Way back in 2006, as I began to open my mind to ideas for the novel I planned to start for NaNoWriMo* that year, I read The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and I felt the urge to write a time-travel novel.
And then, what I actually wrote was something altogether different. Sort of.
I began with a working title of Zigzag because I envisioned my main character zigzagging around in time. I knew that title would not ultimately remain because I didn’t really care for it and also because as I laid out the bones of the story and major characters in my outline/notes (my idea notes really don’t fit the definition of an outline, but they serve that purpose for me), the working title seemed to fit the story less and less.
I did a lot of brainstorming with my sister and at some point after NaNoWriMo began and the story was taking shape, she suggested Total Compliance as a title. It fit the story perfectly, and it also led to a very long list of titles for other possible novels in a series, all containing a word that essentially means “total”.
I did not reach the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo in 2006. I did, however, pick up Total Compliance for several spans of time during the years that followed, writing more of the story and building on the series plans. I began the second and third novels in the series during NaNoWriMo in 2008 and 2010. (I finally started “winning” NaNoWriMo in 2008, which means I was able to surpass 50,000 words each year.)
Fast-forward thirteen years, past many life-changes and much time spent being distracted by other things, then getting back to my writing, and then having to step away again. As of early spring 2019, I’ve finally reached the final stages of editing and preparing to publish Total Compliance.
But I hadn’t settled on a name for the series. I’d rolled several possibilities around for a long time, but none of them really felt right. Until just the other night, when I asked my wife to brainstorm with me. I threw out the word “infinity” because it fit the “total” theme, and she said, “What about Infinite Wisdom?”
It feels real now. I am beyond excited to share my characters and their story with the world!
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*NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It occurs every November and is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel (or the first 50,000 words of a novel) in 30 days. I participated in 2004 through 2010 and again in 2016. I didn’t actually win (i.e. reach the 50,000 word mark by the 30th day) until 2008, but once I started winning, I won each subsequent year.