Today, I’m excited to have JQ Rose guesting on Books and Bones. She talking about names (egad! I’m horrible at those) and her brand-spanking new mystery, Coda to Murder. Take it away, JQ…
Hello, Tess. Thanks for inviting me to stop at Books and Bones on the book tour for my 
mystery/romance, Coda to Murder.
Readers, thanks so much for visiting with us. Please remember to leave a comment to enter the random drawing for prizes at the conclusion of the book tour on March 22.
What’s in a Name? by J.Q. Rose
March 7 is my second daughter’s birthday. Thirty years ago we had to pick out a girl’s name and a boy’s name because there were no ultrasound to discover the gender of the baby.
Choosing a name for a precious little bundle entering this world is a daunting task. Sorting through all the names you do not want is easy. Remember that girl who was your nemesis all through school? Definitely cannot name my baby Judy. How about that geeky boy who always reminded the teacher she forgot to assign us homework? Donald is definitely crossed out. How about family names? If my mom had stuck to the idea of naming me after her and my grandmother, I could have been Beulah Dorothy. Thank goodness she chose middle names instead. Janet Lee.
We chose Lee for our daughter because the name has gone through four generations. Little did I realize until her six week check-up, she could be mistaken for a boy named Lee. When the nurse called me into the doctor’s office, she asked how “he” was doing? He? I had to inform her of course that she was a girl named Lee. After that I worried about that name choice.
Choosing a title for a book is just about as harrowing as choosing a name for a kid. How do you figure out the whole story and tie it together with just the right name? Coda to Murder was nameless until I was ready to write the query letter to the publisher. I always referred to the story as Pastor Christine, the main character.
Since Pastor Christine is an accomplished organist and the person murdered in the story is the Director of Music at the church, I decided to use a musical term in the title. Crescendo? Staff line? Treble clef?
I chose Coda because, according to dictionary.com, coda means “anything that serves as a concluding part.” Murder is pretty much a concluding part or ending of life.
Since the book has been out, I feel like I made a mistake using Coda to Murder because when I say the word coda, folks not into musical terms don’t understand it and others hear it as Coded to Murder. Sigh…I felt the same way when the nurse thought Lee was a boy. I just take a deep breath and correct them.
If you are a writer, how do you choose a title for your work in progress? If you are a reader, how much does the title influence your interest into looking into a book?
TAGLINE: Pastor Christine Hobbs never imagined she would be caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.
BLURB: Pastor Christine Hobbs has been in the pulpit business for over five years. She never imagined herself caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.
Detective Cole Stephens doesn’t want the pretty pastor to get away with murdering the church music director. His investigative methods infuriate Christine as much as his deep brown eyes attract her.
Can they find the real killer and build a loving relationship based on trust?
BUY LINKS:
Now available at MuseItUp Publishing- http://tinyurl.com/anax9x7
Amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/ap376tb
Barnes and Noble.com and major online booksellers.
BIO- After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction writing with her first published novella, Sunshine Boulevard, released by MuseItUp Publishing in 2011. Her latest mystery, Coda to Murder, was released in February. Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. Spending winters in Florida with her husband allows Janet the opportunity to enjoy the life of a snowbird. Summer finds her camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.
Connect with J.Q. Rose online at
J.Q. Rose blog http://www.jqrose.com/
Girls Succeed blog http://girlssucceed.blogspot.com/
Author website http://jqrose.webs.com/
J. Q. Rose Amazon Author Page http://tinyurl.com/aeuv4m4
Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/jqrose
Pinterest http://pinterest.com/janetglaser/
Tess Grant 
Hey Tess, thanks so much for hosting me on Books and Bones. Looking forward to a great visit with you and your readers.
Happy to have you here, JQ! As I mentioned above, names are a tough one for me. Don’t even ask me about the struggle to name our kids. If we’d had boys, they’d still be nameless. 🙂 I can pick main character’s names fairly easily but secondary names always sound a lot like the main character’s name. I’m not much better at titles, although I am pleased to say my new WIP has a new title as of yesterday–Reservoir.
Thanks for being here and Happy Birthday to Lee.
I like Reservoir…I’ll need a dictionary everytime I write it though!!
Great post. Interesting about your daughter’s name. I wanted to be a boy as a child but I didn’t get a name anything close to a boy’s.
