Saturday, August 11, 2012

Why "Endangered" is entitled that . . .

So, one of my best friends asked me why Endangered was entitled that. And I was going to explain it, but then I thought, "Wait. You need to write another blog post, so this is your chance." So here I am, writing a post about why I named my story "Endangered".

Um, well, when I first started writing it, it was called, "A Match Made in Paradise". But that was too cheesy, and it sounded way too modern. Then I settled on "Pirates, Treasure, and God". Haha, that should win a Worst Title of the Year award. But I thought it was good then. Until I started talking to someone about it, and they told me that if I wanted to publish this story (Which hadn't crossed my mind at that point) that I would need a title that drew people in and made them want more.

So I started thinking about what made a good title. I googled it, I asked people, I even started searching through my bookshelf and reading their titles, trying to see why they drew me in. I even took keywords in my story and tried to come up with something. To no avail.

At that time, my story didn't really have a plot. All I knew was that I had two VERY different characters, one had been adopted and was godly and sweet, the other . . . well, I hadn't figured out why he was so grumpy and rude. And I knew I wanted him to kidnap her. But that wasn't enough to come up with a title, not that I knew that.

But I wanted a title. A perfect one. One that everyone would love. And I was determined to come up with it. I thought hard about it, and then gave up. I just quit thinking and said, "Oh, forget it. It's not like I'll ever finish it." But I kept writing it, and I was at the kidnapping scene and I thought, "Hmm, she gets kidnapped by this guy, and this other guy is following her and wants to kill her (For some reason that I didn't know). Boy, her life's endangered like one of those rare species."

And then it hit me. Endangered!

And that's what I called it. And as the story changes more and more, it fits the title even better. And I am so glad that someone was bold enough to tell me my story title stunk. I really am. I will always be grateful to her for that. :) Thanks for reading!


God bless!
Galatians 6:9 KJV



8 comments:

  1. Wow! cool story!

    I just started a(nother) new WIP, but I can't think of a title for the life of me.

    I'm hoping the title will just come to me, like my other stories, but I don't know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, story titles are so stubborn. And frustrating. Especially when you KNOW the title. You have it in the back of your head, but it just won't come to you.

      Delete
  2. Fun story, Katelyn! I've never had that much trouble with titles... *knock on wood* But I'm happy you've settled on one! :D Endangered fits quite nicely.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's really neat Katelyn! I'm not always the best with titles either. (The Prince's Quest?) lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, I like The Prince's Quest though. It makes me wonder what his quest is. :)

      Delete
  4. :P Some of my books I can't come up with a title for to save my life (or the book's career). And others I have the title already picked out by the time I'm three words in. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, exactly. I guess it just depends on the story and complexity of the story.

      Delete