Saturday, October 12, 2024

Q&A with Eugenie Montague

From my Q&A with Eugenie Montague, author of Swallow the Ghost: A Novel:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I like what my super-smart and talented friend and writer, Brendan Park, has to say about titles: that they should open up rather than shut down, evoke, rather than diagnose. And, actually, he suggested the title here. I had originally chosen another title, and my (also super-smart and talented) editors encouraged a change. When I mentioned that I needed a new title to Brendan, he recommended "swallow the ghost," which came from a line in the book. The specific sentence the title comes from did not make it into the final book, but I think Swallow the Ghost is a title that begins to make sense within the context of the novel and that it works on both plot and thematic levels....[read on]
Visit Eugenie Montague's website.

Q&A with Eugenie Montague.

--Marshal Zeringue