How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Catherine Ryan Hyde's website.
I really ask only one thing from a title, and that’s to represent the emotional heart of the story. I never questioned the title of Brave Girl, Quiet Girl. I never tried on other titles. From the moment Molly began chanting the phrase to the found baby girl, as they are hiding in a hole under some flattened cardboard boxes beneath a freeway overpass, I knew it had the right feel. And when Molly gets stressed nearly to the breaking point and the toddler starts chanting the same phrase back to her to calm her… well, that’s what I mean by the emotional heart of a story. If you listen, as the author, you can hear it beating.
I’ve noticed that people who haven’t read the book are curious about the title. There are two girls on the cover, one big and one little. People express curiosity about...[read on]
Q&A with Catherine Ryan Hyde.
--Marshal Zeringue
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