good morning Hank it's Tuesday so you're
currently trying to sort through titles
for the sequel to your number one New
York Times bestselling novel an
absolutely remarkable thing and in
trying to assist you I have realized
something important which is that I am
terrible at titles like in a college
creative writing class I once called the
story things remembered things forgotten
and my professor said that's it Green
were putting a moratorium on your titles
I'd like to think I've improved a little
since then but only a little all of
which is to say nerdfighteria that I
need your help my first book was called
Looking for Alaska which arguably isn't
a great title for a book that's not
about the state of Alaska although on
the upside I know that I'm in for a
great TV interview when the host begins
by asking when did you first visit
Alaska my friend Kier actually came up
with the title because all of mine were
so bad I wanted to call the story white
flowers and warm malt liquor which is a
nice title for a country song but not so
much for a novel or else famous last
words which is a little on the nose
Alaska was also the first novel I
attempted to title more light than heat
I'm very fond of this line from Hamlet
about how some love blazes with more
light than heat and every time I write a
book at some point I think you know what
this book should be called more light
than heat and then my publisher Julie
Straus gable says no just no write so
then there was an abundance of
katherines a title I actually quite
liked not least because I wrote it
before I wrote the rest of the story
although in the end of the Italian title
the Katherine theorem is much better
Paper Towns ended up with an okay title
but only after I tried to call it the
life and hard times of Margo Roth
Spiegelman the copyright trap and of
course more light than heat I also still
like the title of turtles all the way
down although it is slightly confusing
in a book that is not about turtles but
is kind of about a different reptile it
has however allowed my kids to make a
lot of jokes about how my next novel
will be called wizards all the way up
which I don't know maybe it will be and
then there is the Fault in Our Stars
which was very nearly titled the sequel
or else the sequels plural because
somehow that's gonna make it better like
I have all these emails that Julie and I
exchanged in April of 2011 in which
she's like the sequel is not a good
title but more polite than that and then
I would reply with lots of information
that I'm sure at the time seemed super
relevant like for instance once I wrote
I am increasingly convinced that it is
not our place to assert either the
temporariness or the permanence of the
universe but that the meaning of life is
basically bearing witness to creation
and it's an
Abaddon's which is like a nice sentiment
but what the hell does that have to do
with calling a novel that is not a
sequel the sequel at any rate I was
eventually convinced that the Fault in
Our Stars was a better title and because
it's a play on a Shakespeare line it
nearly quenched my thirst to call the
book more light than heat I should
mention that rosianna called my
attention to that line and Julius Caesar
about The Fault in Our Stars which is
relevant because Rosie Allah is great at
titles for instance she came up with the
top notch title for our book club life's
library which by the way has some slots
open for our new book Isabel Allende's
house of the spirits if you want to sign
up you can find out more of life's
library book club calm you get to read
good books with nice people and all the
proceeds go to partners in health sewer
kin sierra leone the speaking of which i
mentioned all of this because we need a
title for nerd fight areas project with
Partners in Health Sierra Leone the idea
is to provide ongoing funding to improve
the health care system there because
long term problems need long-term
solutions
so if you have a title idea for that or
for that matter a title idea for Hank
sequel please let us know in comments
wait Hank
white have you considered calling it the
sequel I mean it is a sequel another
idea just gonna throw this one out more
light than heat Hank I'll see you on
Friday
oh hi PS I've only wanted Twitter in the
last month a couple times have I
mentioned that I'm not on Twitter I'm
not on Twitter it's the I went to
Harvard of internet citizenship anyway I
only wanted Twitter a few times in the
last month mostly so that I could weep
and gnash my teeth with worry over
football but also because I really want
everyone in the world to read cough
cough bars new poem the palace which is
a great title it's so good even if you
don't like poetry I think you'll like
this poem link in the doobly-doo bye