What's in a name?

One of the most frequent comments I hear about writing (other than how hard it is to get published) is that it is often really difficult to come up with titles for books and names for characters. Regularly this seems to be one of the last elements that writers add to their works and is often an area where authors will ask peers and readers for suggestions.

I have been fortunate to have been struck by inspiration every time that I have been searching for a title for a book, and on both occasions, I have stuck with my first idea 😉

Travels in a Tin Can named itself, as a story about a road trip spent largely in an RV that we called either ‘Harvey’(groan) or the ‘Tin Can’ the title required very little creativity and does what it says on the (tin)can.

My debut novel, Dare to Dream was, from memory, the working title I gave my initial scribbles back in 2007 and 15 years later it still felt appropriate – despite a minor wobble when I first self-published and was concerned it might be construed as a self-help guide, something that I hope readers of the blurb would quickly recognise as not being the case. The sequel, and third instalment of this series have also already got their titles…...no reveals just yet though.

As for character names, well Travels in a Tin Can is (mostly) non-fiction, so that was easy to sort. Dare to Dream doesn’t have many characters, so didn’t stretch my brain too far when I was assigning names. Most of the names are common, no Albus or Wednesday here, with Michael, Elizabeth and Steve taking centre stage a lot of the time. In Book 2 however, I may go a little wild, so watch this space for requests for inspiration!