Finding a title

[Sarah]

Sarah McCraw Crow

POST #4: THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN: What’s in a title?

The working title for my novel was AFTER OLIVER, but when my novel got closer to submission, my agent (rightly) said we needed a title to convey a little more of what the book was about. I knew it should contain the word “woman,” but that’s about all. After much brainstorming with my agent, we agreed on THE YEAR OF THE WOMAN. But after the book sold, my editor’s first request was to find a different title. So after another round of brainstorming, we landed on the final title: THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN.

I like that the title raises questions: Just who, exactly, is this wrong kind of woman? Who is the right kind of woman? And who gets to decide?

At the beginning of the novel, Virginia feels like a failure, and an in-between kind of person. She doesn’t fit in with the faculty wives because she occasionally teaches at the college, and she doesn’t fit in with the handful of women faculty on campus, nicknamed the Gang of Four, because she never finished her dissertation and she’s mainly a wife and mom. After Oliver’s death, as she starts to become friends with Louise, Corinna, Helen, and Lily, her perspective changes. This is 1970, when many of the women’s rights we expect today—getting a mortgage or even a credit card without a husband’s signature, or getting to play sports in high school and college—didn’t exist. By the end of the novel, Virginia has a new understanding of herself, her daughter, her new friends, and her marriage.

I think the title THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN also refers to the expectations that the culture put on women—to be smart, but not too smart; ambitious but not too ambitious, etc.—fifty years ago. (And, many would argue, today.)

What kinds of book titles draw you in? Do you ever buy a book because of the title alone?

***If you’d like to read THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN, the ebook is on sale this week only, across all platforms—it’s just $2.99 until January 31!***