What we did to settle it in our minds.

[mrissa]

Okay okay okay.

So last night's entry about titles is almost certainly the result of me a) wanting distraction and b) being nearly ready to send this thing out. I don't actually want to stall on sending it out. But sending out novels is frankly kind of scary. You have to blow your hair out of your eyes and set your jaw and decide that, no, really, you shouldn't try to make it better, you should just send it out, and no, it's probably not perfect, but removing and replacing that comma on page 58 is probably not going to make or break the agent's desire to represent you or the editor's desire to publish you so send the book out already.

But the title is bigger than a comma, and poking around at it before sending the thing out is not completely unreasonable. Especially as some of you are giving me lovely titles. For sequels. Sigh.

This one feels particularly large and looming as I prepare to send it out because I've never taken this long to revise a book I knew how to revise before. I don't want to make excuses for myself, but I also don't want to ignore reasons. The vertigo is a reason. And this is a weird combination of still dealing that and getting past it. I am still struggling through this. It's better than it was. And the book has been holding still and letting me wipe the dirt off its cheek and the frosting off its nose, and...here we are. Getting there.

Eeeek.

Comments

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Investing too much effort in the title pre-submission may come back to bite you, if the editor who buys it then wants to change the title. Which, statistically, seems pretty likely. Then it becomes "Oh noes! More work on the title!" Or possibly even worse, if you hit on one you're really committed to and then they want to change it.

On the other hand, yeah, the title does contribute to what the reader is expecting, and getting the best outcome from agent or editor does therefor depend partly on the title. Maybe less than with ordinary readers? We can hope, at least?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I agree with this first point.

As for the second -- the biggest thing a first-stage query has to do, with an agent or an editor, is hook their interest. I think it's abundantly established that you have a hooky title, and moreover one that isn't a total gimmick unrelated to the book; it's a bigger thing than the comma on page 58, but I don't think it's going to make or break someone's decision to take you on. Titles are much more easily changed than predictable plots or incoherent character motivations or other story issues, and they know that. You can't rule out the subconscious effect of the wrong title, of course, but I think it's better to go on with a maybe-imperfect-but-certainly-memorable title than a blandly inoffensive one they'll forget the instant they look at the next query.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's true, we are anti-bland here. Despite jokes about Scandosotan cooking.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that I don't think I've had an editor request that I change a short story title. Which is odd; I am used to thinking of myself as being very, very used to the idea that my prose is not deathless, at 70+ short stories and counting. But apparently that part of my prose is, if not deathless, less...in need of killing? I think this metaphor went awry on me somewhere.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I must remember this if you ever attempt to claim to be "bad at titles".

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I have elisem and zed_lopez in my posse.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

I'm still partial to What We Did... (and still want to read it). And anyway, your editor may make you change it no matter what you call it!

Of course, the thought of changing my titles during the couple weeks my editor was seriously considering that made me want to burst into tears and/or flames, so maybe that isn't very reassuring.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, and if an editor wants it changed, I will hope that she/he has some direction of change in mind. "I need it to be more...boingy," would probably make me howl at the moon. But some other things would make me...turn back to previous lj discussions and mine them for ideas, actually.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

"More perky", is what Ace wanted for the Liavek anthologies.

The moon was not the only thing towards which howls and other imprecations were directed.

[aedifica]

Was that instead of calling them "Liavek," or were they originally called something else? Or was this for the subtitles for the later ones?

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It's the subtitles; I'd forgotten the first volume didn't have one.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I missed the title post last night, having gone to bed before 2 a.m.

I like the title you have now. It is hooky and has style and voice.

And what everyone said about editors wanting to change the title? Yes, they just might.

Short story editors don't change titles or suggest that unless the title they are presented with is just dismal. Book editors and marketing geeks are a whole other breed.

Send it out. Tell it to write home when it finds work. :)