Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 294

Who Sunday: Smith and Jones, Russell T. Davies

So here’s a non-starter: add a companion who’s fallen for the Doctor even though he’s going to spend the rest of the season mourning Rose. Martha is an amazing woman kneecapped by a crush, not the first female character to be limited by her emotional reaction to a man but disappointing in this series since Rose never was. It’s hard to respect and admire somebody you feel sorry for, and Martha deserves respect and admiration. Still, we have Ten in perpetual motion, and Martha never asks for pity, so allons-y into Season Three of the reboot.

Cherry Saturday: 7-6-2013

July is National Ice Cream Month.

It’s your duty as an American to have ice cream every day.

One Happy Duck

More title work next week, but now to make you feel good all over for the weekend, here’s Buttercup, a duck with a brand new foot thanks to a 3D computer and a lot of innovative, caring people. The post is at io9, but what I love about the video, besides how damn happy Buttercup is, is how damn happy all the people around him are. You know people are good when they cheer for a duck.

Buttercup, just one of the many things that make America great. Yes, we have many flaws, but by god, WE FIX DUCKS.

Happy Independence Day Weekend, Argh Nation!

Title Week: Jill Woodley

Here’s Jill Woodley’s title request. For convenience sake, here’s a repeat of title advice from the last post:

Things to remember about titles:

• One word titles are generally not memorable; you need at least two words because the juice is in the relationship between the words, the spark that jumps between them. Temptation is a lousy title; Welcome to Temptation is one of the best of my books.

• Familiar titles, aka songs and movies, generally make your book sound run of the mill, not to mention hard to google. Maybe This Time, my book, comes up fourth on an google search after “Maybe This Time,” the song, you tube video, lyrics, and Wikipedia entry. Welcome to Temptation is the first google entry.

• If possible, the title should should like something one of your characters would say, or at least be in her or his voice. (Phin says, “Welcome to Temptation” when he meets Sophie. Nobody says, “Maybe this time” in the book.)

• If possible, the title should reflect the crackle of the conflict or the romantic juice of the story, anything that strikes a spark when you read it. This is even more important in the digital age when you often don’t have a cover, or at least a cover bigger than an inch, to draw the reader in.

• Avoid theme at all costs. Nobody ever picked up a novel and said, “I can’t wait to find out about the theme.”

• Keep it clean if you want it in a lot of stores.

And now, here’s Jill.

I have a long, long list of possible titles that I hate, and I would really appreciate some ideas from the Agh community. My story is a contemporary romance about a free spirit who falls in love with an entrepreneur, finds success on her own terms, and defeats a predatory billionairess to protect her new-found family.

The last thing arty Rose Lloyd wants is a career; her dream is to work with people she loves, make beautiful things, and keep herself in rent and cornflakes. Rose meets Ian Kinross when his obnoxious client Sasha Montgomery uses her limitless checkbook to transform an indie movie premiere into an A-list marketing nightmare, and Ian seizes the opportunity to showcase his Gilded Lily jewelry in place of a necklace made by Rose. Ian pursues Rose, professionally and personally, and though she won’t be seduced into joining his business empire, she falls hard for the man himself. Sasha has plans for Ian that don’t include Rose, and Ian’s facing business problems that push him deeper into Sasha’s clutches. That’s not an option, so Rose heads the resistance, using her design skills for more than fun; her success drives Sasha to desperate measures. Sasha plays to win and so must Rose, or she’ll lose her fledgling business, her future with Ian, and her place in the family she has come to love.

Rose says, “I’m five feet tall. I’m blonde. I look like a teenager and sound like a bumpkin. If I give an inch, people walk all over me.”

Sasha is twenty-one, acquisitive and super-wealthy. Think of a young Anjelica Huston in dressed to kill mode. She says, “In the end, it’s always about the money.”

Ian looks like a smart, handsome charlatan, but he’s family first all the way. He doesn’t enjoy the celebrity life but it works, and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep the people he loves safe and happy.

