Our topic at the SFF Seven
this week concerns the reality of having to change names. We're asking the crew
if they've ever had to change the name(s) of a character or place in a book
after we'd drafted it? Who is the character who will forever go by their "unpublished"
name in our minds?
I don’t usually have to
change the names of the characters or the books but I have a few vignettes to share…
My first book was Song of the Nile in my head because it
involved a priestess who sang paeans to Sobek the Crocodile God in ancient
Egypt. I sold it to Carina Press in the summer of 2011 as Song of the Nile. They worked on it as Song of the Nile – I even have the first cover art showing that
title (which I can’t share because it isn’t “mine”). I freaking loved that
title.
Then in late 2011 Stephanie
Dray, a well-known author of ancient Egyptian romance published…you guess it – Song of the Nile. Since I wasn’t even
published yet, I didn’t want to look as though I was trying to copy her, even
though she was writing about Roman-Cleopatra time and I was back in 1550 BCE. I
know titles can’t be copyrighted but it felt wrong to me to have the same title
on my book. She, by the way, was lovely to me when my book did come out, in
January 2012, had me on her blog, guested on my blog – a really affirming model
of an established author going out of her way to help a newbie. So Carina Press
re-titled my book as Priestess of the Nile.
Which was fine and also fit the heroine.
Ah but the story isn’t done.
In late 2019 I put out a new book in my Gods of Egypt series and rather
defiantly titled it Song of the Nile.
Ta da! The heroine is a harpist at Pharaoh’s court. I figured eight years later
and me with 40+ books in various genres to my credit (and people being somewhat
more understanding about the fact that duplicative titles do happen), I could
finally have the title of my heart, even if it is for a different book that the one I first intended. Ms. Dray has moved on to writing amazing
American Revolutionary era novels among other things and so I think it’s all
good. Her book and mine seem to happily co-exist in the greater ebook world.
When I’m writing a book, I
tend to think of it in a basic one word title, maybe the name of the planet or
the main character or my inspiration. As in, “Today I did 1000 words on
JAMOKAN.” COLONY UNDER SIEGE takes a part of its inspiration from an island
where I used to visit as a child and so the folder on my computer where the
manuscript and other materials reside is labelled thusly. One novel I wrote has
a prince from an old 50’s “B” movie as the inspiration and the hero wore that
name throughout my entire writing and editing process but then I changed it (as
I’d always knew I would) because the name doesn’t fit the time and civilization
my hero resides in. But the file folder still bears that title.
My intellectual property
heirs will have fun trying to puzzle out which book is in which folder!
I have changed the names of
a couple of planets because when I first went to romance conventions to do book
signings I met readers who’d enjoyed my scifi romances, they were enthusiastic
and complimentary but I noticed they really hesitated over the titles, which
contained the (made up) planet names. I thought to myself that was bad, if
readers were going to love the books but not be sure how to pronounce the
names. So I tried to become less convoluted with my names and also to give my
books titles that were more generic, like STAR CRUISE: OUTBREAK or DANGER IN
THE STARS. I also went through a period where I deliberately gave the books
sort of old fashioned science fiction titles like TWO AGAINST THE STARS (which
was a tribute from me to all those old Andre Norton books I treasure to this
day).
When I started my award
winning Badari Warriors series about genetically engineered soldiers of the far
future, I decided to go with the simple, one word title using the hero’s name –
Aydarr, Mateer and so forth. I have subtitles to carry the freight of what the
series is – Badari Warriors: A SciFi Romance Novel (Sectors New Allies Book
#Soandso). If I had it to do over, I’d leave off the “Sectors New Allies”
designator but at the time I started the series I felt it was important to show
it did tie in to all my previous SFR books, in term of the same universe, which
I call The Sectors.
I try to be mindful not to
have more than one character whose name starts with the same letter in my
books, ever since my editor tactfully pointed out that all my Egyptian warriors
seemed to have names starting with “K”. Kaminhotep, Khenet etc. I’ve seen for
myself how annoying it can be when the author presents the reader with three
female characters who names start with “S” for example. It can get very
confusing, especially if all three are shown on the same page, in action or
giving dialog. I’m currently reading a long series where three of the
supporting male characters have names starting with “B” (but the author has
helpfully killed off two of them by book #8). And she introduced a villain
whose name also starts with “B’!
I do have a thing for
heroine names ending in an ‘a’ so I try to change that up on occasion, with Jill,
Megan, Flo interspersed with my Sandara, Keshara and Elianna for example…
And that’s probably enough
on the subject for today!
Here’s my latest one
word-titled novel (and the book was IVOKK through the entire writing process
and the folder is under that name too):
IVOKK: A BADARI
WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE NOVEL (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES BOOK 12)
Proud enforcer of the Badari
South Seas pack, Ivokk undertakes a secret mission back to their former home,
in search of a cure for a mysterious illness affecting his soldiers, now in
exile in the north. He’s ready to make any sacrifice to find the answer and
help his pack brothers stay strong. He’s even willing to accept responsibility
for the human woman assigned to the mission, although she’s a headstrong
civilian, difficult and rumored to dislike his kind.
Sandara DiFerria was once a
three star chef in the Sectors, but that was before the alien enemy kidnapped
the entire adult population of her colony to use for experimentation. Rescued
from the labs by the Badari, she does her part to support the rebellion now by
running the vast commissary operation in Sanctuary Valley. All she asks is to
be left alone until she can get back to the Sectors and pick up her old life
again. Her one previous romantic brush with a Badari soldier turned out badly,
ending in public humiliation. Add to that post-traumatic stress from her life
before moving to the colony and she’s the last person to pick for a top secret
mission. Or so she believes.
The Alpha running the pack
disagrees and sends her to do the job under Ivokk’s watchful eye. Thrown
together by the nature of the task they must undertake, the undeniable
attraction they both feel grows. Will the dark secrets of Sandara’s hidden past
create an insurmountable barrier between them? Can Ivokk and the tempestuous
human chef find the answer to the Badari illness in time? Or will the elements
and the enemy bring disaster?
