A Rose By Any Other Name

Over the weekend, I was cleaning my office and reorganizing my notes. (When it comes to writing, I am an obsessive note taker.)



While I was going through my things, I came across my brainstorming sheet for titles of the Kanin Chronicles.



I knew right away that the series would be called The Kanin Chronicles, but naming the individual books took quite some time actually.



When I initially pitched the series to my publisher in early 2013, the books were called First Oath (which would become Frostfire ), Dark Marrow (which would become Ice Kissed), and Last Bastion (which would become Crystal Kingdom ).



It actually took me a very long time to come up with those names, but I wasn't completely in love with them. My editor Rose suggested changing them because they sounded more like high-fantasy titles, and since my books aren't high-fantasy, it didn't really suit them.



So the two of us spent a great deal of time trying to come with names. I always think it's interesting to hear what books and movies were almost called, so I thought I'd share with you some of the possible titles.




Book 1 - White Rabbit
Book 2 - Blue Blood
Book 3 - Black Heart or Black Knight






Book 1 - A Rabbit So White
Book 2 - A Heart So Blue
Book 3 - A Throne So Black






Book 1 - A Promise in White
Book 2 - A Betrayal in Blue
Book 3 - A Heart in Black



I was really going with colors there for a while. But then I also just threw singular names, the way I had with the Trylle and Watersong series.




Book 1 - Dynasty (which really is too 1980s soap opera to have ever worked)
Book 2 - Throne
Book 3 - Empire



And eventually, I just had words written down that weren't attached to any particular book:




Trothe
Liege
Betrayal
Treachery
Sedition
Covenant
Chicanery
Branded



Eventually, after much deliberation, we finally decided on Frostfire, Ice Kissed, and Crystal Kingdom, and I do think they fit the series best. What do you think? Do you have favorites?