How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Sarah Tolmie's website.
If your book is set on an island — and explores what has been called “island knowledge” — you need the word island in the title. This book is set in the Aran islands, off the west coast of Ireland. There are three of them. This story imagines a fourth one: The Fourth Island. The title came to me early on. Various people suggested adding in “Aran” but I resisted. It seemed to me more evocative without it.
What's in a name?
Names are critical. They are critical in verisimilar or historical fiction (and there’s a lot of that in this book) and differently critical in fantastic fiction (and there’s a lot of that, too). In the first case you need plausibility and accuracy; in the second you need good sound. As a poet I am always fussy about how words and names sound. Names in this book are...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Island.
My Book, The Movie: The Fourth Island.
Q&A with Sarah Tolmie.
--Marshal Zeringue
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