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I am probably the last person in the world who should write this post given my horrendous track record for book titles. None of my published novels has the title I came up with. Not one. But the fact that I'm the world's least successful titler of books does not stop me from having many opinions on the subject.
For instance, t'other day I was chatting with my friend
Jennifer Laughran and she was raving about a wonderful middle grade she'd recently read. Sounded great. A bit later I decided to get a copy but for the life of me I could not remember the title. I asked Jennifer. I forgot it again. And repeat.
Turns out the only ...
Posted by Justine at 9:59, October 5th, 2009 under Titles & names |
Posted by Justine at 11:00, April 3rd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Titles & names |
It's pretty bad, isn't it, that one of my favourite aspects of my 1930s NYC/USA research is the hilarious names I keep coming across.
Exhibit A:
Rexford Tugwell.
Readers, I admit that I laughed for about half an hour. And then I made the mistake of telling Scott about Monsieur Tugwell. More laughter.
For the record, Mr Tugwell was a dead interesting bloke. A member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Brain Trust and thus a key contributor to the New Deal.
And yet, REXFORD TUGWELL!!!!
Posted by Justine at 8:27, March 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research, Titles & names |
So I may have mentioned that my title for the liar book, Why Do I Lie?, was rejected by my publisher and by most of the people who've read the book. ((Curse you all!)) We've been on the hunt for a new title and may, at long last, have settled on one.
Yay!
Posted by Justine at 17:35, November 23rd, 2008 under Liar, Titles & names |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 11th, 2008 under Publishing business, Titles & names |
I just typed the (top sekrit) title of my fairy novel into google and came up with ZERO hits. ZERO. No book has ever had that title before. Not only that but no one has even put those words together before. Title of my next book for the win!
I will be revealing top sekrit new title as soon as there's a cover to go with it. So if you happens to know the top sekrit title please not to give the game away. Thank you very much!
I am now determined that all future titles of my books will beat google. It could lead to much obscureness of titles. Yay!
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 7th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Titles & names |
Posted by Justine at 1:11, October 29th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Titles & names, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 12:43, July 7th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Titles & names |
E. Lockhart (The Boyfriend List, Fly on the Wall, Dramarama)
Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks, Milkrun, Frogs & French Kisses) and
Lauren Myracle (TTYL, TTFN, L8R G8R, Rhymes with Witches) are writing a book together about three girls taking a road trip through the sticky heat of Florida in pursuit of love and adventure.
They're stuck on what title to use. I so sympathise. Picking the right title is a nightmare!
So right now Harper Teen is
holding a quiz. All you have to do is read the three top titles and
vote on your choice.
It takes seconds. I just voted. Won't tell you for which---don't want to sway the results. But, um, I sure do ...
Posted by Justine at 13:42, July 6th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Titles & names, Young Adult literature |
Seeing as how I've talked about
chapter titles I figured I should talk about book titles, too. But, buggered if I know what to tell you. I'm terrible at titles! I've already
mentioned they're useful and that you definitely need one, but as to what it should be? Dunno.
I've heard that these are the sure fire ways to make a title:
a phrase from the bible or Shakespeare or Yeats or some other well-known poet (best for your literary has-a-shot-at-the-Booker type novels)
a line from a pop song or nursery rhyme (best for genre novels, particulary crime)
The+concrete noun+of+abstract or proper noun (best for high fantasy, think The Lord of the Rings)
Anyone think of any title formulas I'm missing?
I can also ...
Posted by Justine at 8:58, December 19th, 2006 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Titles & names |
To date not one person has said anything about any of the chapter titles of my books. Not my non-fiction tomes, not my novels. There's me sweating bullets to pick decent ones and not a soul notices. So I decided I'd just skip it from now on. Thus my current novel, the great Australian cricket mangosteen Elvis monkey-knife fighting feminist fairy novel is sans titled chapters.
This was an easy decision to make on account of I'm not very good at titles. Some writers have the title gift. ((Samuel R. Delany, for example. Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand has to be one of my favourite titles of all time.)) I do not. Coming up with a decent ...
Posted by Justine at 18:38, December 4th, 2006 under Titles & names, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 6:28, September 13th, 2006 under Frippery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Titles & names, Writing life, Writing process |
A recent post on Miss Snark reveals
the horrible truth that often writers have no control over what their books are called. That's right, folks, your publisher can change the title to something they deem more commercial.
There was much debate over the title of the first book in my trilogy. I'd always imagined Magic or Madness as the series title with the actual books being called Reason and the Two Cities, Reason and Margarita, and Reason defeats the Evil Monster Marauding Zombies from Hell. Marketing intervened and the series title became the title of the first book, leaving me and my editors to come up with new titles for books two and three and thus the whole working title ...
Posted by Justine at 3:19, August 14th, 2006 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Publishing business, Ranting, Titles & names, Writing life, Zombies |
Over at Miss Snark's some
folks get all snooty when agents address them by first name. I find their crankiness weird and am wondering if it's a generational thing or because (as another commenter says) I'm Australian and we're less uptight more relaxed than USians.
Personally, I'm more squicked when people insist on using a title with my name. My name is Justine Larbalestier, it's not Ms Justine Larbalestier, certainly not Miss or Mrs Justine Larbalestier and you're risking life and limb if you ever use
Mrs Scott Westerfeld, though FYI Scott adores being called Mr Justine Larbalestier.
If you must use a title the correct one's actually Dr, which I'm not wild about either, but at least I earned ...
Posted by Justine at 10:14, June 11th, 2006 under Frippery, New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Titles & names, Whingeing, Words & Language |
