The Power of Three
Do you have a novel inside you?
(I love this question. Both to ask and answer. “YES,” shouts my novel from deep in my belly, “I’m down here! I’ve been trapped in this lazy body for decades! Set me free!”)
But, do you have a TRILOGY inside of you?!
Trilogies are not just for YA. Every author these days should be assuming their book will become a worldwide bestseller. Be prepared to give the people what they want. And the people want three.
It’s good to plan for your trilogy from the start. What you really want to avoid is facing your agent the day after your book becomes Triple Platinum MVP New York Times Hogwarts Cup Man Booker Prize Awarded and not having plans for the sequel.
You have to at least be storyboarding something in the background. I’m not going to help you with that today, but I have a bunch of sets of threes for your titles. If the titles seem to match up people might not even notice that book two takes place in another country featuring an entirely new cast and POV.
So without further ado, here are twenty fresh ideas for naming your trilogy (don’t at me if any of these already exist):
Obtuse, Acute, Right (the Triangle trilogy)
Purple, Green, Orange (the Complementaries trilogy)
Jacket, Trousers, Vest (the Three-Piece Suit)
Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup (the Earbones trilogy)
Sulfur, Mercury, Salt (the Alchemy trilogy)
Deltoids, Biceps, Abs (the Bodybuilder trilogy)
Mountain, Warrior, Downward Dog (the Pose trilogy)
Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato (the Sandwich trilogy)
Dromedary, Llama, Alpaca (the Camelid trilogy)
Tension, Migraine, Cluster (the Headache trilogy)
Butterhead, Iceberg, Leaf (the Salad trilogy)
Chemical, Civic, Mechanical (the Engineers trilogy)
Solar, Wind, Hydro (the Energy trilogy)
Identical, Fraternal, Conjoined (the Twins trilogy)
Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds (the Investment trilogy)
French, Dutch, Fishtail (the Braided trilogy)
Declarative, Exclamatory, Interrogative (the Sentence trilogy)
Physical, Testimonial, Circumstantial (the Evidence trilogy)
Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic (the Learners trilogy)
Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson (the Vaccinated trilogy)*
*Not so much an idea as a plea, as in, “please get vaccinated when one is available to you. I would like to go to the theater.”
