Monday, March 27, 2017

Picking a Title and Guesting

I hope you'll join me today over at Kathleen Watson's blog where I'm talking about space opera science fiction and why it's so popular. I accidentally linked to it last week but I was seven days too early. Please stop by.

I finished my WIP and am still working on a title. I'm not enthusiastic about the one I came up with. My publisher has helped me in the past when I can't settle on something. There is a lot of advice out there for picking a title for your book. Over at Writer's Digest, Chuck Sambuchino has these five bits of advice.  Anne R. Allen has ten tips for choosing a title. Maybe I can figure out a good one.

My daughter and I had a recent discussion about books, movies and TV shows that have made us cry. We had no trouble agreeing on a book. My daughter convinced me to read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Hein a while ago. Most heartbreaking fiction book EVER. I will never re-read it. On TV, we both agreed that the GoT episode, Hodor, led to loud, ugly sobbing. I'm bracing myself for the last episode of Grimm this Friday. I've been a steady if not always enthusiastic fan of the show from the start and it all ends this week. I'm not expecting happiness.

I went to the cafe at the local BAM a few days ago so I could concentrate on some rewrites since our house was rather noisy with March Madness cheers and groans. To my disappointment, the cafe was loud and very distracting. Now I don't expect a bookstore to be a library, but it's usually pretty calm. To make matters worse, the people being loud and distracting were the workers. Irritation happened but I did get something done.

This Friday is the last of the month and the start of a new monthly blog hop. We Are the World members will blog the last Friday of every month and share positive stories and thoughts with the world. Every little bit helps.

I went with my daughter last week to see Beauty and the Beast. It was very nice and we had a good time. It closely followed the original animated version but I didn't mind. Great special effects for the talking household items and on the Beast.

Are you a fan of space opera? What book, movie or show has made you cry recently? Do you have trouble picking titles for your work? Do you like your bookstores quiet?

19 comments:

nashvillecats2 said...

A great post Susan, "We Are The World" sounds like a super idea for a blog hop.

Have a good week.
Yvonne.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Thank you for the reminder about Friday. I still need to come up with something.

Titles can be tricky. My only suggestion is make sure there aren't other books on Amazon with the same title.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

There have been some exciting games this month.
I'm not good with titles. My publisher helped with several of mine.
The saddest, most soul-crushing movie I've ever seen was Pan's Labyrinth. Brilliant film, but I could never watch it again.

messymimi said...

Good luck finding a title, i have a hard enough time some days picking a title for a blog post, i can't imagine trying to title a book!

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Oh, I remember that GoT episode! Heartbreaking!

Good luck with picking a title! I'm sure you'll come up with something great. :)

Christine Rains said...

Hodor! Oh yes, that was a heartbreaking one. I haven't read any books lately that have led to tears. Good luck with a title. I usually have trouble with those myself.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Good luck with your search for a title. We never seem to have a problem with ours. We don't really think about them that hard. They just kind of come to us at one point or another while writing the story.

Nothing's gotten me teary eyed as of late, but that Hodor scene was very emotionally gripping. It tugged at my black little heart strings.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm glad you're participating on the We Are The World. Wish I could, but I'm over-extended; however, I'll try to post about it as I see it make the rounds.

Maria Zannini said...

I'm a bit shocked the cafe was noisy. Apparently, the manager was out of the store.

Pat Hatt said...

Poor Hodor indeed. Can't say I got weepy on anything though.

Titles usually come to me, if not I just keep writing and they do by the end.

Janie Junebug said...

I'm reading Code Name Verity now. I guess I need to get ready to sob. The saddest book I've ever read is Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Love,
Janie

Chrys Fey said...

I have the last two episode of GoT Season 6 to watch. *spoiler* Hodor's death was the saddest one so far! :'(

J E Oneil said...

I'm terrible with titles. Of all the stories I've written, I think I've liked the title on two of them. I can't think of any fiction that's ever really made me cry. I don't know. I guess I'm weird.

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm awful with titles!!! It takes a LOT of work for my poor brain! :)

I'm not a fan of things that make me cry - probably because there are so many of them! My parents banned me from watching Little House on the Prairie because I was always sobbing :)

Patricia Stoltey said...

There was one episode of Nashville on TV that made me cry...and the tears kept coming for an hour after the show was over. As for books, both Code Name Verity and Mischling were heart breakers.

I'm going to check out We Are the World -- I love that idea of regularly posting upbeat, positive stories.


Janie Junebug said...

I was reading Code Name Verity while I ate my lunch in the neighborhood diner. I got to the part that stunned me. I probably would have cried if I hadn't been in the diner.

Stephen Tremp said...

Me, I need a happy ending. Boy meets girl. Kills bad guy. Gets the girl. I stay away from bummer heart breakers.

H.R. Bennett said...

I don't know how it happened, but I think my official genre at the moment literally IS space opera. But that aside...yes. I adore the genre as a whole.

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