Q&A with Peng Shepherd

From my Q&A with Peng Shepherd, author of The Cartographers: A Novel:

photo credit: Rachel Crittenden

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

Titles are so important to me. As a reader, I’ve bought books based off of just the title. It’s your first glimpse into the story, sometimes even before the book cover, and it sets the tone for everything. Even with a title as simple as The Cartographers, it already tells you that this book 1) is about maps or mapmaking, 2) probably has dark academia vibes, and 3) it’s also the name of a group of seven friends within the novel, so once you reach them in the story, you know that they’ll be a very important part of the plot.

Sometimes I come up with a title for my work in progress right away, and sometimes it comes later, but I will spend the entire drafting and revision process nitpicking my tentative choice and coming up with...[read on]

Visit Peng Shepherd's website.

Writers Read: Peng Shepherd (June 2018).

Q&A with Peng Shepherd.

--Marshal Zeringue