Thank you, Jenny, for posting this on Agh, and thank you in advance for any suggestions. I’m extremely grateful for your help.

Title Week: Micki Yamada

Here’s Micki Yamada’s title request. For convenience sake, here’s a repeat of title advice from the last post:

Things to remember about titles:

• One word titles are generally not memorable; you need at least two words because the juice is in the relationship between the words, the spark that jumps between them. Temptation is a lousy title; Welcome to Temptation is one of the best of my books.

• Familiar titles, aka songs and movies, generally make your book sound run of the mill, not to mention hard to google. Maybe This Time, my book, comes up fourth on an google search after “Maybe This Time,” the song, you tube video, lyrics, and Wikipedia entry. Welcome to Temptation is the first google entry.

• If possible, the title should should like something one of your characters would say, or at least be in her or his voice. (Phin says, “Welcome to Temptation” when he meets Sophie. Nobody says, “Maybe this time” in the book.)

• If possible, the title should reflect the crackle of the conflict or the romantic juice of the story, anything that strikes a spark when you read it. This is even more important in the digital age when you often don’t have a cover, or at least a cover bigger than an inch, to draw the reader in.

• Avoid theme at all costs. Nobody ever picked up a novel and said, “I can’t wait to find out about the theme.”

• Keep it clean if you want it in a lot of stores.

And now, here’s Micki.

The story begins with a triangle of suspicion. The young djini Hadiz is sent to administer a backwater, multi-cultural district after failing to follow orders to murder a dozen oil workers in Baghdad. George Diaz, a dying developer out to cement his reputation and rescue the small town of Evanston with a fabulous eco-mall, knocks a hole into the Goblin King’s chambers. Perz Jones, a paranormal plumber, doesn’t trust either party until an accidental love spell puts her firmly, irrevocably in Hadiz’s camp – the night of passion triggers a geas that compels her to be Hadiz’s bride. Perz and Hadiz team up to save the town and the caves while figuring out their complicated relationship.

By the way, the caves are in Missouri, just outside of Kansas City (they really do have a cave/industrial complex going on there!). Besides djinn and goblins, I’ve got orcs, dwarves and gnomes with speaking parts, and imps who do a fly-in. I could use a really good word for the collective supernatural beings — I’ve been using underground Folk. The major theme is that interspecies cooperation is better for everyone than flying off the handle and attacking anything that looks different. The working title is now International Bureau of Caves.

I really appreciate everyone’s help. Thank you!

Micki

Title Week: Kathy Kaiser

Here’s Kathy Kaiser’s title request. For convenience sake, here’s a repeat of title advice from the last post:

Things to remember about titles:

• One word titles are generally not memorable; you need at least two words because the juice is in the relationship between the words, the spark that jumps between them. Temptation is a lousy title; Welcome to Temptation is one of the best of my books.

• Familiar titles, aka songs and movies, generally make your book sound run of the mill, not to mention hard to google. Maybe This Time, my book, comes up fourth on an google search after “Maybe This Time,” the song, you tube video, lyrics, and Wikipedia entry. Welcome to Temptation is the first google entry.

• If possible, the title should should like something one of your characters would say, or at least be in her or his voice. (Phin says, “Welcome to Temptation” when he meets Sophie. Nobody says, “Maybe this time” in the book.)

• If possible, the title should reflect the crackle of the conflict or the romantic juice of the story, anything that strikes a spark when you read it. This is even more important in the digital age when you often don’t have a cover, or at least a cover bigger than an inch, to draw the reader in.

• Avoid theme at all costs. Nobody ever picked up a novel and said, “I can’t wait to find out about the theme.”

• Keep it clean if you want it in a lot of stores.

And now, Kathy’s book. Show her what you can do, Argh People.

