How do you name ten books in a series?
When I started writing the Wynter Wild books, a stream-of-consciousness half-million words covering several years of her life and written out of order, I knew early on that it would be a long series. So the necessity of naming the books in some sort of coherent manner was an issue I dealt with early on.
I wanted titles that played on a single theme, but I hadn’t decided what that theme would be. I jotted down endless ideas using themes from the story – not only music, but also “threads” (a recurring theme relating to broken or frayed threads, and of course braiding of hair and bracelets), lines from classic folk songs, matching words relating to family, and others.
Having decided on music, I brainstormed phrases and then matched them up with the relevant books. The later titles weren’t finalized until the earlier ones were already published, since those plots weren’t fully developed yet, but I had a list to select from.
Here’s my reasoning for each title – and a trip down memory lane for those readers who have stuck with the series until book 10. Book title links take you to pages on the Wynter Wild Wiki, which includes spoilers.
Continue reading “Naming a Ten-Book Series”