Q&A with Luanne G. Smith

From my Q&A with Luanne G. Smith, author of The Raven Spell: A Novel:

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

The Raven Spell was the second title we came up with. It was originally called The Raven Sisters, which worked well but had already been used by another 47North author. Titles aren’t copyrighted, so we could have used the original, but it would have infringed on another in-house author’s previous claim to the title. The Raven Spell is a good second choice. It hints at shadowy, dark magic and the ultimate secret the sisters are hiding. The follow-up in the duology is titled The Raven Song, which gives a nice balance.

What’s in a name?

There wasn’t a ton of consideration that went into choosing my main characters’ names. I wanted something very Victorian, very English for the sisters, hence Edwina and Mary. The cadence of the names together also lended itself to borrowing a well-known nursery rhyme, which opens the novel: Edwina and Mary, quite contrary. And then there’s old Tom Hob the elf who is named after...[read on]

Visit Luanne G. Smith's website.

Q&A with Luanne G. Smith.

--Marshal Zeringue