Books -- reading and writing.
Home, cooking, the weather.
And whatever connections I can make between these chapters of my life.
Home, cooking, the weather.
And whatever connections I can make between these chapters of my life.
Friday, August 16, 2013
One More Word about TITLES
I don't think Book Titles have always been so important to choosing just the right book. Think about all those very old books you read. Zippy titles? Funny? A play on words? Maybe not.
But I know a whole lot of authors who can't begin to write without a really, really great title to their manuscript. Working title? Nah. They cling to that title.
Because my Critique Group has been pondering what makes a great title this week, I shared this link to an interesting piece from a Publishers Weekly blog, re: titles:
http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/shelftalker/?p=10938
Good pointers.
And this:
http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php
We had a few laughs plugging titles into this. Harry Potter not a bestseller? Hmmm.
Be sure to fill in all the drop-downs to get your title scored.
Take it with a grain of salt, of course.
Here's a previous post, with links, to my Title Thoughts...
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2008/05/title-picking.html
I laughed out loud when I read that. 2008.
I was just starting the manuscript that I'm now editing.
And the title has changed twice since then.
To me, obviously, titles are elusive.
Despite that, I sometimes obsess over them.
(Here I am again, 2 years later, still titling a blogpost Title Picking.)
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2010/02/title-picking.html
As we say down south, Whoo Boy.
Or Hoo Boy. (Wonder how that would go over as a title?)
Pulling hair out over titles might be worth it. When you find the perfect title, it sings!
And kids will remember your book. So choose wisely.
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2 comments:
The PW article is super helpful. Thanks!
And Fitzgerald's preferred title? Dear me! I can't even pronounce it.
Read any historical fiction you'd like to review for me?
Thanks, Joyce. And I'm blogging again about titles soon. I can't seem to obsess enough, can I...
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