One of the deep abiding pleasures of working on Coliloquy has been getting to hang out with my co-founder Waynn. He’s one of my all-time favorite lunch conversationalists, mostly because he takes all of my questions and interests seriously.
Against the better judgment of our PR team, we’ve decided to occasionally blog our He Said/She Said conversations.
Today’s topic: Raping Paper.
Waynn: Here’s the backstory. Around the holidays a few years ago, I took a trip to Safeway with Shayan. Outside the Safeway, there were two girls (no more than 12 years old) selling wrapping paper for the holidays, as a fundraiser for their school. Unfortunately, they’d left off two critical letters in the sign they’d created, so the booth said “RAPING PAPER”.
Lisa: And that’s when I said, “That would make an AWESOME book title.”
Waynn: Which made me seriously consider Lisa’s judgment.
Lisa: Seriously? It could work for all kinds of books. A thriller, a historical romance…
Waynn: No way. It’s a terrible romance title. Besides the obvious ugliness of that word in the title, what would the book even be about? A historical librarian and his unrequited love for the woman who drops off his books? Or some sort of Christmas tie-in?
Lisa: No, it would need to be non-literal. I love titles with two simple but seemingly unrelated words. If I saw “Raping Paper” I would 100% want to know what the book is about.
Waynn: We are NOT naming any of our books Raping Paper.
Lisa: Ok, maybe not for us, but what about Tina Fey or Mindy Kaling? EPIC name for one of their next books. And I think they’d totally be on board.
Waynn: Lisa, I think you vastly over-estimate America’s sense of irony.
Lisa: If I ever got to meet Mindy Kaling, I’m soooo pitching her.