Thanks for the Substack links to 100 Rejections Club! Something to consider with possible titles: What other published books have similar or the same words in the title or subtitle? On Bookshop.org, I found many books titled BOOKENDS (with and without subtitles), several niche publications with BOOK ENDS, and some risqué books called PROMISCUOUS READING, which was my fav. Though WATERSIDE ROAD doesn't float my boat (sounds kinda British historical fiction?), a good cover image could help convey the meaning. When you read the manuscript aloud, you might just hear some words that align with the themes of the old friendship repaired or relationships. Oh! I just plugged in "old friendship repaired" and "book bans" into an AI book title generator, which came up with: "Bridging the Pages: Rekindling Friendships in the Wake of Book Bans" (!?!) Too long, sounds like CNF, but BRIDGING THE PAGES could be useful? Good luck!
Oh! I really like TURNING PAGES, very visual, gets to old friendship repaired theme, implicit nod to book bans that could be made explicit within a scene in the manuscript (book banner frantically turning pages trying to find the "bad" example at a public meeting or some such)... There are a half dozen nonfiction books on Bookshop.org with the title and one (YA?) romance from 2012, but your novel would so easily stand apart from all of them. Plus, for some reason, I keep thinking of the 1977 film The Turning Point, featuring fisticuffs (slapfest?) between Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.
Titles are THE HARDEST. I just met with a few other women writers yesterday and suggested to all of them that they rethink their titles. Sometimes we need a title as a placeholder for ourselves that we become attached to but that doesn't serve the book. Each of those titles you suggested for your book have pros and cons. The Bookends/Book Ends titles seem to cutesy for the material. I also like Waterside Road but had no idea what that was until you explained. I definitely lean toward that one because it's more oblique but when you get it, you get it.
Caveat: I’m horrible at titles too but I like Waterside Road and Bookends. I enjoy reading books where the title is not obvious at first but then is revealed somehow in the text. Nice work!
Thanks for the Substack links to 100 Rejections Club! Something to consider with possible titles: What other published books have similar or the same words in the title or subtitle? On Bookshop.org, I found many books titled BOOKENDS (with and without subtitles), several niche publications with BOOK ENDS, and some risqué books called PROMISCUOUS READING, which was my fav. Though WATERSIDE ROAD doesn't float my boat (sounds kinda British historical fiction?), a good cover image could help convey the meaning. When you read the manuscript aloud, you might just hear some words that align with the themes of the old friendship repaired or relationships. Oh! I just plugged in "old friendship repaired" and "book bans" into an AI book title generator, which came up with: "Bridging the Pages: Rekindling Friendships in the Wake of Book Bans" (!?!) Too long, sounds like CNF, but BRIDGING THE PAGES could be useful? Good luck!
:-) Bridging the Pages—maybe something about Turning Pages? Flipping Pages?
I need to add my rejections to the 100 Rejections Club. I have two already. :-(
Oh! I really like TURNING PAGES, very visual, gets to old friendship repaired theme, implicit nod to book bans that could be made explicit within a scene in the manuscript (book banner frantically turning pages trying to find the "bad" example at a public meeting or some such)... There are a half dozen nonfiction books on Bookshop.org with the title and one (YA?) romance from 2012, but your novel would so easily stand apart from all of them. Plus, for some reason, I keep thinking of the 1977 film The Turning Point, featuring fisticuffs (slapfest?) between Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.
Ah, I loved The Turning Point! The old resentments simmering and boiling over!
Titles are THE HARDEST. I just met with a few other women writers yesterday and suggested to all of them that they rethink their titles. Sometimes we need a title as a placeholder for ourselves that we become attached to but that doesn't serve the book. Each of those titles you suggested for your book have pros and cons. The Bookends/Book Ends titles seem to cutesy for the material. I also like Waterside Road but had no idea what that was until you explained. I definitely lean toward that one because it's more oblique but when you get it, you get it.
That’s what I was originally thinking—that when the reader knows what it means, it will be “of course!” Thanks for reading!
Caveat: I’m horrible at titles too but I like Waterside Road and Bookends. I enjoy reading books where the title is not obvious at first but then is revealed somehow in the text. Nice work!
I do too—I like realizing what the title means.