What’s in a Name?

Posted at Sep 11, 2012 7:00 am in 10000 Maniacs, More Than This, music, One Direction, romance, Shannyn Schroeder, writing

I hate having to come up with titles. That’s mostly because I suck at it. I’ve mentioned before that as I’m working on a book, the file is saved on my computer under the heroine’s name. My debut MORE THAN THIS went through 3 titles before my editor came up with MORE THAN THIS. I really like this title and it suits the book.

Anyway, I set up a Google alert for the book title. (I know it’s early, but I also knew I’d forget come this winter.) So when the Google alert hit my inbox, I found information about One Direction. In case you’re old like me, One Direction is the latest boy band that is making teen girls cry and go all mushy. Of course, I had to see why this ended up on my Google alert, and sure enough, One Direction has a song titled MORE THAN THIS. My editor was on Twitter last night, so I asked him if he knew that the book shared its name with a One Direction song. He said he knew of a Roxy Music song that had been covered by everyone and maybe it was yet another cover.

Hmmm…

I knew nothing of Roxy Music. At least until I heard the 10,000 Maniac’s version. THEN, I knew the song.

Here are the lyrics:

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing 
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they’re blowing
As free as the wind 
Hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this you know there’s nothing
More than this tell me one thing
More than this ooh there is nothing

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night 
Who can say where we’re going
No care in the world
Maybe I’m learning
Why the sea on the tide 
Has no way of turning

More than this you know there’s nothing
More than this tell me one thing
More than this no, there’s nothing

More than this nothing
More than this
More than this nothing

taken from LyricsFreak

The song is obviously pretty simple and while lovely, not all that memorable. The One Direction song, I like better, but they are so damn young, I feel like a dirty old lady listening to them sing. I think this suits my book better, since the book is about Ryan wanting to be more than just friends with Quinn.

Are titles of books important to you as a reader? Do they make you think of other things?

2 Comments

2 Responses to “What’s in a Name?”

1. Kate Meader says:

   September 17, 2012 at 2:40 pm

   Hey Shannyn,

   Catching up with my RSS feed, so sorry for chiming in late. BTW, I love your cover! And I just wanted to say that More than This is actually one of my favorite Roxy Music songs, and every time I hear the title of your book, that song pops into my head and takes me back to my childhood. Roxy Music was big in the seventies and eighties in Ireland, where I grew up and I get a happy little fire-up of the neurons whenever I think of that song. So, thanks! Or thanks to your editor

   Reply
   • shannynschroeder says:

     September 17, 2012 at 2:54 pm

     That’s funny because Roxy music didn’t jog my brain at all. Even when I checked them out on YouTube. It was 10,000 Maniacs that rings in my head

     Reply