Activity

Hi everyone!

I’ve been overthinking rethinking the titles of my series. As most of y’all know, the series in question is a fantasy trilogy in a desert setting.

With that for context, onward to the titles.

The initial idea was:

1. The Tribe of Sand and Azure
2. The Assassins of Mountains and Moonlight
3. The Crowns of Blood and Thunder

There are several problems with these. Firstly, they’re quite a mouthful. Personally, I always refer to them by the book number because I can’t be bothered to type out the entire thing. Secondly, it’s a bit bland. I just don’t like it anymore. And I always feel slightly ridiculous while saying them XD Now, they were intended to be working titles, so that isn’t too much of an issue.

Now, as I’ve been thinking, I’ve come up with two more options for each.

The first ideas were:

1. Goldenblood
2. Shadowshards
3. Thundercrown

I kinda like these, but not a lot. The second one is my favorite, but the others are still a little bland.

Now, the second option, in a similar vein, but slightly to the left.

1. Gilded blood
2. Starless shards
3. Fractured Crown

All of these have some story significance. The first one refers to nobility, as did the previous first title. (Kind of like blue-blooded refers to aristocracy. Or whatever, it just sounded cool.) Well, Liorah’s a princess, she’s the protagonist. That one’s obvious.

What I like about the use of Gilded instead of Golden is that it implies a certain falseness, as though someone is trying to make the nobility seem better than they are. I’ll say no more, but it makes sense, story-wise. 😉

Now, I liked “Shadowshards” because shadows and light and darkness are kind of symbolic themes in the books. (For those of you in the Villian’s Character Castle, the assassins’ order that Chantara belongs to is often referred to as the Shadows.)

And the shard part is a bit more obscure, but in the book, I frequently describe Chantara (An antagonist who drives a lot of the second book) with words that imply sharpness. E.g. her laugh is described as ‘sounding like shattering glass’ (It makes no sense but it’s cool!!!) and her eyes are described as cracked aquamarine, things like that.  Also, it implies brokenness, which works well for the second book *Evil writers laugh*

I opted to include the ‘Starless shards’ alternative because it has an interesting contradiction. (Aren’t shards always starless? Why is that specifically stated?) It also implies darkness or shadows, and stars are frequently used to convey hope in symbolism, so it has a sense of hopelessness.

The third one was me messing around and coming up with that. I guess it also implies a falling kingdom, which sounds quite interesting?

Anyway, I call y’all here to help me out a bit. Which do you like best? Does anyone have any more suggestions? I need advice, any is welcome XD

Oh, and I also want to come up with a series name but the best title I can come up with is “Those books I’ve been spending literal years on and that still don’t have proper titles Chronicles” LOL XD

Tagging some people:

@this-is-not-an-alien

@joelle-stone

@olivia

@sparrowhawke

@obrian-of-the-surface-world