How to title every book you ever write

I ran across this post last week and had to share it. It's hilarious! And actually might be a good idea. I tried out their ideas and came up with a few titles for my books.

Here's the link to the article:

How to title every book you ever write.

Here's the first example:

The Promising Debut Novel
Title: (Scent of your deodorant or shampoo) on (street you grew up on)
Example: Almonds on High Street

(If neither your deodorant or shampoo have a named scent, substitute the word “Mornings.”)
Now on to the second novel. Hailed as a new literary talent and tired of being asked if your first book’s main character was based on yourself, you’ll set your next book very slightly in the past (like the ’80s or ’90s, don’t get carried away) and it will center around a family secret. You have two title options, depending on whether your protagonist is male or female.


The Disappointing Sophomore Effort
Female
Title: The (your father’s profession)’s Daughter
Example: The Locksmith’s Daughter
 

Male
Title: Get out your favorite album. Rank the tracks in order of how much you like them. Take the fourth song. Print out the lyrics to that song and black out any that are well known. From the remaining lyrics, choose either the first or second half of a complete thought. Note: It must be meaningless and out of context.
Example: Funny How It Never Felt So Good


The Legacy-Building Important Literary Novel
Title: The (your first job title)s
Example: The Carhops
(If your first job title isn’t that evocative, like “event planner” or “clerk,” add the county in which you live. Example: The Event Planners of Cook County.)


Another Literary Novel to Prove the Last One Wasn’t a Fluke
Title: (your birth month)(third most populous city in the first foreign country you ever visited)
Example: December in Marseille


Your Agent Pointed Out That You Could Make Some Money Without Writing Anything New
Title: You’ll need a purse or briefcase or, if you don’t have either, open your messiest desk drawer. Close your eyes, reach in and grab whatever is in the very bottom or back. Add “The Wisdom of” before that item.
Example: The Wisdom of Eyeglasses


Here are my book titles taken from the above helps/examples:


Summerberries on California Street

Mornings on California Street

The Teacher's Daughter

And the Tables Turn

Santa's Helper

August in Taipei

The Wisdom of the Tiny Notebook

hahaha! These are great! Some sound a little racy. Maybe I'll write more romance. 

What about you? What were some of your titles?

Wednesday Writing with 2 Felines ~ Reverse Outlining

There's a lot you can do when you edit a picture. Take the two examples above. The first picture shows two cats on a green blanket, possibly in a garage. There's a lot of detail that really isn't necessary. After cropping, the second picture shows just the one cat and his whiskers and sleepy eyes.
The same type of editing works for writing. Less background detail (i.e. info dumping), close up detail (character's flaws, etc) and focus (insights, hints, foreshadowing).

I had the good luck to attend ANWA's (American Night Writer's Association) Time Out For Writers Conference in February 2015. And lucky enough to go to Phoenix where it was 70 while back home it was 30. I even got a light tan line.
But I digress...
There were many classes I really enjoyed, but the one from Lisa Magnum's stuck with me so I want to share it with you. I really needed a new way of editing and this helped tremendously.


Reverse Outlining

1.    Examine each chapter

a.     Who is the star?

b.     What new info is learned?

c.      What action is taken?

d.     Does the plot move forward?

2.    Follow every character’s thread

a.     Where do they begin?

b.     What are the events that trigger change?

c.      Is there a logical progression to their development?

d.     Where do they end?

3.    Summarize main theme

a.     What symbols have you used to communicate the theme?

b.     Are there areas in the manuscript where you can strengthen without being obvious?

I opened a new document and went through each chapter for step #1. It was eye-opening and very informative. Here, let me show you part of what I did:

Ch 5 letter

Emma is affected by weather. Keeps busy cleaning.

Major Henry gets a dance going. He chivalrous. William G. Henry

Nielson is Major Henry’s soldier and plays the fiddle.

*** does Dr. Peyren play the fiddle earlier? Or talk about it?

Priscilla is affected by Major Henry. She dances with patients.

The asterisks are ideas or missing information I want to add. After I worked on this chapter, I italicized this so I knew that I had finished the work.

After I finished step #1, I would do #2, then #3. This editing only took me a couple of days but I felt like it upped my story and made it better. 

What do you do to edit? 

How cats have nothing to do with your writers block

Working the bow

They really don't care about your writing, you know. Cats don't. They don't care about anything except the sunbeam on the carpet they can curl up in or the soft food you feed them or the tickle under the chin.

We have two outdoor cats but occasionally they sneak in (read: the kids let them in). We have them mainly for the mice that love the empty fields around our house. Our cats are excellent mousers and have earned their keep. They usually don't distract me from writing except when one is inside and wants attention. That's when they get put back outside. I do have to admit that pets in general are calming and give a sense of belonging.

I've noticed a number of authors have cats. Their felines show up on Instragram and FB more than the humans. That is distracting. Not the cats. The social media. It's easy to get sucked in. So in an effort to help my fellow writers, I will post something to do with writing every Wednesday. It might be a tip or a writing prompt or an inspirational quote. All accompanied by a picture of cat. Just in case.

And I shall call this day:
What do cats have to do with it?
No. Um.
Writerly Wednesday with Cats.
Hm.
Get your writing on.
Any ideas?

In frustration, she heaved a sigh

(First off, I'm not sure that title is grammatically correct. Second, I would love to see what a sigh looks like and how it looks to heave it.)

Do you have trouble coming up with a different way to show emotions in your story? Yeah, me too.
The Bookshelf Muse is a huge help with this dilemma! They have put together a "thesaurus" for us writers.
The other day, I needed a new way to show, not tell, my character's frustration. I went to The Bookshelf muse and found a ton of ideas!

For instance:

  Rushed, heavy breathing, hot intakes of breath, an impatient snort or sneer
· Gritting teeth
· Needing to take a moment to calm down
· Storming out of a room
· Throwing hands up
· Stalking away from someone, leaving in a huff
· Name-calling, personal jab, trying to hurt in retaliation
· Sarcasm
· Speaking without thought, often leading to regret
· Slamming a door
· Grabbing hair in clumps, looking up at the sky "Why me?"
· A heavy sigh
· A strained voice

Those were just a few of helps for me.
LOVE this resource.
Go try them out.
You'll be glad you did!