Book Tour: Careless Whisper By: Wendi Zwaduk

What’s in a Name?

I wanted to thank JoJo for having me here. I love going on these tours and seeing new sites. It’s a lot of fun and I’m thrilled to be the guest.

My topic question was ‘picking a title for the story’. Ahh...simple and yet not. Titles are hard and easy to come up with. They’re easy because sometimes they just happen and fit. Other times it’s excruciatingly hard because there is more than one book out already with that title.

I have a theme in my books. They have song title names. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not to capitalize on the song. In many cases, the song the book is titled after isn’t the main song or one of the main songs on my iPod as I wrote it. For example, Careless Whisper is named after the Wham! song. But that wasn’t at all the version I had playing. I was listening to the harder, rougher, Seether version. And the actual inspiration for the book came from a Kelly Clarkson song – “Already Gone”. The hero was involved with someone else before the book and his wife tells him, ‘Look, I’m already gone’ because she’s dead. But that’s not what the hero/heroine wanted the book to be named. It was their story, not the hero and his former wife’s. So I let the story flow and the title actually came out of dialogue late in the story. Ryan mentions a careless whisper causing many of the problems.

Yeah, the little light bulb zapped over my head. Perfect!

So that one was really easy. I’ve got others that were a pain. I’ve got a WIP that will stay relegated to the WIP pile for a while. That story is actually a favorite of mine because it has a farmer in it. I love farmer tans and tractors. But ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy’ has been used—a lot. Great title, but not original. So I let the characters tell me what they wanted. To this day, they won’t stop bickering long enough to tell me what it is. I’ve tried a couple names that are farm themed, or free-spirit themed, but they don’t like them. Figures. That same story went for submission once. The original title I had ‘A Matter of Trust’ didn’t fly because it was already used at that publisher. Oh well. The story wasn’t really as ready as I had thought, so I just relegated. I’ll more than likely go back to it—one day.

I’ve also had the title come first. For example, I’ve got a story percolating that’s called “And We Danced”. Yep, I was listening to Brad Paisley, but it wasn’t the actual song that got my imagination going. It was the concept of dancing. The characters said, ‘hey, that’s how we first got over hating each other’. I know, don’t they sound fun—hating each other. It’s still in the planning stage, but that’s the title first, story later example I have.

Not the most exciting means for choosing a title, but it’s mine. I’m glad I got to stop by. Thanks JoJo. And now I have a question for the readers and authors.

 

Authors – how do you come up with titles? Any interesting stories about it?

And readers – is there a title that caught your attention, one that made you say, I have got to read this? I’d love to know about it.

 

 

 

 

 

He’s her kinkiest desire, if she’s willing to open her heart and believe in him.

The dead don’t always rest in peace. Some stick around to make the lives of the living hell on Earth. Ryan Black knows the frustration of dealing with the dead. He’s a Ghost Explorer. He’s conquered houses filled with apparitions, abandoned school buildings that house angry vermin, and managed to woo the female population of Snake Falls, Ohio. But he’s about to face his toughest challenge, convincing sceptical Samara Jacobs she not only shares his gift, but holds his heart.


Women fall at Ryan Black’s feet and Samara’s determined not to be one of the many—that is until she’s forced to work with him. He’s certain ghosts exist and willing to prove it. The more she gets to know the man behind the television persona, she decides the handsome klutz who chases things that go bump in the night isn’t so silly after all. But is he worthy of her love?



Excerpt One (PG):

“Look around at the scenery. Ohio girls are the stuff of legend. For example, Meredith has those legs a man fantasizes having wrapped around his waist.”

“Engaged.”

“Well, then there’s Caren. She’s got a nice rack and she’s single.”

“Implants.”

“Pick nits.” Eddie snorted and shook his head. “You’ll shoot down all my ideas just to be right.” He scoped the cafeteria room once more. “What about Samara? She’s cute in a girl-next-door kinda way. All peaches and cream. I’ve caught her checking you out once or twice—a day for the last year.” He pointed to Ryan. “She’d make a perfect forever girl.”

“I had my forever girl. But I could be wrong.” Samara checked him out? Hmm... Kinda nice to know the attraction wasn’t a figment of his undersexed imagination. He’d spent many a night fantasizing about her, holding her, making love to her, waking up in the morning and seeing her smile.

At her table across the room, Samara curled up in her chair, paperback book propped in one hand and concentration written on her face. From his position, he couldn’t read the title, but he’d passed her desk enough times to know she liked romance novels. In the two years he’d worked in the same building with her, he’d heard her speak a total of three times but he knew her voice like his own.

“Ryan?”

“What? I’m checking out the scenery. It’s—” he drew a breath, feeling more than the oxygen stirring something within his body. His sex drive? He shifted in his seat. Yeah, there was a definite tingle below the belt. “It’s intriguing.”

Wendi Zwaduk
 
I always dreamed of writing the stories in my head. Tall, dark, and handsome heroes are my favorites, as long as he has an independent woman keeping him in line. I tend to write books with titles taken from songs because music is one of my many muses.


I earned a BA in education at Kent State university and as well as a Masters in Education from Nova Southeastern University. I've tried my hand at teaching, waitressing, and retail sales, but writing holds my heart.

I love NASCAR, romance, books in general, Ohio farmland, dirt racing, and my menagerie of animals. I have six books under contract and more than my brain can handle percolating. I can't wait to share them with you!

Find More from Wendi:
Website: http://www.wendizwaduk.com/index.htm
Blog: http://wendizwaduk.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/WendiZwaduk
You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WendiZwaduk

Follow the rest of the tour where each stop bring something new!
HERE

Make sure to comment to be entered to win a download of Careless Whisper to one randomly drawn commenter and to the host with the most comments, not counting Wendi's, the host's, or duplicates.