What We Did to Ask Your Opinion

[mrissa]

Please note that I am aware that most of you have not read this book, so you are not being asked to comment on whether the title works well for the specific book I've written. (Although if you have read it, feel free to e-mail me with opinions on how the title worked for you.)

[Poll #1294645]

Also, if you ran across a book called What We Did to Save the Kingdom, what, if any, preconceptions would you have about it? (Funny, serious, high fantasy, swashbuckling, sword-wielding protagonist, lots of boats, whatever.)

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

in the same vein as _superheroes_ which just came out by david (mumblemumble). fun and interesting and addressing serious questions about life in a sneaky fun way.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That would be David J SCHWARTZ, who is snurri and a friend of this house. Buy it now! On sale today in all fine retailers!

Ahem. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[aedifica]

I can't really say what preconception I'd have of it, because I've known for a while that you were writing a book with that title and so my preconceptions of what a book with that title would be like are all mixed up with my preconceptions of what a book from you would be like. But I think that as others have said, I'd expect it to be humorous and I'd hope it was in a self-aware kind of way, rather like DWJ's The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, and probably appropriate for the YA crowd even if not marketed directly at them.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I love that title, but like Bear, I'm pretty sure a marketing department would kill it or try to market it like a Terry Brooks book. But I think of marketing and titles way too much. That's why the book I'm writing now will go out into the world as Reasons and not with it's real title, Reasons to fall in love while fleeing dire wolves, goblins and assorted alaurms . Marketing would hate that title even though I love it.

Preconceptions--I instantly think of a group of people forced into doing things they normal wouldn't do to save what they have. I don't necessarily think of humor, and while I do think fantasy right away, it could be high fantasy, urban fantasy, almost anything. But serious, with touches of humor to lighten things up.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

So I think you're pretty spot on, but it sounds like you may be alone in this. Ah well; if I didn't want to know, I wouldn't ask.

[sageautumn.livejournal.com]

Maybe. It sounds like a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" sort of sense of humor about itself. And what would I expect it to be like... hmm... sort of a cross between Hitchhikers and "With a Single Spell" by Lawrence Watt Evans.

It does sound slightly YA to me... but I don't see anything wrong with YA. Some of my favorite books are YA, and I think anything with a sense of humour tends to be kinda slid toward that direction anyway (as in, I think a funny book has to try harder to be a grownup).

[crimini.livejournal.com]

If I saw it as a manuscript, I'd think it was humor or parody or was leaning in that direction. It could possibly be farcical and perhaps metaphorical.

I would not necessarily thrust it into the YA category based on the title.

I would also start to wonder if the title could be shortened. But if the book deemed necessary to hold onto such a length, then I'd insist upon it--although shorter titles are preferred, it's not unheard of to keep long ones (or as so many do, insert subtitles or series titles, which imo are the same thing).

I'd read it.

Once it was packaged and marketed, you have a completely different beast. People look at the entire package not just the title to give them the tone or type of book to expect, even in the vaguest way. But a manuscript is bare of all that except what's on the page, so expectations are less rigid, I'd hope.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'd hope so, too, but I'm seeing a lot of things that are saying that while this might be a fine title, it's probably not a title that goes all that well with this book. Sigh.

[clarentine]

To me, the title sounds faintly cerebral, in the sense that the clues of where it's shelved (in adult fantasy) would indicate there's more to the story than that simple concept of saving the kingdom--which, yes, sounds fairy tale and for kids. Taken as a whole, however, I think it would intrigue me rather that putting me off.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

On potential originality of content, I'd vote yes.

But then for me a book titled WWDtStK would be a bit like my Middlemost but with an undertone of a little more, and possibly a bit darker, emphasis on the What. So, at least a little bit of wit/irony on a seemingly standard fantasy plot but with a darker thinky edge of exactly what saving a 'kingdom' entails (and that could be a non-fantasy kingdom so long as there was a fantasy feel to the plot). Middlemost, but with more about 'doing what needs must be done' and what that costs the people who do it. Not humour, but characters with a sense of humour.

And I think I'd find it memorable -- I'm prone to remembering stories but forgetting titles. Clearly someone thought *those* titles were memorable, so my taste in quirky meaningful is not relevent to market fetishes. Which I guess means, I like it and an editor who loves the book may like it -- but possibly not (given one agent sent me a form rejection referring to Artemis rather than The Middlemost Child, I may also have a titling problem) :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Which is better than a tilting problem, I feel sure.

