How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Katryn Bury's website.
This is such an interesting question, because what changed between my proposed title (Alone in the Universe) and the published title (We Are Not Alone) was as simple as the stakes. My original title told the reader a lot about how my main character, Sam Kepler Greyson, feels when the story starts. My editor thought—and now I agree—that we should tweak the title to indicate a spark of hope between how Sam feels at the beginning and the end. We’re introduced to Sam just after his best friend, Oscar, has died from cancer—but also after he goes into remission. Because he thinks that no other kid can possibly understand how he feels, he does feel very alone in the universe. But, upon finding Cat, he realizes that there may be others like him, who come to this feeling for their own reasons—and are also looking for...[read on]
Q&A with Katryn Bury.
--Marshal Zeringue
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