Q&A with David Philip Mullins

From my Q&A with David Philip Mullins, author of The Brightest Place in the World:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I believe a good title grabs a reader’s attention without being too directive. I.e., I want a title to be interesting, compelling, poetic, maybe even a little flashy, and I want it to point to something in the novel. I want it to have subtext—layers and depth. But I don’t want the title to give away the story, or anything about it. A title that’s too on-the-nose is a bad title, no matter how poetic and interesting it may be. The Brightest Place in the World is a bit of a triple entendre, and it has that flashiness I referred to, or I hope it does. It points to the chemical-plant explosion that opens the narrative, but also to the city of Las Vegas—where most of the novel is set—which is in fact the brightest place in the world, from space, at night. The title also points to the ending of the novel, which...[read on]

Visit David Philip Mullins's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Brightest Place in the World.

Q&A with David Philip Mullins.

--Marshal Zeringue