Title
24 September 2007
If you publish a novel entitled Labyrinth and follow it with a novel called Sepulchre, people will want to know if the title of the next one will also have nine letters and three syllables.
When Labyrinth was first mooted, there was more discussion than I thought there would be about whether or not people would be able to spell it. The same issue has raised its head with Sepulchre - although people asking how to pronounce it has been more common.
I think this touches on a central question in writing popular fiction - which is what I try to do. And it also touches on the whole dumbing down argument.
I think both titles are great. I don't know who suggested them at first - I, Greg, my agent or editor - or whether anyone needed persuading that they would work. But you could easily imagine someone doubting if they would capture the imagination of a book-shop browser.
But isn't an unusual word an interesting word?
Here's an example of two words, often used interchangeably, which have very different meanings. Someone who procrastinates is just taking their time while someone who prevaricates is looking for an advantage. That's an interesting distinction, isn't it?
In the case of Labyrinth, a key aspect of the story rides on the fact that a labyrinth is not like a maze - with many paths through it. A labyrinth - a proper labyrinth - is a single convoluted path.
In the case of Sepulchre, that is the appropriate name for the building at the centre of the action. I suppose you might call it a chapel, but that doesn't conjure the presence of the remains of the dead.
Then, of course, there is the wonderful Baudelaire poem - Sépulture - which was one of my very first inspirations for the plot ...
In the end, there are two considerations. The author must be comfortable with it and the publisher must believe that people will remember it. (Our daughter has a Saturday job at Waterstone's so she knows very well the frustration of trying to find a book for a customer who can't remember the author or the title.)
So I am for the unusual words, the subtle and surprising words, even if you don't hear them every day. The story stands or falls with the characters.
The title is just the label on the door into the Sepulchre.
