IWSG: Titles vs. Blurbs

 

I'm writing this post on Halloween, but it's time to welcome you to November. If anyone reading this is participating in National Novel Writing Month, good luck to you! I'll be happy if I finish the first draft of Restaurants and Revenge this month. (I'm well over 50,000 words, but I've changed my mind a couple of times about who the murderer is.) 

Since this is the month for writers, it's a good time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group Post. Learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. Our hosts this month are Kim Lajevardi, Victoria Marie Lees, Joylene Nowell Butler, Erika Beebe, and Lee Lowery.

Our question for November is What's harder to do, coming up with your book title or writing the blurb?

In general, I find it easier to come up with a book title than a blurb. Most novel titles come to me either before I start the story or during the first draft. Sometimes they change, but not often. In contrast, I have to finish the book (not just the first draft, but also revisions) before I tackle the blurb. As a pantser, I don't know all the twists and turns before I start writing, so I need to know the entire story before I can write the blurb. It's also easier to be pithy with a phrase than a paragraph. I feel I need more feedback from readers when writing the blurb, since it's targeted at them.

What do you find harder to write, titles or blurbs? Please let me know in the comments.

Feedback on Story Title and Blurb

As if I don't have enough writing projects (I've been splitting my writing time between two very different novels), I've returned to the Season Avatars world long enough to write a short story set about fifteen years after Summon the Seasons. This will be the first story in what I'm calling the Selathen Avatars series, and it features Rob, Jenna's son. Rob will be one of the protagonists of the first novel in the Selathen Avatars series, and this story will set up the situation that we'll find him in. I'm hoping to publish the story at the end of September to tie in with my appearance at the Gail Borden Comic Con. The story's already been through a rewrite, but I'm still trying to decide on a title. I posted three on Facebook, and of those, "Seeds in Strange Places" was the favorite. It doesn't capture an important element of the story, though. Some possible alternatives are listed below:

"Seeds and Visions"
"The Season of Visions"
"The Seeds of Vision."

Any favorites? 

I'd also appreciate your thoughts on the blurb:

As the son of Challen’s Summer Avatar, Rob has learned everything that can be done with plants without magic. But he is also the son of the Fip Empire’s War Avatar, expected to marry a Fip princess despite his lack of interest in women. The Fip’s God of War also wants to use Rob’s strange vision for His own purposes. Can Rob sort through the conflicting demands on him to create his own path?

IWSG: Names and Titles

Welcome to the June 2018 post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a group to support fellow writers. Learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. Our hosts this month are Beverly Stowe McClure, Tyrean Martinson, and Ellen Jacobson.

Our question for this month is What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

I would say book titles are more difficult for me because I change them more often than I do character names. For example, Twinned Universes was originally called To Thine Own Self Be True, then Across Two Universes (which I decided was too similar to Across the Universe, which was used for a YA SF title before I published my book) before I settled on the final title. Lyon's Legacy was originally titled Move Over Ms. L.,which was the title of a John Lennon song I quoted in an early draft. I ended up writing my own song lyrics instead to avoid legal issues. Short stories can go through several name changes as my understanding of the story evolves during writing and revising.

I generally don't change character names so often because they are core to the character. It does happen, however. In the Catalyst Chronicles series, Paul's full name was originally Paul Richard Lennon Harrison, a reference to the four Beatles. Currently it's just Paul Lyon Harrison. Sometimes I change character names if I decide to change their background. Julia is a secondary character in the Catalyst Chronicles series. I don't remember what her original surname was, but when I realized she was half-Navajo, her last name became Kee. Finally, in my current work in progress, I changed the name of a dryad prince when I realized I'd been naming the other dryads with adjective-noun combinations (Redbark, Longleaf) instead of more traditional human names. Now I just realized another character doesn't follow this naming convention. Back to brainstorming!

How often do you change names or titles? Feel free to share examples in the comments.

Short Story Titles--Votes Needed!

I'm finishing up a short story that I want to submit to an anthology by the end of the month. (Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself by mentioning the anthology!) The short story is set in my Season Avatars universe, and the anthology has a shards theme. Additional details might spoil Summon the Seasons, so I won't describe the story here. Based on what I've said, which of the following titles would you find most intriguing?

Shards of Four Colors
Shards of a Summersman
The Shards Left Behind

You're welcome to suggest tweaks to these titles as well.

I haven't talked much about my writing projects here lately. In addition to drafting Scattered Seasons, the first novel in my fantasy Season Lords series, I'm also preparing to self-publish the next book in the SF Catalyst Chronicles series, Twinned Universes. I also want to prepare a paper omnibus edition combining Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes. I'm still trying to figure out a title for that edition. I'd like to use the word "Catalyst." Here are some ideas I have in mind:

Cloning of the Catalyst

Creating the Catalyst

Catalyst's Beginnings


Do you like any of those, or do you have any other suggestions for me?