…up for grabs, and is a significant source of anxiety for me right now. I need a title, and not just any old title. My publisher requires all of my books to have some variant of the word “quilt” in the title, or else you may not realize that you should buy it.
The eighth Elm Creek Quilts novel picks up not long after The Master Quilter ends. Sylvia and the gang are searching for two new Elm Creek Quilters to join the team. The story focuses on five candidates for the job — who they are, why they quilt and what kind of quilts they make, what crises in their lives have brought them to the point where they are drawn to a chance to work at Elm Creek Quilt Camp.
My proposed title for the book is The Quilters In Question. I believe it identifies the main focus of the story as the five applicants who are under consideration for the job, while also alluding to the questing and questioning that takes place. I think it hints that something hangs in the balance, that there are unresolved issues that the story will reveal. The alliteration is a nice touch, too.
My editor, however, is concerned that The Quilters In Question suggests that the quilters have done something wrong. I honestly never thought of the phrase that way, and I’m wondering what my Gentle Readers think.
Do you like The Quilters In Question? Do you think it sounds like a book about quilters who have done something bad, or perhaps worse yet, bad quilters? Does anyone have a better idea? Keep in mind that rule about “quilt” or “quilting” or “quilter” in the title.
The novel is still in the revising stage, but I need to make a decision soon.