Developing a Title - B K Walker - blog tour and contest

Please welcome B K Walker who is visiting my Blog as part of the ROMANCING THE  DARK SIDE Paranormal Book Tour. She's going to talk about a subject many of us find more difficult than writing the novel itself - THE TITLE!

I think this has to be the second worst thing in writing, editing being the first. Title creation does take some time and creative thinking. We want the title to be catchy, to make a reader think
 "What's this about?" If you were looking to buy a book, the first thing you look at is the cover, the second thing the title. If a title said something like, "The Life of Copper Dugan", that isn't so interesting, but if it read, "The Life and Times of Copper Dugan" or "Would the Real Copper Dugan Please Stand Up", now that's more likely to have the reader turning the book over to find out more.

So how do we authors come up with titles? It's a process, and sometimes we have the title before we even write the story, but that's a rare occasion, at least for me. Usually the title will come to us in an "Ahh hah" moment during the writing process. Other times, we have to work it out, sit down and really think about our story, what does it tell, what words would represent it best. 


Sometimes it's easy to come up with a title, other times it's mind boggling. For Night Secrets, it was easy to come up with the title as Night Secrets, a club in the story plays a significant role in the storyline. This is where a lot of the action takes place, not to mention that it's also a secret underground where vampires seek sanctuary. This making it the basis of all of the Night Secret books, it was an easy decision.

For Near Suicide, the main character was in such a turmoil that her entire life she thought about committing suicide, and when I revised this I just needed to think of something that also represented being Near Suicide, and with the cover I developed, Death Upon Me was what became close to tell what the story was.

Immortyl Kisses is based on the kiss of an immortal, and just to change it up a bit I changed the spelling.

Dares And Dreams, again was based on a bar in the book, where a lot of the action takes place. I have a tendency to lean towards a specific name in my storyline that I can create a decent title from.

I usually find something in my story that I can base a title on though. An overall theme that is both intriguing and telling of what the book is about. I will admit too, that I've even used a Title Generator. These are fun because it just randomly generates a title, and if I see one I like, and many times I do, I can pick one that best fits my story. The trick is for me, if it makes me want to find out more from a book, then most likely a reader would too.

Thanks so much for that, BK.  I can really relate to this, I find titles so difficult, although usually something pops into my head about half way through.  Thanks for guesting on my blog today, and wishing you many wales with 'Night Secrets', it sounds like a wonderful read.

Find BK Walker:

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1831525609

https://twitter.com/#!/bk36

www.vbtcafe.com

http://authorbkwalker.blogspot.com

http://www.immortylcafe.com

www.bkwalkerbooks.com

BK Bio:

BK Walker currently lives in Central Pennsylvania with her three children, Brittney, Hunter and Danny, her dogs Rancid, Sadie and Haven, a cat named Whiskers and a goldfish named Fat Albert. She has always had a love for reading and writing, even as a child she created stories reading them to her stuffed animals. With a love for vampires and werewolves, you will not be disappointed with her writing as she mixes up the paranormal juice. Aside from writing, BK also supports Indie Authors organizing virtual book tours, helping them to market and promote their work. Her book review site, BWB Reviews, is just another small way she contributes to the reading world. With many stories floating around in her head, she writes when she gets the time between working as a Pediatric Home Care Nurse, being a single mother, and continuing her college education in Graphic Art Design. When BK's not fighting with her muse, Mouthy Mary, who has much to say way too often, you will find her at a baseball game with her children, or relaxing with a good book in her hand.

Night Secrets Blurb:

Keara Crosby had the perfect life. Her family was not hurting for anything. When her parents are suddenly killed, Keara must learn to live without them. After mourning their death for two months, Keara starts to live again. She follows her favorite band, hangs with her best friend Jared, and falls for the new kid on the block.

When her favorite band is playing at Night Secrets, a new club downtown, she takes her first outing since her parents death and finds this mysterious boy watching her. Mesmerized by his lapus blue eyes, she can't help but feel drawn to him. Her body responds to him in ways she never thought possible, and she needs to figure out why. What is it about Channing that has her yearning for his touch?

Not only is Keara drawn to Channing, but the owner of Night Secrets seems to be drawn to her. Giving her special treatment, she can't help but wonder what he's hiding, and the sense she's seen him before. When she's attacked in the parking lot, her world turns inside out, literally. Keara will soon learn that secrets of the night, just may be the death of her.

Excerpt:

     Tonight was the night ‘Shot In The Dark 357’ would be playing at Night Secrets. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was downtown, so I drove around earlier today to see if I could find it.

     It was on the south side of town, in what used to be an old abandoned, run down factory. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere, I wondered how they thought they would make any business out here. They did fix it up nice though with the outside being black, with a shiny exterior that reflected like a mirror around the entire building. Painted on the left corner of the front, were the words ‘Night Secrets’, angled in a white ghostly script that dripped beneath each letter like wet paint from a paint brush.

     I couldn’t help but think how perfect the name was, as the whole place put off a secretive, seductive effect.

Tonight would be their grand opening. No wonder Buddha seemed so excited, they were the band chosen for the grand opening.  

     I rummaged through my closet looking for the perfect outfit. It would have to be black, to match the theme of the club. That seems to be all I wear anymore anyways.

Black.

     I settled for black jeans with a baby tee that sported ‘SITD 357’ in florescent green, with my new Buddha hoodie. I straightened my hair, pulled money from my wallet along with my ID to place in my back pocket. Doing a quick turn around in the mirror, satisfied, I headed to the club.

     Jamison met me at the bottom of the stairs, holding my keys. “Thank you Jamison.”

     “Anytime Miss Keara.” He grinned.  

