posted
So my current WIP is just hitting 100 pages, and I feel like it's time for it to shed its working title and emerge, blinking, into the sunlight of an identity and title of its own.
The current contenders:
Ghostridden
Between the Walls of Shadow
She Walks in Darkness
None of the above-- they all stink, Gen, can't you tell? Really.
"Ghostridden" is a term from the book, which is urban fantasy, leaning a bit towards the humorous but with an ambivalent ending. No vampires, if that's relevant.
Which of these would make you pick up the book if you saw it? Which would make you avoid it like the plague? Do you hate them all? Somehow I don't think "The Adventures of Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist" is going to cut it much longer.
posted
Gen, Between the Walls of Shadow is my vote. It has lots of implications and enough mystery to make me curious. It caught my attention right away. Jerry
Posts: 35 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I'm torn...Ghostridden and Between the Walls of Shadow are both ery good....it's close, but I'm going to give my top vote to Ghostridden. I don't know exactly what it means, but it makes me curious to find out. (I would asume the book wuold explain.) It gives you just a hint that there's something other wordly about the book while still wanting to make you turn to the back flap to find out what's up with this word I've never seen.
Between the Walls of Shadow is also good and would probably make me look at the back cover, especially if the cover art was good. But it would have more trouble distinguishing itself from all the other titles that try to sound like a dream, as this one does.
Don't go with She walks in Darkness...doesn't ring right, IMO.
posted
I agree with Christine...that last title just doesn't do much. I'm likely to see "She Walks in Darkness" and keep on walking myslef.
I like "Between the Walls of Shadow" myself. THe only issue is it's kinda long. Perhaps just Walls of Shadow...or maybe The Cyphers Chronicles...or maybe Chasing Shadows....
Or maybe Zeller should just shut up and admit that really, that second title you proposed is pretty good and certainly would make me at least read the back to find out more.
posted
Actually, "The Adventures of Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist" would make me pick it up fastest. If it's truly got a humorous bent the other titles might be a little too serious. Hard to say without a sense of the tone. Why don't you post thirteen lines?
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I like 'Ghostridden', Or 'Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist'. I was never much a fan of "the adventures of". (except for in 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzi') Or fuzion is always fun, so 'Elizabeth Cyphers Riding a Ghost Between the Walls of Shadow while Walking in Darkness and it Stinks Above'(from your last choice.)
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Thanks to everyone for the input thus far. I'm still weebling on the subject, but on the matter of Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist-- I think I'm shooting for an appropriate title for a serious book with funny bits in, as it were, rather than a funny book up front. And the tone goes from the serious chapter header bits ("Why don't we assume there's something out there in the darkness looking back at us?") to the action asides ("Holy water will only do the trick on the evil spirits, but Aunt Mel's special recipe Ghost Gone concoction worked on everything, even stubborn grease and ectoplasm stains").
Giving something a funny title feels like an invitation to take it as a comedy and nothing more, and while I want people to get the humor, there's a great deal of stuff in there that I care about, that wouldn't have the same impact if the title gave them a reason to be reading it solely for laughs. (Rather like the problem with starting humorous books: the situation (eg, pratfall) or the character (eg, prat) have to be humorous with no preexisting information; humor that comes from who the characters are, the kind of humor I like, seems to develop later on.)
posted
I like "Ghostridden", but maybe I'd rather go with a "Between the Walls of Darkness", or The Shadows' Hunter" or things like that.
I don't know, it's "Ghostridden" the term you use in the book to call Elizabeth's activity? Or is it the name of people she fights against? Because if it is, a title "Elizabeth, the Ghostrider" or things like that wouldn't be that bad
posted
I like Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist best as well. Has kind of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel to it. I would be twice as likely to pick up the book and read the blurb on the back for that title than any of the others you've proposed.
Ghostridden would be my second choice. It implies an infestation of ghosts.
Between the Walls of Shadow and She Walks in Darkness are very generic. They could easily be horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, or literary.
posted
none of those titles seem to cry Exorcist to me. gohstridden is the closest, but seems to sound more like a haunted place.. dont exorcists seek out the ghosts?
seeking spirits .. no not the title suggestion, its just been a long day (sorry for the pun)
posted
Thank you to everyone for all of the comments! This is great.
I did a final tally, and I think (allowing for flexibility on multiple votes) it comes down to 8 votes for "Ghostridden," 6 for "Between the Walls of Shadow," and 1 for "She Walks in Darkness." (Plus 3 or 4 for "Elizabeth Cyphers, Girl Exorcist," but I threw that title out because I was being a tad sarcastic, and it doesn't really fit...) When added to the unanimous family-and-roomie votes for "Ghostridden," the decision is clear: "Elizabeth The Ectoplasmic Hound." I think it works.
Joking! The book's now titled "Ghostridden." Marketable; hopefully intriguing; relevant; and it fits nicely with the other titles I'm playing around with for some other ideas I'm bouncing around in this world.
"She Walks in Darkness" was adapated from the Byron, LL-- one of my favorite poems, too. I also played around with "All That's Best of Dark and Bright," which might make it in as a chapter heading some day. Those don't have to be marketable... "Between the Walls of Shadow" is from a Carl Sandberg poem. I'm keeping them around for chapter titles or short stories I might write in this world.
While Elizabeth does do exorcisms, that isn't where her primary talents lie, the great and painful talents she's in denial about. I'm not exactly making her life easy right now... heh heh heh.
posted
I like She Walks in Darkness, but it looks like it may not be appropriate. I, too, was reminded by the poem by Byron. (Here's some more of it)
quote:She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellow’d to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair’d the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!
*sigh!*
Oh yeah, the title! Well, I like Ghostridden the best for what you've described of the book.
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