I received an email not to long ago from today’s guest, which included a sentence that piqued my curiosity about the premise of his book, “My book is a work of fiction though it blends in some historical figures and cool conspiracies.” I was intrigued, and invited him to be a guest and tell us more. He is here today to do just that, so please help me welcome, Mr. Steve Richer!
You can visit Steve at SteveRicherBooks.com on Facebook, on Twitter, and at Smashwords.
Do you remember the movie Snakes on a Plane? Of course you do and it isn’t because it was memorable or that it was a box office behemoth, making gazillions of dollars; it was neither. You remember it because of the title. Those four little words managed to sum up the entire film. You knew what you were getting into from the get-go.
That’s what I strived for with my thriller The Kennedy Secret. Just reading it you get a sense of what the story will be about. Hint: it involves the Kennedy family and they have a secret. Smart, no? I did struggle a bit on the subject. I’m a writer who usually likes to skirt the obvious, I enjoy including vague references to history and fancy words.
This can be the publishing equivalent of committing suicide.
When I was in film school we had to study The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I fell in love with that title, it sounded so poetic, so distinguished. Not long after I wrote a screenplay which I called The Banefu Quiescence of Wrath. I was so in love with that title!
Some months later, a Hollywood producer called me to discuss the script which I had submitted to him. He gave me a bunch of reasons why he didn’t want to buy it from me. Fine, I understand. But his last comment stung the most. He said, “Change the title. I didn’t understand it and had to look every word in the dictionary.”
A con man running for his life
The most fascinating family in American history…
Good article, Steve!
I'm not the best at coming up with cool titles. Sometimes they'll come to me, but half the time I'm just at the point where it's time to get the cover art done, so I need to pick something. *g*
Thanks Lindsay!
Sometimes a title comes to me first and it gives me ideas for a cool story. But coming up with a title after the story is written can literally drive me to the edge of insanity 😉