Local Bookseller I
B&N I Amazon
I HarperCollins I Books-a-Million
Book
Blitz Post:
Book Title Brain
Dump: A Top Ten List of Rejected Titles for BETWEEN THE NOTES by Sharon Huss
Roat
I learned
recently that R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps books, starts writing ONLY
after he is inspired by a great title. As someone who always struggles to find
the perfect title, I’m more than a little jealous. Here’s a look at some of the
titles I threw out there in the process of naming BETWEEN THE NOTES.
Thankfully, none of them stuck.
1) IVY’S TOWER – This was original title, which I thought was a clever play on the term
“Ivory Tower”—a nod to Ivy’s fall from affluence that also referred to the very
skinny, tall, apartment house where her family moves. Alas, my publisher
thought it sounded too young. I was asked to submit other ideas. Hence:
2) A GIRL, HER
BEST FRIEND, TWO BOYS, AND A SONG - A longer
version of this title might’ve included “A PIANO, HER DISABLED LITTLE BROTHER,
A GIRL WITH A CLARINET, THAT DUSTY UKELELE, HER PARENTS, A BICYCLE…” Yeah.
Listing everything and everyone in the book does not a title make.
3) IVY DOESN’T
LIVE HERE ANYMORE - Nope. She moved. And the story is about what happens
in the new place, not in the place she doesn’t live anymore. So, never mind.
4) HOW TO RUIN PRETTY
MUCH EVERYTHING - This is the title you come up when you’re pulling
out your hair out trying to capture in a few words what the book is about and…
you fail.
5) PULLING
SECRETS FROM A SHELF - When you’re
thinking about the part of the story where someone is leaving secret notes for
Ivy on a shelf, and then the song “Pulling Mussels from a Shell” gets in your
head, and isn’t this the most brilliant title ever? No? FINE.
6) MUCH ADO
ABOUT GATSBY AND PONY BOY - There’s some Shakespeare
in the story, and The Great Gatsby makes an appearance, as well as The
Outsiders. So, OF COURSE the perfect title would somehow combine all of
that. Right? WRONG.
7) DISCOMPOSING
IVY - Work with me, here. Ivy composes music to calm
herself, but has to leave her piano behind and she’s kind of falling apart.
She’s… discomposing? Ew, that sounds like DECOMPOSING, doesn’t it? And this is
not a zombie story. Nobody’s earlobes are rotting off.
8) OPUS
DISASTEROUS - Music theme? Search musical terms and try to rhyme
them with words that vaguely describe what your main character is facing, and…
TA DA! *Slinks back into cave where horrible title-writers live.
9) UNTANGLING
IVY - One of many titles I came up with that tried to
capture Ivy’s struggle as if Ivy, the plant, was actually strangling her.
(TWISTING IVY, TURNING IVY, THROWING IVY, anyone?)
10) BAD BOY NEXT
DOOR - Refer to rejected title Number 2, except pick just
one character. The hottest one, preferably. But, what about that other hot boy?
BAD BOY NEXT DOOR AND THAT TOTALLY SWOONY OTHER GUY. Too long? Dang.
In the end, my friend and fellow HarperCollins author
Hilary T. Smith (WILD AWAKE, A SENSE OF THE INFINITE) suggested “In Between the
Notes.” I added it to the list, my editor shortened it to BETWEEN THE NOTES,
and a title was born. (And lived!)
.png)
