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| photo credit: Greg Ehlers |
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Tanya Boteju's website.
Bruised started out as a working title, and for a while, my publisher was keen to see it changed to something else because they were worried it would bring up connotations of child abuse. However, as the novel came to its conclusion and we began to develop the cover art for the book, we all decided that Bruised would work out after all because the cover art made it clear that bruising was connected to roller derby.
It’s a very literal title, I suppose. Daya uses actual bruising in so many ways—to protect and punish herself, and to prove how strong she is. Bruising is also a significant side-effect of playing roller derby! Bruising felt like a strong anchor for me as I wrote the book, though—to always bring me back to why Daya does it, and how that physical sensation and the following feelings she experiences reflect...[read on]
Q&A with Tanya Boteju.
--Marshal Zeringue
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