Alecia Flores asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I read the post on FB regarding Penric 14, (& was thrilled); the idea of it not having a title yet made me wonder; I've read about authors who start with a title before, but not one who ended with one. Is this an authorial quirk?

Lois McMaster Bujold
For me, it varies from story to story. Sometimes the title arises early in the writing process -- "Penric and the Bandit" actually had its title first. "The Warrior's Apprentice" came up about Chapter 5, as I recall, and stuck. Other times, a tale will arrive at its end with none, or a joke working title -- "Ivan, His Booke", "Miles to Go", "Cordelia on Sergyar" -- and I have to flail around, like now, to come up with anything satisfactory. (I think I've finally settled on "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", unless something obviously better comes along before the cover art and final edit are done.)

"A Civil Campaign" was another late entry. It went through its whole composition joke-titled "ImpWed". I thought I had it nailed when a clever friend suggested "Rules of Engagement" but it turned out Elizabeth Moon had a book already in Baen's publishing pipeline with that title, so it was back to the drawing board. After some more flailing, I drew inspiration from Heyer's "A Civil Contract" (which has a nice double meaning for its book), retooled for Miles's military madness. I'm actually happier with it now, as no other book has the same much-used title.

Ta, L.

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