Episode #136: Why didn’t you put chapter titles in your book? with Adrianna Cuevas
Welcome back to Kids Ask Authors! We are excited to have author Adrianna Cuevas join us and answer this great kid question today, “Why didn’t you put chapter titles in your book?” Thanks for joining us!
TRANSCRIPTION:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle grade novel, "Where The Mountain Meets The Moon", and the picture book, "A Big Moon Cake for Little Star". Today I am here with Adrianna Cuevas, the author of middle grade novels like "Cuba in My Pocket", and "The Total Eclipse of Nester Lopez", as well as the upcoming, "The Ghost of Rancho Espanto", which will be available in April, 2023. Welcome, Adrianna.
Adrianna Cuevas: Thank you, thank you so much. Happy to be here.
Grace Lin: Oh, thanks for being here. Are you ready for today's kid question?
Adrianna Cuevas: Absolutely, because kids always ask the best questions.
Grace Lin: And this one's a good one, I have to say, because today's kid question is from a kid named Flynn, and they ask, "Why didn't you put chapter titles in your book?"
Adrianna Cuevas: Okay, I adore this question because one, I've never been asked this question before. And two, I feel like my answer shows you a little bit about how I am, as a reader and as a writer. Because one, I don't put chapter titles in my books because as a reader, when I'm reading a book, I don't read the chapter titles, I skip over them. I'm a very fast reader, I like to read quickly. So when I finish a chapter, my eyes are going to go absolutely straight to the next chapter, the first paragraph, I don't read chapter titles.
Adrianna Cuevas: And then as a writer, I absolutely love ending my chapters on cliff hangers, so that the readers just dying to read the next chapter. And I want you to do the same thing that I do as a reader, is to just jump right back into the action. And I feel like putting a chapter title pulls you out a little bit from the story. So that's why I don't put chapter titles, but I love that there are middle grade books that use them, that don't use them, because there's really no wrong or right way to tell your story.
Grace Lin: It's so interesting because when you are saying how as a reader, you just skim right over them. And I was trying to think, "What do I do?" And I actually think I like chapter titles because it kind of gives me a hint of what's going to happen. I remember in all the Harry Potter books, it would have a little picture and that would kind of hint at what's going to come, the little illustration at the very beginning of each chapter.
Adrianna Cuevas: Right.
Grace Lin: I don't even remember if that had chapter titles, but I remember the little illustration, it'd be like, "Woo!" So I think in some ways I like chapter titles, but as a writer, I have some books with chapter titles and some books without, and the ones that I do not put chapter titles in is usually because I can't think of anything.
Adrianna Cuevas: Yes, that too.
Grace Lin: Because it's hard... Because there's like a art to the chapter title. You have to give something that gives a hint, gets the reader excited, but doesn't give the whole thing away, right?
Adrianna Cuevas: Absolutely. I think one of my favorite books that used chapter titles and I think used them amazingly well is a book called "The Art of Running Away" by Sabrina Kleckner. The chapter titles give you such insight into the personality and voice of the main character that I just felt those were done really well.
Grace Lin: Yeah. Well, it's hard because, I don't know about you, but I have a really hard ti time with titles of my book, right?
Adrianna Cuevas: Oh, same.
Grace Lin: That's like asking you to do a title for every chapter, that's a lot.
Adrianna Cuevas: Absolute... You nailed it perfectly, because most of the time when I'm sending my book to my agent or my editor, it's called Book three, or please read this, or I wrote this, because coming up with a title for my books is probably the hardest part of the writing process for me. So exactly like you said, it's like having to come up with 30 more titles.
Grace Lin: So how did you come up with the title for "The Total Eclipse of Nester Lopez" then?
Adrianna Cuevas: So The Total Eclipse of Nester Lopez was not the original title. So not only did I have to come up with one title, I had to come up with another one. The original title of that book was "Nestor's Guide to Unpacking" because Nestor's a military kid and he moves a lot, so he's kind of a pro at packing and unpacking. So that was the name of the book. But my publisher decided that they wanted a title that alluded more to the magic that was in the book. And the big climactic battle scene in the story takes place during a total solar eclipse. And so that's why it's now titled, "The Total Eclipse of Nester Lopez". But yes, I actually have had to name my first two books twice. Both of those Cuba in My Pocket was also not the original title either. So, yes, I had to do it twice.
Grace Lin: What was the real title?
Adrianna Cuevas: The original title of that one was, "Until Freedom Always", It's a play on Words by a famous... All Cuban Americans know this quote because it's plastered all over Cuba. It's a famous quote by the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevara. He always used to go around screaming "Hasta la victoria siempre, Until Victory Always". And so I, because Cubans don't have a good opinion of Che Guevara, I wanted to take that quote and change it to say Until Freedom Always, but it's such a culturally specific title and I wanted something more broad. So it's called "Cuba in My Pocket" because the main character Cumba, carries a double nine domino tile in his pocket throughout the whole story. Especially when he goes to the United States because that's his one, his reminder of home. He also thinks it's a symbol of this bad luck that he's been cursed with, that he has to deal with that. And so that's why it's called "Cuba in My Pocket".
Grace Lin: Oh, that's so cool. When you were talking about "The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez" and how you had to rename that, it reminded me of how I had to rename my book "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon", because I had originally called it Never Ending Mountain and my editor was like, "That sounds so depressing." And they're like, "We can't call it Never Ending Mountain". And she was like, "I want something magical", because you were saying how your editors wanted to do something magical. And I remember we had such a struggle trying to come up with the name for it. And she's like, "Well, we need something that's poetic, something like the last line of line of your book where you say, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon". And I said, "Okay, well, let's just use that."
Adrianna Cuevas: That's it.
Grace Lin: So, that's how the title for that one came up. And then for the next two books that are companion to that, we just did the same thing. I was like, "Let's just use the last line."
Adrianna Cuevas: Yes. Although that, does that put pressure on you now to come up with this amazing last line, so I'm like, it's close...
Grace Lin: Yeah. Now I'm like, "Oh no". The last, "When the Sea Turned to Silver", I was like, "Okay, I need it to end on a really good line."
Adrianna Cuevas: Yep.
Grace Lin: But somehow that's slightly easier than trying... When I think of it in terms of that, I guess it's more about the nuts and bolts. It's like, "Okay, think of a poetic line to end with versus, think of a title that encapsulates everything", so...
Adrianna Cuevas: It's so difficult. I always tell students when I do visits, I've written this 50,000 word story that I now have to condense into what, like five words? It's hard to do that.
Grace Lin: Definitely. All right, well, thank you so much, Adrianna, for answering this question and thank you so much Flynn for asking me. This was a great question.
Adrianna Cuevas: Yes, amazing job Flynn. I like the way you think.
Grace Lin: All right, bye.
Adrianna Cuevas: Bye.
Today’s KID BOOK REVIEW comes from Carter! Carter is reviewing, “The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez” by Adrianna Cuevas.
Thank you Carter!
More about today’s authors:
Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, Cuba in My Pocket, and The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and son. When not working with TOEFL students, wrangling multiple pets including an axolotl, and practicing fencing with her son, she is writing her next middle grade novel. She is represented by Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
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