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

[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.

[moiread]

Though I would be rather interested in reading El Cid's Complimentary Voucher, if it came to that...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think it's more a short story than a novel....

[moiread]

Agreed! Perhaps a devious, out-of-the-ordinary businessman who's up to no good, a voucher with more to it than meets the eye, and a hapless victim who may not, in fact, make it out in the end.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Now I'm curious - is there a jester in the book? A pizza? El Cid?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No, nor any prospect of one being added in revisions.

Ignorance never stopped me before

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

You should totally use both of those titles for something at some point.

How about 101 Ways to Barbeque Dragons? No? Trebuchets for the Single Princess? Let's Go: Purgatory? Archibald Angles and the Uncomplimentary Teacup?

This is fun. Useless, but fun. :)

Re: Ignorance never stopped me before

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We used to do this with classic SF titles. The Stars in My Pocket Like Balls of Lint. A Scanner Drunkenly. Like that.

Re: Ignorance never stopped me before

[hypatia-j.livejournal.com]

My HS friends and I just added 'bacon' to titles. The Moon is a Harsh Bacon, Foundation and Bacon....

Re: Ignorance never stopped me before

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We also did the reverse with books like The Robots of Madison County and Robots in the Attic.

Re: Ignorance never stopped me before

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

That's cute!