Cheyenne Cole has just inherited her mother’s life–red cowgirl boots and all–but the moment she arrives in Dry Creek, Arizona, it’s clear her long-missing mother has left her something far more dangerous than a snake infested house and fifty acres of barren desert. A family land battle has been brewing for years and winning it is the key that opens the door to her future, but it also means standing in the crosshairs of the warrior-like Joseph Hawk. Cheyenne’s not afraid of Hawk, so why does Reed McConnell, a man as hard to ignore as the souped-up Chevy he drives, keep running interference for her? The battle turns to rehabbing the old Spanish Revival house when McConnell floats a deal that involves swapping his construction muscle for kid-challenged Cheyenne’s babysitting skills for his little girl River. As Cheyenne puts the old house right and builds a relationship with both McConnells, she finds the missing pieces of her past and discovers that sometimes stripping a thing down to the bare bones is necessary before the truth can shine through.

Next Who Sunday: Smith and Jones, Russell T. Davies

New season, new companion (beautiful and smart), a blood sucking alien, and a hospital moved to the moon by intergalactic cops. Or just another day in the life of the Doctor.

Name That Title Week: Jeanne Estridge

The McDaniel students are in the last class of the first year of the program, publishing. This module is on Agents and Editors and their assignment is the query letter; next module is marketing. For both of these, they need strong titles for their books, and I offered up Argh Nation as very experienced and truly excellent title brainstormers. So for the next week(s), some of the students are posting their descriptions (usually the second graph of their query letters) to you all in the hopes that you’ll find the perfect title.

Here’s a cheat sheet of title advice:

• One word titles are generally not memorable; you need at least two words because the juice is in the relationship between the words, the spark that jumps between them. Temptation is a lousy title; Welcome to Temptation is one of the best of my books.

• Familiar titles, aka songs and movies, generally make your book sound run of the mill, not to mention hard to google. Maybe This Time, my book, comes up fourth on an google search after “Maybe This Time,” the song, you tube video, lyrics, and Wikipedia entry. Welcome to Temptation is the first google entry.

• If possible, the title should should like something one of your characters would say, or at least be in her or his voice. (Phin says, “Welcome to Temptation” when he meets Sophie. Nobody says, “Maybe this time” in the book.)

• If possible, the title should reflect the crackle of the conflict or the romantic juice of the story, anything that strikes a spark when you read it. This is even more important in the digital age when you often don’t have a cover, or at least a cover bigger than an inch, to draw the reader in.

• Avoid theme at all costs. Nobody ever picked up a novel and said, “I can’t wait to find out about the theme.”

• Keep it clean if you want it in a lot of stores.

I have great faith in you.

And now here’s Jeanne’s novel:

The Wager is a darkly comic romance of 100,000 words. When a smart remark at the poker table lands the demon Belial in hot water with Satan, he tries to distract his boss by scamming God into revisiting their ancient wager over free will. God accepts the challenge, naming Dara Strong, a young widow who runs a free clinic on the Florida-Georgia border, as his champion. But Belial’s ploy backfires when Satan assigns him the mission to seduce and destroy the woman. Belial has been corrupting humans for millennia, but Dara–smart, strong-willed and raised by demon-fighting grandparents–is more than a match for him. If Belial is successful, he’ll become the most powerful demon in Hades, but if he fails there’ll be hell to pay.

Who Sunday: The Runaway Bride, Russell T. Davies

Giant, angry, red, subterranean spider: What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the Doctor telling Donna she’s unimportant, for one thing. Then he learns better.

I love Donna for many reasons, not the least of which is that she violates the “make the character likable” rule. Donna is not likable, you just want her around anyway. Which is why the rule should be “Make the character fascinating.” “Likable” is a dime a dozen; “fascinating” is the gold standard. Only Donna could have said one of my favorite lines from Who: “You’re not mating with me, Sunshine.”

Cherry Saturday: 6-29-2013

June 29th is National Waffle Iron Day.

My rice cooker wants to know why the waffles get all the love..