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Hit me two nights ago like a freight train. Editor loves it and has given thumbs up. Hope you all like it too as it is the most appropriate title which not only suits book 3 but summarises and brings together the trio.
DESTINY

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Good for you! I like that.

"> Its positive, but mysterious.

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Sounds good!
And August is when we can expect it?? Not that I'm trying to rush you or anything...

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Does it bother you at all Fiona, that some of your artistic decisions are based on things like, how many letters are in the title and the letter it starts with? I was sort of thinking about it. I mean, I wonder what CS Lewis' Narnia series would have for titles if he had to make them that way...
The Lion and the Closet
Voyage of Tred
A Chair
Is it annoying at all? If number of letters and stuff didn't matter what would the title be for you?
Tolkien got to title some of his books with multiple titles...
The Hobbit
or
There and Back Again
Is it frustrating that marketing is overbearing on some decisions? I mean, in the one sense if a book is good then the title is not so much important so let them have the final say, yet in the other sense, if its the book that's important why can't the artist have the stronger say?
It sounds like they listen to you, but it also sounds like a lot of effort is being put into something for oddball reasons, like the number of letters. Maybe the title should rather... have the most to do with the plot!

I have not yet begun to procrastinate!
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No, I've stopped being twitchy about it. Good or bad, a book these days survives on marketing. Covers are SO important to get it going and so long as I'm still in the bracket of "new novelist", they are critical to potential success. Hobb, Feist, Douglass, GGKay etc could write on toilet paper and call their books "X" and we'd still rush out and buy them eager to read. But I must do my time. If Trinity is a good seller and word gets around, naming of next series won't be quite as critical because the readership is established. Right now my whole success as a fantasy writer depends on these three books - I know that sounds a bit dramatic - but publishing these days, like any big business, is ONLY about dollars. If I don't sell, I don't get a new contract (with any publisher because it's a very small world). Betrayal - art, title, mood of cover, etc set the tone. The others had to follow and perhaps it helps that I come from a very strong marketing background anyway, so recognise the important of continuity and not being too rigid. At the end of the day, I've got my way in all three titles - they were my choice but I just had to work hard to find them. Perhaps also they sound better than Betrayal, Resurrection, Epiphany which were the original working titles.
Mind you...I've already formally named each book of the next series and got zillions of letters in each as a special safeguard!
Thanks for liking Destiny.
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I think I see it better now. Thats a good attitude. You see the marketing for what it is, and you work extra hard to give them what they want but have it also be yours. I suppose you could just sit back and say 'yeah sure name it that' but you obviously put a lot of work into coming up with your own idea that they would accept.

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That's right, BB. I could have just let them name it Reunion knowing in my heart it was not the perfect name and would have regretted it in years to come. It's important to strive for what you want without getting too feisty or difficult to work with. I just said "let's keep working at it - I know I'll find it." And yes, we have to accept that marketing permeates every part of our lives including the very precious manuscript we have sweated over. And marketing covers everything from the obvious to the more hidden things like suddenly having to go from being a "behind the scenes person" who likes privacy and a very quiet life to being some sort of showman. No one tells you how. No one even presumes that you would not want to stand up in front of 50 strangers on a busy Christmas shopping weekend in the middle of a huge store with a microphone and start talking cold to them about your book. It's vile but it's marketing/PR and it's essential ... and when on that day I found the courage to leave my bathroom (comfort zone when under pressure) and put myself in front of the lions, the book sold out. That was all about marketing myself now, not the book - complete strangers bought the book and got me to sign it because they had met me, listened to what I had to say, asked questions, got involved in conversation and suddenly felt as though they knew me.
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Eeeegads Fiona. More power to you. That must have been tough but very satisfying once you got through it and found you had some kickass stuff in you that you hadn't realized was there. Good for you!

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Thanks...I did feel a sense of real achievement afterwards because I had conquered some sort of private mountain having fought off its demons!