I'm changing the title of my book. Which feels weird, because for at least a year I've referred to it as my "Daughters of Time" manuscript--DoT. But now I'm running into problems with the title.
I already knew "Daughter of Time" was used in a detective novel published in 1951, but I figured that was long enough ago that I could get away with using it again, especially since I was using it for the title of the series rather than the book itself. But in 2011, another book was published under that same title and is now available on Amazon. It's pretty common in the literary world to have repeat-titles, and it's not considered a death-sentence for your book if its title already exists elsewhere. Interestingly enough, titles are not protected by any kind of copyright. But in this case, my book would be the third novel with "Daughter of Time" within its title--a pretty big inconvenience when it comes to the world of Internet in which I would now be competing against two other novels in key word searches.
So I started scanning my chapters, searching for some sort of words or icons that somehow represent the book, and possibly future books as well. And then I found it: The Face of Brahman. That's the name I gave to the enormous clock tower within the story. The thing about the clock is...well, I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say that it's important to the series.
It's a working title, so I'm still going to keep myself open to other ideas. Who knows, with my wishy-washiness, I might declare another title by tomorrow. But meanwhile, taking notes from Kristyn, I had a little fun last night imagining a cover concept for the novel (thank you google images):
Yeah, this makes the story seem much cooler than it actually is. Still, fun stuff.
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Oh my God, my heart just stopped for a second!!! I'm so used to DoT that it is quite a shock that you are changing the title! It's like finding out that you just changed Elijah's name or something. That being said, that totally makes sense, and I'm certain I can adapt to a new title. I absolutely LOVE this concept cover for your book. It really makes it real. Love it love it...
ReplyDelete~Shan
Don't adapt to this new title quite yet Shan; I'm still not 100% sold on it! "Brahman" means "unlimited by time," which really works well with my storyline, but I'm still not sure. I want to stick with "Face of..." though, because the face of the clock always seems to be watching everything.
DeleteThe book cover is cool. I think looking inside your book for a title is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks Scott! I'm sure the real cover (oh how I hope there's a real one someday) won't even come close to resembling this concept, but it was still fun imagining what the book might look like.
DeleteI love your full name! It's a bestseller kind of name ;)
ReplyDeleteYour new title sounds great too! I've been considering changing my own DoT too to something else but so far, I've come up with nothing. Maybe when I reach that magic 40K mark, something would spring up. Because there are just many books starting with "Daughter of..." out there.
I'm glad you found a great title for yours and I love the words on the working cover. Makes me want to know more!
I said more about it on your blog Ifeoma, but that was SO an accident!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your title, "Daughter of the Twelfth." I suppose there are a few "Daughter of..." titles out there, but yours is by far the most original, and since I can't keep Dot, I think you should. ;) I'm pretty sure I'll be changing my title one or two more times, but I know I'm not going to return to a"Daughter of Time" since it is so very common.
Bummer that we can't be Dot-buddies anymore, huh?
Nah...once DoT-buddies, always DoT-buddies ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, maybe I'll keep it now you've said it! Looking forward to reading more of your writing updates because it takes one (ex)-DoT to inspire the other :D
I love the new title and the cover!! But then, you know I'm pretty partial to making mock covers to help me stay inspired.
ReplyDeleteI'm also pretty partial to "daughters" titles. After all, my thesis has one (Radcliffe's Daughters) and so does my WIP (Love's Daughter). But, I think this title is awesome and I like how you looked inside your book for a new title.