THE TITLES
- Nell
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 11
So...this has been hard. I really want to share more about the creative process behind The Elevator, but doing so risks spoiling quite a bit. Still—now that I’ve shared the designs for my book covers—I wanted to talk about something I can (for the most part) safely unpack: why I chose the titles of my books, and the chapter titles in The Draft.
To start, you may or may not have noticed that every title begins with “The.” It’s thematically uniform with the series title, yes—but it also carries deeper, multi-layered meaning. There’s a kind of finality to it. Each title feels declarative, almost confrontational. As if to say — This is what’s happening. Whatchoo gon’ do?
The chapter titles do a lot of the same work.
The Draft (Book One)
I can’t divulge the story-specific meaning behind this title because… spoilers. So instead, I’ll share the varied definitions of the word draft that apply to the novel. The title doesn’t just serve Book One—it speaks to the full arc of the series, perhaps even more than it does this first installment.
draft | noun
2. (the draft) US English — compulsory recruitment for military service.
• rare: a group or individual selected from a larger group for special duty.
3. (British English: draught) a current of cool air in a confined space.
4. (British English: draught) the action or act of pulling something along.
draft | verb
2. select (a person or group of people) and bring them somewhere for a specific purpose.
• US English: conscript (someone) for military service.
3. pull or draw.
The most obvious connection is the act of pulling something along—an elevator is, after all, something that is drawn upward or downward, and the passengers inside are being pulled along with it.
The other definitions… you’re going to have to read it to connect those dots. 😉
CHAPTER 1 — The Passengers
