Re-Visiting Starfire: What's in a Title?
Galactic Lore - Starfire - The Mending: Book 1
That's quite a mouthful for a title, and has raised some questions as to what the "real' title of the book is from time to time.
But maybe that's because the title took a circuitous route to being created. And in honor of that I'll start in the middle.
Starfire, the official title for this book wasn't it's first. During the earliest days of brainstorming and story discovery it was simply "Rathe's Tale". Mostly because I didn't know what the Macguffin for his journey would be. I knew I wanted it to be an object of power. But when I finally settled on the Starfire as the ultimate goal, the end title was just a no-brainer. Sure it doesn't imediately bring visions of weapon wielding dinosaurs to mind, but it does have a good air of adventure and science fiction goodness.
With Starfire taking over the main title spot, Rathe's Tale fell to being the series header for a long time. It was a nice enough series title during the time of writing, and I think I actually prefer it (possibly for sentimental reasons) to the current title of The Mending. The new title was a late change to the book, and I think happened during the contracting period or shortly after. I felt at the time that Rathe's Tale was possibly too bland and didn't evoke any real connection to the events of the story. So in a rather quick decision I changed the series title. And thus it stands! The Mending fits with the big picture events happening during the books it will encompass, to an extent (as referenced in the prophecy at the start of the book) so it can still work, it's just rather cryptic and a bit odd.
Finally, Galactic Lore. This is the oldest part of the title as it's not so much a descriptor of the book as it is a label of the mythos the novel takes place in. I started using the tag Galactic Lore during my college days as an over-arching label for everything I was creating for most of my stories. Think of it as a header like Star Wars or Dragonlance. It's there to let readers know what universe the story belongs to and what they can expect from the settings. Of course it doesn't really work with just one book out, but there are plans... (Galactic Lore - Downfall, Galactic Lore - Sojourn, Galactic Lore - Heroes of the Shattered Mountains, Galactic Lore - Gateweaver... and too many more to list). So if my plans for 2013 go through, you'll see the Galactic Lore mythos expanding in ways you may not have been expecting. And I'll have to get a proper logo created.
So there you go, more than you ever wanted to know about the title to my first novel. Next time I'll get past the cover and into the actual story.
And I'll leave you for the evening with my wife's favorite Saurian phrase:
Nirt dine!
-------
Active Projects:
Short Story: Beloved Voice - Current Word Count: 142
Novel: Downnfall - The Mending Book 2 - Current Word Count:8,722
But maybe that's because the title took a circuitous route to being created. And in honor of that I'll start in the middle.
Starfire, the official title for this book wasn't it's first. During the earliest days of brainstorming and story discovery it was simply "Rathe's Tale". Mostly because I didn't know what the Macguffin for his journey would be. I knew I wanted it to be an object of power. But when I finally settled on the Starfire as the ultimate goal, the end title was just a no-brainer. Sure it doesn't imediately bring visions of weapon wielding dinosaurs to mind, but it does have a good air of adventure and science fiction goodness.
With Starfire taking over the main title spot, Rathe's Tale fell to being the series header for a long time. It was a nice enough series title during the time of writing, and I think I actually prefer it (possibly for sentimental reasons) to the current title of The Mending. The new title was a late change to the book, and I think happened during the contracting period or shortly after. I felt at the time that Rathe's Tale was possibly too bland and didn't evoke any real connection to the events of the story. So in a rather quick decision I changed the series title. And thus it stands! The Mending fits with the big picture events happening during the books it will encompass, to an extent (as referenced in the prophecy at the start of the book) so it can still work, it's just rather cryptic and a bit odd.
Finally, Galactic Lore. This is the oldest part of the title as it's not so much a descriptor of the book as it is a label of the mythos the novel takes place in. I started using the tag Galactic Lore during my college days as an over-arching label for everything I was creating for most of my stories. Think of it as a header like Star Wars or Dragonlance. It's there to let readers know what universe the story belongs to and what they can expect from the settings. Of course it doesn't really work with just one book out, but there are plans... (Galactic Lore - Downfall, Galactic Lore - Sojourn, Galactic Lore - Heroes of the Shattered Mountains, Galactic Lore - Gateweaver... and too many more to list). So if my plans for 2013 go through, you'll see the Galactic Lore mythos expanding in ways you may not have been expecting. And I'll have to get a proper logo created.
So there you go, more than you ever wanted to know about the title to my first novel. Next time I'll get past the cover and into the actual story.
And I'll leave you for the evening with my wife's favorite Saurian phrase:
Nirt dine!
-------
Active Projects:
Short Story: Beloved Voice - Current Word Count: 142
Novel: Downnfall - The Mending Book 2 - Current Word Count:8,722
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