[skzbrust.livejournal.com]

It makes me think of, "How I won the War," and things like that; I would be inclined to expect a humorous story with a fairly strong plot.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Like someone way upthread, this title would cause me to expect a book aimed at younger than YA: probably eight to ten. But I have a very specific reason: it has the same structure as What I Did On My Summer Vacation. So, absent further information, I'm expecting protagonists of about the same age as people who have to write reports on their summer vacation, who have saved the kingdom, and in the frame tale are explaining it all to the adults, who may not have even realized that the kingdom was in danger. None of this means the book is bad, mark you, but I fear I might blithely assume age-appropriateness based on the title and hand it to a small child. All die, O the embarrassment.

I regret, I have a congenital inability to name things, so I have no alternatives for you.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't expect people who hadn't read it to come up with suggestions in any case, because they might as well throw darts at a dictionary at that point. "Um...could it be called The Jester's Pizza Arrangement?" No. "El Cid's Complimentary Voucher?" Probably not.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

I would expect fantasy with some humor. I would probably expect it to be teen appropriate although not necessarily written for them.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

The title to me points to a voice; ironic or snarky (including variants of "deconstructive"), sometimes humorous. A rather modern voice for that reason. So that means definitely not "high fantasy".

"Kingdom" places it firmly as fantasy.

I tend not to detect YA via titles, and don't much care about the line anyway, so no strong opinion on how it would hit people in that dimension.

Of course the whole package would give a lot more clues about what it was than just the title does.

I think it's a great title (personal opinion, I don't pretend to know what titles work to market a book).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

But you've read it; it is high fantasy. That disconnect doesn't strike you as a problem?

(Or are we running into the thing yet again where I think I've written something in one genre and everyone else thinks it's in another?)

[pameladean]

I wouldn't think it had to be a light fluffy fantasy, nor that it had to be a comedy. I would not expect high fantasy, but rather something quirkier and more grounded in things that happened after 1900. I might expect a kind of memoirish or didactic tone, but wouldn't mind being wrong. Or right! Memoirs and fictional didacticism (as opposed to authors' getting carried away with what they know and MUST TELL YOU) are delights.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Fictional didacticism. Oh yes. I didn't do that this time, but I should, because I like it too.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

1) I picked "neutral" because I don't judge a book by its title. (E.g., "His Dark Materials" sounds like something I'd find in my son's diaper).

2) I hate to say it, but the title sounds to me like one of those Rapture novels.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the title!

I think I would imagine a book in which people did surprising things to try to save a kingdom. And maybe they broke rules they didn't think they would, and made unusual alliances?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That is in fact what they do. So that's good.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I would expect both politics and adventure, I think, done in a not overly serious style. Which is to say, not a humorous novel, but one that is not sitting there saying I R SERIUS BOOK PLZ CONSIDER 4 AWARD. A novel with some sense of irony. (Which might then go on to win an award because it doesn't have a stick up its posterior.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I do try to write books without the posteriorly inserted stick.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I would expect either a YA book or a book with a good deal of wryness/irony. Not humor, per se, or at least not what I think of when people say 'fantasy humor' -- more like Sorcery and Cecelia or something along those lines. Witty, maybe.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

I would expect it to be funny in that Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Peregrine: Primus, The White Deer, The Last Unicorn sort of way -- which is to say it could also be simultaneously serious, but it is a little self-aware/tongue-in-cheek about its genre conventions.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

It brings to mind Down & Out in the Magical Kingdom. Which is neither good nor bad, but is where my head would be at when reading the jacket blurb & whatnot. I almost never read reviews when selecting reading material for myself, even when they're stuck on the book cover; a good summary and an excerpt in the front go further to catch my attention.

[careswen.livejournal.com]

I would expect at least a little lightheartedness, but not necessarily complete fluff or YA. I would rule out This R Serious Book, but otherwise I'd say it's wide open. Knowing nothing else, I would base my final decision on the cover art and text.

[joeboo-k.livejournal.com]

I'm flipping on this. I like the title, it has a nice Cherie Priest ring to it (seriously, that title channels Priest's Wings to the Kingdom for me).

If I really think about the title, it has more of a comic fantasy feel to it, veering towards an older YA audience.

Just an opinion. But I like the title.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's got wings all over it, too, so I'm sorry cmpriest already used that awesome title. Sigh.

[akitrom.livejournal.com]

Because the book announces, from the title on, that whoever "we" are, we did in fact save the kingdom, I would imagine that the book could get very dark and scary, in the way that fairy-tales do once they establish that, ah yes, the heroine surely will eventually triumph.

If I were reading the book, I would try to figure out who the "we" in the title refers to, and I'd be on the lookout for other groups who are trying to save their vision of what the kingdom is.

[thorintatge.livejournal.com]

I'd expect a certain measure of friendliness in the book. Certainly nothing Machiavellian. It feels chummy. Maybe like the 'we' in the title is a married couple along with some of their assorted relatives and fishing buddies.

[keilexandra]

Hmm. My first impression is YA, but it could also work as a light-hearted humorous fantasy a la Pratchett.