How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Michelle Ruiz Keil's website.
My second novel was a hard book to name. I wanted a title that was nostalgic, a little dreamy, that somehow held the liminal and the ordinary at once. I like the contrast between "city' and "roses" and the way that combination tells you about a city that might be something like a garden. I also like the way "summer” lets the reader know the scope of the story--one significant season. There was another title originally planned for the book. The only word that remains from the original is "in"--and that's an important one for me. I'm aiming for immersion in my mythic nineteen-nineties Portland summer--and a sense that one summer can change everything.
What's in a name?
Names are a significant part of my worldbuilding. I....[read on]
Q&A with Michelle Ruiz Keil.
--Marshal Zeringue
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