A Google search for "the monster's daughter" typically turns up my novel second. The first result is usually an SFGate article of the same name. This got me wondering about how and when I'd actually landed on the title The Monster's Daughter for my novel. Since this ain't 1964 anymore, baby, I looked that fish up faster than you can say, well, 1964.
On December 24, 2004, I put some prospective book titles in front of my friends. I'd like to say I used title-generating software, or had a monkey put poetry magnets on a fridge to form them, but no. Some Kirin-enhanced version of me thought each of them sounded juuust nifty.
I'd also like to erase half of those options and share only those that still appeal to me. Instead, I've opted for the path of greatest truthiness, and included even those better suited to a Harlequin novel:
1. Genevieve: A Dark Winter's Tale (2 votes)
2. Living Echoes (2 votes)
3. Nothing of Wishes (4 votes)
4. The Monster's Daughter (5 votes)
5. Down to Darkness (2 votes)
6. The Source of Silence (0 votes)
7. This Perfect Human Being (1 vote)
8. All the Sources of Tears (1 vote)
By this point, I'd already registered the book as Genevieve: A Dark Winter's Tale. I was tempted to keep calling it that, but had a change of heart somewhere before February 11, 2005, when I first referred to it--in email--as The Monster's Daughter.
I'm glad my friends had better sense than me.* At least I had the sense to listen to them, in the end!
Which would you have gone for?
* Speaking of sense? I'm totally gonna call my next novel Mermaids. And Stuff.
I love The Monster's Daughter, but maybe that's because I know that's the title you used! Regardless, I'm speaking as someone who doesn't really know much about your book--yet!--and The Monster's Daughter really intrigues me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for further confirmation! :) This reminds me of just about the only other time I've thought about the title in recent years. Right after I posted The Monster's Daughter on Kindle, a few strangers bought the book. I wondered aloud to a coworker, "Why would a stranger do such a thing?" My coworker laughed and said, "The cover is rad, and that title is bitchin'." I laughed in turn at this characterization and thought, maybe the title is neat! Quick on the uptake, that's me!
ReplyDeleteThe copy editor I hired after I decided to make TMD something other than a personal project had some good feedback: ". . . it's a very interesting story; certainly not the usual teen vampire story." She suggests I'll probably have her proposed revisions in hand tomorrow, which is an exciting thought indeed! *cheer*
Happy Saturday!