On titles and 90s tunes
How music inspired the title(s) of my book, and other thoughts on titles
Matt Bell, in his wonderful book about novel writing Refuse to Be Done, instructs writers to give their work a title, no matter how embryonic and unworthy of a title that work might feel. “If you’re trying to convince yourself you’re writing a book,” he writes, “you’re going to need to name your file something better than novel2.docx.”
I gave my book a title early on, but it wasn’t MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR. The first title was This Youthful Heart, which is from a line in Tracy Chapman’s 1995 single “Give Me One Reason.” But I wasn’t wed to it and kept my mind open to other possibilities.
MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR also comes from a song, this one by singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke who a micro-generation of Gen X college women idolized in the 1990s, first as part of the folk duo the Story, then as a solo artist. "Last Innocent Year" was on her 1997 album “Ten Cent Wings,” which I played so much that year I nearly wore out my CD player and probably the patience of my roommates. I don’t remember how it came to me as a title but right away I loved the liminality of it; the idea of something being the “last” implies a transition from one state to another, which usually (always) involves some sort of pain. The title of Karen Dukess’s debut The Last Book Party also plays with this sense of something coming to an end, be it youth, an era, a season, a phase of life.
But I was open to changing the title, if I needed to. Authors are often advised to change titles by agents or editors, a process that can be grueling. Avery Carpenter Forrey, whose debut Social Engagement comes out in May, changed her title twice. Early on, it was called Do Us Part, which referenced the wedding aspect of her story perhaps a little too neatly. The novel went on submission as Human Content, “my attempt at pulling off something Sally Rooney-esque,” said Forrey. When her publisher suggested changing the title after it sold, she was open to it, but nervous they wouldn’t get it right. “When my brilliant editor suggested Social Engagement, I audibly exhaled! I think it cleverly plays off the book’s wedding and social media themes without being too on the nose.” I agree!
I never did change my title, and the more I live with it, the more perfect it feels for everything I hope my novel captures. My current work-in-progress, for what it’s worth, is currently saved in my computer as “Novel 2,” I think because I am still not exactly sure what it is about. But I hope to settle on something soon. As Matt Bell says, “It’s easy to get lost while writing a novel. A title might light the way ahead.”
P.S. THIS YOUTHFUL HEART may not have won the title sweepstakes, but it plays a cameo role in the finished work. I won’t tell you what it is—you’ll have to read the book to find out!
What I’m reading: I am so excited for Catherine Newman’s novel We All Want Impossible Things, which came out this week. Also, Dani Shapiro’s Signal Fires, which I’m listening to on audio. I recently read Joanna Rakoff’s 2009 debut A Fortunate Age, modeled on Mary McCarthy’s The Group but so divinely 90s in its specificity. (I am assuming you’ve already read her perfect memoir My Salinger Year?) Caroline Zancan, my amazing editor at Holt, is also a novelist. Her MFA send up We Wish You Luck is brilliant and I just read her debut Local Girls, which is also wonderful. Is there anything she can’t do?
On politics: The New York Times loves to publish articles like this about Greenwich, where I’ve lived for the past twelve years, as if everyone here is constantly leaping on and off our yachts clutching Hermès bags. I wonder if the reporter will return to report that "Greenwich Democrats make history in State House races" which, if you can’t get past the paywall, reports that for the first time ever Greenwich elected all Democrats to the state legislature.