Thursday, October 29, 2009

Title Suckage

Okay, so I was at my writing group last night and two good writing friends of mine mentioned their dislike of new WIP's title. So, I thought, why not post some choices here and see what your thoughts were? This a contemporary YA paranormal fantasy (don't worry, I don't *think* I'll have that mouth-full in the query).

The original title was Eternal Guardians (MC is what is called an Eternal, an immortal that is like an oracle, seeing the desires of the demon underworld as visions or dreams. But, Eternals can be killed if IN the underworld, and she was killed a looong time ago. Now, her soul has been recycled because the underworld has killed off all Eternals, and they're up to no good. Each Eternal had a Guardian, who are also immortal, so the original title had a double meaning: Eternal Guardians (as in Guardians that live forever AND Guardians of the Eternal).

I also wonder if some of my choices make it sound like a Vampire book. 'Cause it so isn't that.

Poll wasn't working in the post, so it is now up at the top right corner!

PS If you have suggestions, by all means . . . ;-)

17 comments:

  1. hah, Hope! Funny stuff :P OK, I fixed it to where it's up at the top corner!

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  2. I'd love something less literal, less of a label. Is it finished yet? Maybe once you're done or almost done something will jump out at you?

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  3. Sorry girlfriend, but I agree with Suki. The first three are way too overused. In fact, I know someone who just got agented with a "The Guardians" and I've seen many other variations of that and the Eternal.

    But love Suki's suggestion "ReSouled".

    Good luck! :)

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  4. ReSouled is definitely better than the choices you put up (no offense) I can't currently think of any other titles.

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  5. OOOOOH

    I like Suki's ReSouled too!!

    That is so awesome!

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  6. Yeah, I'm with the others here. I hang out in Query Hell all the time, and I've seen *so* many Eternals, Guardians, etc - I get a pre-emptive wince whenever I see them, because I assume it's going to be just another cookie-cutter YA urban fantasy.

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  7. Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with those who said theses are overused. Sorry! It seems every other YA query in QH has "eternal" or "guardians" in it. I do love ReSouled though!

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  8. For what it's worth... there seems to be a shift toward longer, more descriptive, slightly eerie titles... for example, FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. Certainly unique and memorable! So in that vein, what about something like SEERESS OF DEMON DREAMS or something about the demon dreams... that was what immediately grabbed me about your description. Demons have dreams? Whoa, cool.

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  9. Hah! Thanks guys! (told you, I SUCK) :P Suki, you are awesome, Elizabeth, thanks for the suggestion! You are all right, I need to think of something original and catchy. Gretch, good point. My problem usually is I can't get going on a WIP until I HAVE a title, so I needed something just to get me passed the mind-block (am I the only one that's weird like this?) Even if the current title sucks, I can at least get it written and then brain storm some ideas when it's done. ReSouled IS cool though. Hmmmm, Soul seems to be a theme in a lot of new books though, so I dunno. Darn titles! Thanks guys :)

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  10. I agree with the less literal idea. I tend to steer away from the cookie-cutter titles when I'm choosing books, I like the quirky different ones that make me pick it up and read the cover.

    Maybe something inside your MC's personality? Something about her nature? Something that rings a bell when the reader reads the story.

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  11. I actually liked recycled souls when we were talking about it on AW but I think I like Eternal Guardians best out of those choices. Good luck - titles are tough!

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  12. Yeah, you suck at titles :-). Here's the thing though. It doesn't really matter. YOu're agent and/or publisher will change it anyway. Just write it.

    Tracy

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  13. Thanks Sharla, something to think about. And you have a great point, Tracy, but also, I sometimes wonder if a good title has anything to do with a request from an agent? Or no?

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  14. Oh, I struggle with titles too. And although I've heard they are almost always changed, Agent Kristin Nelson mentioned on her blog this week that sometimes if a query is so-so but has an awesome title, she'll request based on that. So it isn't something to blow off for sure. Good luck!

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