Today, multi-published author, Maddie James, is with us to promote her new release, BED, BREAKFAST & YOU. And when I think of Maddie, I always think of how many awesome romances she has written. So, I asked her something that had been on my mind in regard to those unforgettable books, hoping to pick the brain of one of my favorite authors...and this was her reply:
Renee: One of the great aspects of being an author, and writing those memorable characters our readers can fall in love with, is conjuring up the one brilliant title that makes the story complete. I've noticed that yours are both unique and well-chosen. How do you come up with and settle on that perfect title?
Maddie James: Oh, Renee, thank you for that! I often tell myself I come up with the lamest titles ever and never think they are worth two cents. Seriously, I always say to people, “I don’t do good title.” I always fret that the title will be changed by the publisher, thinking that it sucks. So, to hear you say I have unique and well-chosen titles, makes me puff up my chest a bit.
And we really don’t want Maddie puffing up her chest too much more. J She has quite enough “puff” as it is.
But I digress.
Titles. So, I’m reflecting here on recent ones. I had a great time coming up with the titles for The Matchmaking Chef series. (find out more about the series at
www.suziecooks.com) I mean, mixing food and love in a title? I’d like to say that the title Romancing the Scone, was an ingenious invention of mine, but I actually stole that from someone’s blog post. Better Than Chocolate? Oh, that one came from a co-worker. Hard Candy Kisses? Um, I have to give credit to Dolly Parton for that one. It’s a line in one of her songs. I sort of stole that one, too.
Okay, so what about the Blackbeard’s Chalice time-travel series. Hm. My titles for the trilogy didn’t fly with the publisher, so they were changed. This might be a good time to see what readers would think. My original title for The Curse, was Night Kiss. The original title for The Cult, was Night Sins. And for The Quest, was Night Rhapsody. I’m still on the fence about these changes. I’m mighty partial to my original titles, but I went along with the publisher, although reluctantly. What do you think? Which titles do you prefer?
Renee: I'm all about tying things together and I have to say, I prefer your original titles to the ones your publisher had chosen. Don't get me wrong, their titles were fine and did nothing to hurt your series, but I like when titles have the ability to grip you. Night Kiss, Night Sins, and Night Rhapsody took hold of me and pulled me into the series on the spot.
Maddie James: I have a new series coming out later this year, and I had fun with the titles of these three novellas. The series is called, Dead Guys Still Want It. The novella titles are Freshly Dead, Seriously Dead, and Gratefully Dead. (yes, there is a Grateful Dead connection) The series is quirky, southern-fried, and ghostly. I’m having fun with that one.
One of the titles I really love is for my recent release, Bed, Breakfast and You, a novella in the Ladies of Legend series I co-author with Jan Scarbrough, Magdalena Scott, and Janet Eaves. Since the heroine, Suzie owns a B&B, and since the hero is a chef, and since they do have breakfast (and other things) in bed, I thought the title was catchy enough to draw some attention. What do you think?
Here’s a little teaser for the story:
Suzie Schul has it all. A booming business, a wonderful town to live in, and, well, food. Yeah, she loves to cook and she’s the best darned cook in Legend, Tennessee. Everybody says so. She runs her own B&B, has published a cookbook, conducts cooking classes on Saturdays, and caters for special events and holidays.
What more could she want, really?
Nothing that she will admit, anyway. And let's not even think about that brief escape to Gatlinburg several months back when she had separated from her then-husband, Cliff. Or the fact that the man ran off with her little sister while they were, um, estranged. And let's definitely not bring to light that she'd never really revealed to anyone in the small town of Legend what exactly had happened between her and Cliff.
Or the fact that while she was off "finding herself" and "losing her husband" at the same time, she sort of, well, had a fling. But never mind about that, because "the fling" is long gone and likely doesn't even know where to find her. Besides, he was trouble.
And just when Suzie thinks all is well, TROUBLE rides up to her B&B doorstep on a bad-ass Harley and tosses her perfect little world into some kind of big, bad tumble.
You can find out more about the Ladies of Legend books at the Legend, Tennessee web site,
www.legendtennessee.com.
I’d love to hear readers thoughts about titles. Ones you love, or hate, and why--as well as what you think about some of mine. I’ll be giving away a digital copy of Bed, Breakfast and You to a luck commenter later today. Thanks for stopping by!
