Determining a title for my Christmas novella was a whole process in and of itself. And while I know everyone has their own way of going about creative projects, I have mine. And while I’m like, “No one wants to hear about this,” I have a friend who quizzed me about my process and informed me that she finds it fascinating.
So here I am, hoping that she’s not the only one!
Determining a Title: Christmas Novella 2020
When I set about determining a title for this Christmas novella, I had very little to go off of! In fact, I think I barely knew my ideas for the story yet…or the characters. But I needed to supply a title and a one-paragraph novella synopsis. Cue the stress.
In all of my previous experiences of writing stories, I’ve never had my own designated writing space where I could thoroughly spread out my creative vision. But this time, it’s different. This time, I have a little hidey hole of an apartment that I absolutely adore. It’s quirky, and small. But to me, it’s my little slice of heaven. And so with that, I knew that I needed to create the scene within my very own apartment.
I flipped on my twinkle lights, turned out my glaring overhead lights, and taped up images from magazines that inspired me. I printed out photos from my own times exploring the Vienna Christmas markets with my friends six years ago, and maybeeee I was listening to Christmas music. Shush, you.
What I love is that I could create this vision wall of inspirational images (places, people, pretty things) right behind/beside my lovely L-shaped desk (thank you, dad, for making this desk dream a reality).
Then, with a cup of tea on hand, I got down to brainstorming.
And that looked like a lot of little pieces of papers, lots of scratched out words, … Thesaurus.com visits…and Pinterest ponderings as well.
Oh, it was delightful and hilarious and giggle-inducing. I think I spent 2-3 hours on the brainstorming before I started to text people for help.
Yup, that’s right.
I called in backup. My brain was mush. And my brain was getting caught up on Christmas fruitcake, eggnog, and elves. Thankfully, I’ve got some great friends who not only were excited to brainstorm but also are so supportive of this creative venture.
Ten years ago, I thought that a book was a completely solo process. I thought I had to suffer alone–to create the perfect finished project all alone. NOT TRUE. And honestly, it’s so much more delightful to invited interested friends into the creative process. Suddenly, I’m not in this alone. Sometimes I have a gut instinct on a name or idea, but having it bounced around with the right kind of people just solidifies it.
And that’s what happened with the Christmas novella title.
YES, this is soo interesting! Whenever I read books as a child, I’d skip the acknowledgements at the end because I clearly didn’t know those people anyways. Since I started reading them as a way to finish the journey of the author with the book, I began to understand how writing a book is not a solo activity at all! I love how you experience this special closeness with friends in the process of creativity.
A second thought: Setting the atmosphere for the book in your working space, I’d never come up with that! So lovely and thoughtful 🙂 Much love to you!
I did the same thing — skipping the acknowledgments. Now, I rarely do because I realize the community that makes each book possible! And yes, I love my little themed desk space!