Q&A with Sarah McCraw Crow

From my Q&A with Sarah McCraw Crow, author of The Wrong Kind of Woman:

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

My novel’s title is The Wrong Kind of Woman, and I hope it raises a few questions, like “Who is this wrong kind of woman?” and “What does that phrase even mean?” and “Who gets to define the right kind of woman?” I think titles are difficult for many, if not most, writers—I went through long brainstorming lists with my agent and editor. My earliest titles referred to the fictional town (Westfield) and college campus (Clarendon College) where the novel is set, and to a character’s death (After Oliver), because my character Oliver dies on the first page. But none of those early titles took the reader into the story, because the story isn’t really about the campus, the town, or even Oliver. At its heart, The Wrong Kind of Woman is about Virginia, a 39-year-old widow, and her quest to...[read on]

Visit Sarah McCraw Crow's website.

Q&A with Sarah McCraw Crow.

--Marshal Zeringue