it all in perspective, though, until I got a phone call from my film agent that no one—no one—even wanted to take a look at Scott Free, which to that point had everyone in my publishing food chain convinced that it would be an easy movie sell. The call came in at around 6:00 pm Eastern time, and I remember Joy rubbing my shoulder as she read the body language of the call. When I hung up, I felt like I had nothing left. I tried to smile and shrug it off, and then she hugged me and I lost it.
I don’t cry much, but that one came from a deep dark place.
It wasn’t about how to make the mortgage payment. It was the realization that I had all these stories inside of me that I wasn’t going to be able to tell because people who’d liked my books well enough to buy them no longer liked them enough to sell them. It felt so . . . unfair. Our own Mr. John Ramsey Miller took a lot of phone calls from me back then. Thanks, John.
I make it a point not to dwell in dark places very long, so I went on to write a book called Living Wil, which I couldn’t give away, but really, that just kept me busy while I took a long look at where I was:
FACT: My bestselling books to that point had been written while I’d had a full-time job.
FACT: While “writing full time” I actually spent a lot of time hangin’ out and playing Dad.
FACT: The entertainment business makes no friggin’ sense.
FACT (and this one’s embarrassing): While I actually craved the normalcy of a Big Boy job, I resisted for fear that others would see that as an expression of failure.
When all was said and done, I reverted to one of my overarching philosophies in life—“fuck it”—and I forged ahead. It turned out that no one was watching me as closely as I thought they were. In fact, I was shocked to find that most of my friends who write full-time were envious of my Big Boy endeavors.
Funny what an adventure life turns out to be sometimes.
I write of this now not just because of the ten-year anniversary, but because it’s American Idol season again, and the sight of those devastated young people who’ve just found out they didn’t make the cut churns up memories. When you want something so badly, the pain of rejection can be unbearable. It feels like there’s no future.
But of course, there always is. The problem is, too many of us work so hard to engineer the future that we lose sight of the fact that we’re powerless to affect it. The best we can do is dream big and work hard and maximize opportunities.
After ten years, you look back and realize how much better a person you are for the pain.
The Pain of Rejection
Ten years ago this month, my career hit rock bottom. The wounds of 9-11 were still raw, the lingering malaise still thick. I’d just been screwed out of a screen credit for the movie, Red Dragon (actually, I wasn’t screwed; I’d merely lost an arbitration, but when you’re living it, there’s precious little difference). I’d been orphaned twice on Scott Free, my second book of a two-book contract with Atria, on the heels of Even Steven, on which I was likewise orphaned twice. The publisher had lost interest in me, and they’d made it clear that they were going to ship a tiny number of books and do nothing to support them.
My book-writing career was in severe jeopardy.
I was able to keep it all in perspective, though, until I got a phone call from my film agent that no one—no one—even wanted to take a look at Scott Free, which to that point had everyone in my publishing food chain convinced that it would be an easy movie sell. The call came in at around 6:00 pm Eastern time, and I remember Joy rubbing my shoulder as she read the body language of the call. When I hung up, I felt like I had nothing left. I tried to smile and shrug it off, and then she hugged me and I lost it.
I don’t cry much, but that one came from a deep dark place.
It wasn’t about how to make the mortgage payment. It was the realization that I had all these stories inside of me that I wasn’t going to be able to tell because people who’d liked my books well enough to buy them no longer liked them enough to sell them. It felt so . . . unfair. Our own Mr. John Ramsey Miller took a lot of phone calls from me back then. Thanks, John.
I make it a point not to dwell in dark places very long, so I went on to write a book called Living Wil, which I couldn’t give away, but really, that just kept me busy while I took a long look at where I was:
FACT: My bestselling books to that point had been written while I’d had a full-time job.
FACT: While “writing full time” I actually spent a lot of time hangin’ out and playing Dad.
FACT: The entertainment business makes no friggin’ sense.
FACT (and this one’s embarrassing): While I actually craved the normalcy of a Big Boy job, I resisted for fear that others would see that as an expression of failure.
When all was said and done, I reverted to one of my overarching philosophies in life—“fuck it”—and I forged ahead. It turned out that no one was watching me as closely as I thought they were. In fact, I was shocked to find that most of my friends who write full-time were envious of my Big Boy endeavors.
Funny what an adventure life turns out to be sometimes.
I write of this now not just because of the ten-year anniversary, but because it’s American Idol season again, and the sight of those devastated young people who’ve just found out they didn’t make the cut churns up memories. When you want something so badly, the pain of rejection can be unbearable. It feels like there’s no future.
But of course, there always is. The problem is, too many of us work so hard to engineer the future that we lose sight of the fact that we’re powerless to affect it. The best we can do is dream big and work hard and maximize opportunities.
After ten years, you look back and realize how much better a person you are for the pain.