The Wrenching Task of Choosing a Title for a Novel

When I published my first novel back in 2011, I didn’t know it was the first of a series, so although I took great care in titling the book, I hadn’t thought ahead about a motif of titles for a series. In fact, over the years, I can’t predict which books I’m going to make into a series and which ones remain standalone’s.

Naturally, we consider the characters, plot, and themes to determine a title, but we also scour Amazon titles to make sure we don’t duplicate names of books. I failed this test in one of my first novels by calling it Last Resort. Many other authors chose that title as well.

I got luckier. In my first series, the heroine’s propensity to faint (syncope) fed me my titles: Fadeout, Swoon, and Faint. I screwed up with my first in my series about a National Park Ranger by calling it Fire is Nice. The line from Robert Frost’s poem perfectly ‘fit’ the way fire nurtures Sequoia’s in that National Park. Trouble is, when I decided to write a second National Park book, I couldn’t come up with a title in the same format.

I planned ahead with my Woman at the Helm Series: When Mountains Fall, When Oceans Rage, and When Winds Howl.

I’m still happy with my other standalone titles: Lie Catchers, Cézanne’s Ghost, Fear Land, and Bad Lies (play on words…the book is about golf!)

So drumroll, please. My new title does not appear on Amazon (among their thirty-three million titles!), and after worrying over a title for this book a whole year, the idea came to me suddenly last week.

To Kill a Condor it is! Reminds the reader of To Kill a Mockingbird, and Flight of the Condor. This is my thirteenth novel and second in my Sable Chisholm Mystery series.

Don’t ask me what my next series title is, because I have no idea!