blog post
I have to confess, I still sneak a peak at Evil Editor's blog every now and then. But I've cut back! Way back. Really.
One of the things that really gets me is the titles people come up with. A recent example was "Dragon Sword". Dragon Sword?!? How do you not look at that and immediately say "this is the most generic title ever created"? I am picking on this recent author but a quick glance through the archives reveals plenty of others. "The Dark Legacy". "Dressed to Kill". My favorite are the obvious fantasy titles. "Forging the Soul Blade" may have sounded like a good idea at the time but the truth is that it was clearly assembled from The Big List of Generic Fantasy Words.
So many books, even published fantasy novels, suffer from this problem. It may be a good book. The title may scream the genre, which I guess is helpful if the maiden carrying a sword and wearing drapery on the cover doesn't sufficiently convey it. But the title is just instantly forgettable.
I recently picked up a SF book entitled "The Wreck of The River of Stars" which is a wonderful, memorable title. And I'm glad I did, because that book introduced me to an excellent new author. And I would have never have noticed or bought any of this author's excellent, earlier books otherwise because they all have incredibly generic sci-fi names like "Rogue Star".
In my mind, the title is a great place to have some fun and come up with something memorable. Even if it doesn't wind up being the published title, at least in the meantime you're not the dozenth manuscript in the slush pile entitled "Blood of the Dragon" or "Dark Sword". R. Scott Bakker's first novel is called "The Darkness that Comes Before". I saw that and I was like "Ohmygosh, I don't care how bad it is I have to have it." That's the reaction you want.
One of the things that really gets me is the titles people come up with. A recent example was "Dragon Sword". Dragon Sword?!? How do you not look at that and immediately say "this is the most generic title ever created"? I am picking on this recent author but a quick glance through the archives reveals plenty of others. "The Dark Legacy". "Dressed to Kill". My favorite are the obvious fantasy titles. "Forging the Soul Blade" may have sounded like a good idea at the time but the truth is that it was clearly assembled from The Big List of Generic Fantasy Words.
So many books, even published fantasy novels, suffer from this problem. It may be a good book. The title may scream the genre, which I guess is helpful if the maiden carrying a sword and wearing drapery on the cover doesn't sufficiently convey it. But the title is just instantly forgettable.
I recently picked up a SF book entitled "The Wreck of The River of Stars" which is a wonderful, memorable title. And I'm glad I did, because that book introduced me to an excellent new author. And I would have never have noticed or bought any of this author's excellent, earlier books otherwise because they all have incredibly generic sci-fi names like "Rogue Star".
In my mind, the title is a great place to have some fun and come up with something memorable. Even if it doesn't wind up being the published title, at least in the meantime you're not the dozenth manuscript in the slush pile entitled "Blood of the Dragon" or "Dark Sword". R. Scott Bakker's first novel is called "The Darkness that Comes Before". I saw that and I was like "Ohmygosh, I don't care how bad it is I have to have it." That's the reaction you want.
posted by braun at 3:42 PM
6 Comments:
The honest truth is that author's don't get to pick the title. Editors/Publishers do that. A friend of mine published her first book and they named it something gawdawful. I about puked. So did she. She was heartbroken. I think the stupid title hurt sales.
I queried Miss Snark about this and she confirmed it. The writer doesnt' get to pick titles.
However, I agree with you about the Generic Fantasy Title tendencies in the EE authors. But in all fairness, until the work is done, you often don't know what the title should be.
Odd titles also can make me pull a book off the shelves out of curiosity. But a title that tells me something is what I am in teh mood for works too.
I've heard the same thing about titles, though I'm sure the author's sometimes passes muster.
I'd welcome it. I have a terrible time with titles. Here are the titles of my books, please critique:
The Ternion Archives:
1 A Legacy of Duplicity
2 Taming the Tiger
3 The True Ternion
4 The Greyblades
Hinterland
The Exiled Elf Prince (WIP)
Writtenwyrdd, I think you may have misunderstood Miss Snark a little bit. The author doesn't have final say over the titles, the publisher does. However, if your original title is a good one then there's no reason for the publisher not to use it. I doubt that they arbitrarily change all author titles just to show off their Publishing Power.
I would be interested to know how many of my favorite book titles were those originally intended by the author. A lot, I would imagine.
Apart from that, like I said, a good title could still help you stand out in the slush pile.
Sex Scenes: Most of those titles seem fine to me (and you flatter me by asking for my opinion!), in fact "The Greyblades" and "Hinterland" I find inexplicably intriguing. The only one that gives me pause is your WiP, "The Exiled Elf Prince".
Two reasons for that. 1) I see "elf prince" and I think "aughhh! generic Tolkien rip-off!" regardless of whether that's true or not. 2) It's very flat. I think just changing it to something like "The Elf Prince in Exile" would make it a lot more interesting.
braun, I don't disagree with what you say. If a title is agreeable to the publisher, then it can stay. But it is still 100% the publisher's call.
The author is best served by a good title when submitting, too. Can't go wrong with a catchy title!
I also have to agree that "The Exiled Elf Prince" sounds generic. Use of "Elf" can come across that way. But, the use of it in "Elfquest," or "The King of Elfland's Daugter" works well.
cool. thanks
I just had the idea of making him something entirely different, like a gladiator. a gladiator elf. The Gladiator Elf. The Elven Gladiator...
Ok, I'll keep working on it...
Exiles Of Ellandon was an old book title I still remember 20 years later. If the biggest issue for the title is the exile, perhaps focus on using that word over elf.
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