Ah, see now, I grew up in the era when people called their stories '"Repent, Harlequin!" Said The Ticktockman" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" and suchlike. I adore a good title, and my definition of 'good' does tend to run a little towards the colourful end.
There's less of that about these days, I think. Indeed, my own stories this year, my sudden irruption into SF? 'Freecell', 'Terminal' and 'Rotten Row'. I've gone all abrupt...
Excellent news. :-) But will you be able to read your trib copy?
On the title front, I've taken to picking the pithiest title possible, because there is evidence that shorter = better when it comes to book titles in the romance market. Especially on ebooks. Four words or less if you want to sell to a fickle audience browsing through a webpage catalogue. Nevertheless, I did sell something entitled "And if I offered thee a bargain" to scottynola's sf anthology. I'm younger than you, but not so much younger that I don't remember those old time titles. :-)
On the other hand, my other influence is 70s and 80s BBC science fiction, and that could tend to the short and sharp when it came to story titles. Every episode in the final season of Blake's 7 had a single-word title...
Excellent news. :-) But will you be able to read your trib copy?
Oh, I can read it. It's understanding that's hard... (The only ones I've not actually been able to read thus far - in, forgive me, the literal sense - have been Russian and Japanese. It was being lost in Taipei that impressed on me the difference; anywhere else, I could at least read the street maps, even if I didn't know what the street-names meant. In Chinese - well, no...)
On the whole titles thing, you and davidbarnett between you have stirred me to the point where I think I might post separately about it. Probably in the writefantastic community, as I think I owe them a post...
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Date: 2007-03-23 05:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-23 05:48 pm (UTC)There's less of that about these days, I think. Indeed, my own stories this year, my sudden irruption into SF? 'Freecell', 'Terminal' and 'Rotten Row'. I've gone all abrupt...
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Date: 2007-03-23 05:59 pm (UTC)On the title front, I've taken to picking the pithiest title possible, because there is evidence that shorter = better when it comes to book titles in the romance market. Especially on ebooks. Four words or less if you want to sell to a fickle audience browsing through a webpage catalogue. Nevertheless, I did sell something entitled "And if I offered thee a bargain" to
On the other hand, my other influence is 70s and 80s BBC science fiction, and that could tend to the short and sharp when it came to story titles. Every episode in the final season of Blake's 7 had a single-word title...
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Date: 2007-03-23 06:15 pm (UTC)Oh, I can read it. It's understanding that's hard... (The only ones I've not actually been able to read thus far - in, forgive me, the literal sense - have been Russian and Japanese. It was being lost in Taipei that impressed on me the difference; anywhere else, I could at least read the street maps, even if I didn't know what the street-names meant. In Chinese - well, no...)
On the whole titles thing, you and