I’m pleased to welcome author Kellie Doherty to the  blog today with a behind the scenes look at how she  titled her debut novel.

Who the heck is Hekate? Where the title Finding Hekate came from.

When I was first brainstorming titles for my debut science fiction novel Finding Hekate I had many…different…ideas. I cycled through quite a lot of titles, but the “best” one I stuck with for quite a while was Polestar. Yes, Polestar. I liked the name, but it didn’t really have much of a significance in the book other than it was another name for Polaris, and Mia needed some serious guidance. Additionally, while at a writing meeting one of my friends confessed to me that the name made them think of strippers. After that chat, that’s all I could think about when I looked at my novel. Space strippers. And since my story doesn’t feature strippers in the slightest, I decided to change it.

How did I get to Hekate, though? Well, the name has many different meanings, both inside and outside the book. First and foremost, Hekate (or Hecate, both pronounced he-kah-tay) is a Greek goddess of crossroads, dogs, light, the moon, herbs, necromancy, and sorcery, among many other things. I’ve always loved Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, and I wanted to incorporate that love in my first book somehow.

Plus, the idea that Hekate is the goddess of crossroads dovetailed perfectly with the theme of my book, how Mia, the main character and captain of the Eclipse, needs to make a choice that will impact her future significantly.

So that’s one layer—the “real” layer if you will, since it’s regarding something we know about on earth in reference to the Greek goddess—the second and third layers come up solely in my book. Hekate is the spaceship Mia was born and grew up on—her family shuttle if you will—and it’s also what her parents called Polaris. Essentially, it’s the North Star to her, her guiding light by another name, and it’s something that represents home to her.

So Finding Hekate really means that Mia is trying to find her way home, not to her old home, her parents’ home, but a new one.

To read more about Finding Hekate and find out where you can buy it, check out my website: http://kelliedoherty.com/books/.

About Kellie Doherty:

Kellie Doherty is a bisexual writer living in Portland, Oregon. She is currently a student and hopes to graduate with a Master’s in Book Publishing from Portland State University in June 2016. She is also a freelance editor, taking jobs whenever they come her way. Kellie has been writing since she was young and living in Alaska. Her work (fiction and non-fiction) has been published in Pathos, Alaska Women Speak, F Magazine, The Chugiak-Eagle River Star, as well as the blogs of 49 Writers and Ooligan Press. She also writes fanfiction under the name SerenityQuill. She is currently working on the sequel to Finding Hekate, Cicatrix Duology Book 2—Losing Hold. When not writing or editing, she enjoys reading, taking walks, playing video and board games, and hanging out with her friends.