Choosing a name for a novel is much more difficult than it might appear. All that work and emotion and then one day, you let it fly out into the world. Once on the wing, it is difficult to imagine calling it back to the nest. What’s done is done.

One problem is that almost every name imaginable has already been used; a quick search of Amazon kills most ideas before they’ve even pecked their way out of the shell.

My first novel, The Old Orchard was originally called Red or Black and I knew it by that name all the way through the first draft and for a long time afterwards. Was I right to listen to my freelance editor and change it? I suppose I’ll never really know, but it was a strange feeling to rename something which has been a part of you for so long.

Red of Black describes the kernel of the central dilemma facing Alastair, the protagonist, but it probably sells the book short by focusing on that single element as the book  is more about exploring the way that a family deals with crisis over a generation. The Old Orchard picks up on the theme of family and the fact that Alastair’s family home is a pivot around which the crisis evolves.

Maybe it was the right decision. Maybe not. Hopefully, the story and the characters will be enough to weld themselves to the name and create that unified association that comes from reading a memorable book. It’s all part of the learning curve.

For my second, I started with a working title, Conspiracy, which I knew wouldn’t be the final choice and which was changed to Best Eaten Cold after a few chapters – once I began to understand how the novel was likely to evolve. A couple of people have suggested that the name is not quite right, but I haven’t been convinced. It has been used elsewhere and is a bit of a cliche, but I think it describes the theme well on a number of levels as we watch the two tales of long-awaited revenge being played out.

Again I’ll have to see.