Title change

I called my original novel RISE but I think on some level I knew it would have to change.  Titles are something I kind of dread trying to come up with, and RISE went through five or six before I settled on that but even then I wasn’t sure.  The publisher contacted my agent to ask about a possible title change and he forwarded the question to me.

While I was never really happy with the title I picked, this did put me in the awkward position of having to come up with another one, something I am notoriously bad at.  The publisher suggested the title REVIVORS, which I initially, internally balked at but it has since grown on me.  I think REVIVORS is more eye-catching than RISE and the book (actually the entire series) revovles around them so it’s fitting that the first book in the series take their name.

The point is this; I renamed the character of Nico Wachalowski too.  For a long, long time he was something else.  Then I decided I didn’t like it.  It didn’t feel right.  I like the new name much better but sometimes still think of him with the old name when I’m trying to work out outlines or something.  When I told one of my test readers what the old name was, they said ‘that was fine, why did you change it?’  I think if the order of the name change had been reversed, I would have gotten the same response.  I think Nico’s name doesn’t matter as much as him being an interesting and engaging character.

The same goes for the book itself.  I want people to pick it up, especially as a first novel, because the rest won’t matter if no one reads it.  The original title, I think, would not help achieve that end.  Letting go, I’m finding, is a big part of writing; letting go of that scene, or even that character that you loved but just doesn’t fit.  Letting go of that killer line that just wouldn’t have come from that character’s mouth.  Letting go of that awesome idea you were sure everyone would love as much as you did, but the truth was it just didn’t fit the story.  If it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t fit, then it has to go.

Long story short; RISE is no more.  It is now REVIVORS.