     I smiled and kissed his cheek. “Don’t wait up.” 

     Pulling into the club I couldn’t believe all the people surrounding the building. The parking lot was full, people lined up from the door of the club, down to the street corner. It was going to take forever to get inside.

     I drove around in circles for fifteen minutes before I finally found a parking space and pulled in, centering my car perfectly between two others. Turning off the Jeep, nervousness swarmed me. I wished Jared could have come. Jared had made plans to go to dinner with Russell though and he was going to try and stop in before the night was over.

     I anxiously looked around the parking lot, pausing on my rear view mirror. ‘Him’. What is he doing here? Our eyes locked in my mirror. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter than before in the moonlight and again I couldn’t bring myself to look away. He was beautiful.

     Demanding my eyes to blink, which took extreme effort it was almost like being hypnotized by ‘him’. When I reopened my eyes, he was gone. I took a steadying breath wondering if I imagined it, then departed from my car to wait in that dreadful line.

     There was a lot of excited chatter in the long line. Everyone was waiting in anticipation, not knowing what to expect once they got inside and a lot of talk on how great it looked from the outside.

     I stood there listening in to a couple of girls, watching their reflections through the building. Feeling someone grab my arm I turned sharply to see who it was, meeting dark eyes.

     “I’m sorry. I thought you were my girlfriend.” He was my height with long dark brown hair, a go tee, and silver hoops in his ears. His voice was deep, mysterious with an edge to it.

     “It’s okay.” I answered, eyes wide with surprise. After several seconds, he loosened his grip on my arm, looking around in search of his girlfriend. Watching him walk away, feeling bad he had lost her in this treacherous line, I noticed he kept glancing back at me causing a bit of unease in my gut. Why does he keep looking at me? He already established I wasn’t her.

     “Keara!” I heard my name being called. I looked to see where Buddha was, already recognizing the Irish

tone.

     “Hey Buddha.” I yelled back, raising my hand.      “Aye. Come on girl. Yer comin’ wit me.” He grabbed

my hand and led me inside. “Wait till ya see this place. It so grand.” He said with enthusiasm.

     Following behind him, I realized I’d probably follow Buddha to the ends of the earth. As long as he had his drums.

     We walked past a bouncer checking ID’s at the door. Very very tall, an obvious well built body builder his arms were huge, the muscles bulging from under the sleeves of his tee. He was wearing dark glasses and I wondered how he could see in this darkness. He gave Buddha a nod as we passed by.

     “He didn’t even ask to see my ID Buddha.” I whispered.

     “He'd be a weird one. I 've not ’eard em speak much.” Buddha whispered back.

     We walked through the main doors into an entry way coming to a narrow hall, coat racks lining each side. There were several doors on either side of the hall after the coat racks, with tinted double glass doors at the end.

That’s where we were heading.

     Buddha opened the door and stood off to the side waiting for me to pass. I smiled at him, “Thank you.”

“It’s me pleasure. Wait till ya see this bloody place Keara.”

     I couldn’t believe it. This place was beautiful. You would never know it was an old factory the way it looks now. As soon as you walked through the doors, you could hear music playing. A mild classic rock, not too loud, yet not too low you couldn’t hear it at all. In the very front of the room, just past the doors, were a set of stairs, leading to a circular bar. The bar was shiny and black, and sat about five feet off the ground floor. The platform that surrounded the bar was big enough to have five people standing next to each other with their arms outstretched and was full of people.

     There were tables on the ground floor, all stationed to be able to see the stage that was off to the back. The floors were glossy black, with the words Night Secrets in the center with the ghostly dripping effect as on the outside of the building. The stage too was black, with the white letters again against the back wall.

     This was just the ground level. As I looked up, there were three more levels of floors, all able to overlook the stage. It was almost like a cell block, without the cells. 

Each level had a railing to keep patrons from falling, and there were people hanging on them looking down to the ground floor. Large screen televisions hung on the wall and from the ceiling, displaying the video to the song that was playing.

     I was in complete awe. It was beautiful, shiny and new. “It’s amazing.” I managed after realizing Buddha

was staring at me.

     “I told ya. Ya wer n’t gonna believe this here place. It’s purdy awesome eh?”

     “I don’t think there are words to describe it Buddha. It must have cost a fortune!”

     “I’m sure it did. I ‘ave n’t met tha owner yet, but I ‘ear he’s purdy extravagant.”

     I continued to look around. This place was just too amazing. I have never seen anything so….amazing.

Wow. Just wow.

     Buddha excused himself to go get sound checked. Wandering around like a kid in a candy store, wanting to see everything they had, I went up the first flight of stairs to the next level. The stairs were cement, but had black carpet lining them. At the top of the stairs, the walls were of that mirrored black like outside. A bar centered in the middle, in the shape of a horseshoe and the floors were shaped in a half moon, with stairs at each end. There were several doors again off the back wall, and tables lined up in between the doors. Black stools lined the bar.

Again the bar was shiny black, and this time I could see that Night Secrets was engraved in the wood of the

bar, which was stained black, the letters stained white, and a clear lacquer finish on top. Behind the bar were

mirrors, and in front of the mirrors were shelves lined with liquor.

     The bartender here was built much like the bouncer at the door. His hair was black, his skin was pale, and

he too wore dark sunglasses. What was up with the sunglasses? How can they see? It’s just as dark in here

as it is outside. Weird. 

GIVEAWAY

 BK WALKER has kindly offered two e-copies of  Night Secrets, for two lucky winners. Please be sure to include your email with your comment comment to be included in the draw. Also, every comment throughout entire tour will be entered into the  grand prize giveaway for a new Kindle. You can find the entire 'Romancing The Dark Side' schedule at www.vbtcafe.com