Wendy
W.S. Gager on Writing
You could have been Wendell! Oy! Thank goodness, it’s Wendy. 🙂
We did have a family friend who had three boys I played baseball with and he actually had called me Wendell my entire life. Gotta love him!
Wendy
So glad you are a girl, Wendy. I bet you were a tomboy like me. I wanted Roy Rogers pistols for Christmas, no dolls! Thanks for stopping in.
Thanks, Wendy. I wanted Lee because I like having the link to the family. Originally my grandmother, from Arkansas, was named Beulah Lee after Robert E. Lee. When I told my Lee Ann that, she was so proud! She included Lee as her first son’s middle name too.
Tess, you have a lovely blog! JQ, this book sounds like a delightfully entertaining read. I love the title, and your reason for choosing Coda (yes, I knew its musical meaning). Choosing titles can be annoying, but we do need them. At times, I have a title in mind before I start a story. Most times, I wait for the book to reveal its title to me. No worries, it always does. I wish you great success with Coda to Murder, and with all your wonderful writing!
Thank, Pat! Believe me, Coda is a fun read. I love that tag line (along with the pig)!
Me too. I giggle almost every time. I wonder what readers imagine..LOL.
Hi Pat. I don’t obsess over titles or character names either. I like how you said you wait for the book to reveal its title. I love the titles you have chosen for your books. especially Glancing Through the Glimmer. Very catchy!
Hey, JQ. A fellow MIPer here. I’ve got your book, but confess I haven’t started it yet. Been focused on getting my new blog up and running. I’m terrible with names for characters and books. I check out the obits for names. Someone about the same age as my character. I have a good friend who Googles the year and favorite names to pick names for her characters. And she’s one of those who has the title first off. I put something up there and keep pecking the computer keys. Except for my 6th book. It was my 6th book for 2 years (I didn’t work solely on it during that time–LOL). Finally, I hit on a title.
My middle name is Lee and after hating it most of my life (I think because I mostly heard it when I was in trouble–that Marsha Lee meant I’d messed up.) I made it to my first daughter’s middle name. Her first name was from a character in a Socttish hystorical that I don’t remember now, but was excellent. She gave her daughter my mother’s name. It was a very specail and emotional time in my life.
Well, you gave me lots to think about, JQ, but I better get to work.
Hey Marsha Lee, thanks for getting my book. I understand completely not having an opportunity to read it yet. I have several on my Kindle too..Checking out the obits for names…hmmm…that’s an idea for sure. When I was a kid, I was always Janet Lee to everyone. My relatives still call me Janet Lee…!! I love your family using family names. I think it gives them a sense of their roots. Okay, now get to work! !!
I never had problems picking my kids’ names. It was convincing my husband that he liked them that was the problem.
Character names are another story. I am three-quarters of the way through the first draft of my next book and no one has last names and the hero’s dad has no name at all. Thankfully, I can call him Dad quite often.
Hi Joselyn, I didn’t realize until I started this book tour that some of my characters have no last names either! Ella, Lacey…Remember them? Thanks for stopping in!
I had sort of unisex names before my kids were born. ha ha, Lynn and Leslie. At that time, honest, they were unisex names. Love the premise of your book JQ. It’s on my TBB (To be bought) list.
Hey Lorrie, now that is pretty clever to have unisex names. But honestly, nowadays parents find out if it’s a girl or boy so they can decorate the nursery and pick out the names. Evidently Kate Middleton knows her baby’s gender, but not telling…!! Thank you so much for stopping in and for putting my book on your TBB list!
Thanks everyone for a lively discussion on names. And big thank you to Tess for hosting me. Enjoyed your hospitality. Next time it’ll be my turn to bring the coffee!!
Hi JQ! I can relate to your working title of “Pastor Christine.” I always seem to call my stories by the main character’s name until they’re nearly (or totally) complete. Until I have the total picture of the narrative (which, for me, doesn’t happen until at least halfway through a story), I have no idea what to name it!
Me too! Hence the title Renny for Reservoir and Kitty for the trilogy.
HF–Glad to know I’m not the only one using the character name. Titles are the keys to letting the reader in on the story or at least making her curious enough to check it out, so I think it’s okay to wait till we can get it right. Thanks for stopping by. Hey, I love Disney World too!!!