The entry begins:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Robert Inman's website.
Place has always played a significant role in my storytelling. To a great extent, the setting of the story becomes a character. It influences who the human characters are, why they are where they are, and how they – and the place – interact.
The title Villages goes to the heart of the story. There are two villages: One is a war-blasted town in the Middle East where my central character, 21-year-old Jonas Boulware, is badly wounded performing a heroic act as a combat medic. Then there is the village of Copernicus, the small southern town where Jonas grew up, and to which he returns, altered in body and spirit, to try to get his life back together. Both places have a profound impact on his life, both before and after his traumatic war experience.
In the first draft of the novel, I simply titled it “Copernicus.” But it became clear that Copernicus was only half of the story. So, Villages. The title may be only a hint at the story...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: Villages.
My Book, The Movie: Villages.
Q&A with Robert Inman.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
