posted
I'm working on the final draft of my novel (I hope). It is still untitled. If you wouldn't mind taking a second, could you just give me your first impression of this title? Without knowing anything else about the book, if you just saw the title on the spine of the book at a bookstore, what would you think of it?
posted
Depends on what you're going for. If disaffected youth, psychological disfunction, or self-inflicted solitude play a large part in the book, then Pariah Complex is groovy.
BUT, its a fairly high-level word if you are looking at it from the eyes of appealing to a broad audience.
Synonyms, according to thesaurus.com, searching on "pariah" are: "bum, castaway, deportee, derelict, displaced person, exile, expatriate, fugitive, hobo, leper, outsider, persona non grata, rascal, refugee, tramp, undesirable, vagabond, vagrant, waif"
I've always loved the word "derelict," especially in space. It brings up lots of connotations that I like, and I would pick up a book with the title, "The Derelict Complex," more readily than pariah.
If you are talking about more of a forced exile, rather than a self-induced one, then "exile" returns the following synonyms: "bum, castaway, deportee, derelict, displaced person, exile, expatriate, fugitive, gypsy, hobo, leper, pariah, rascal, refugee, reprobate, tramp, untouchable, vagabond, vagrant, wretch"
The Castaway Complex has a nice alliterative ring to it.
However, I think you should try to find what works for you as the working title. Because the publisher's marketing division will certainly weigh in if it gets purchased. According to the foreword, OSC wanted "Ender's Shadow" to be named "Urchin." I think he settled for the first section being called Urchin instead.
In any case, I think its important to try to find a catchy title, but realize that selling the body of the book is a lot more important (IMHO).
posted
Nice...vague enough so that you don't know whether it's a psychological disorder or a group of buildings.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:I don't like the word complex. Sounds like bad psychiatry or a building.
Lol! I agree here.
I'm not too fond of it. It seems like the theme has become the title. It would be like calling LotR "Good Prevails Against Evil" or something.
Much of my impression, I guess, would depend on the genre. Oddly enough, if it were sci fi I'd be more interested because it might be some concept or the name of some building (as stated above) that has importance in the story.
posted
Sounds fine to me, but remember, the publisher will help you with a title. From blogs I've read, the title doesn't make much difference when it comes to submitting. If it sucks, they'll help you change it.
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posted
Depends on what you're going for. Since I don't know exactly what a "pariah complex" is, the first thing that popped in to my head for comparison was "Oedipus complex" and "Electra complex." If that's the comparison you're going for, some psychological disorder type thing, then I say go for it.
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posted
The impression I got was more emotional than psychological. A pariah complex is something I might feel sympathy for... that's the impression anyhow.
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posted
Add a "The" to it and it could pass for a Robert Ludlum title...
There's nothing wrong with a title that conveys multiple meanings to the reader. One of my favorite titles is "Midnight by the Morphy Watch." If you don't know the story, what does the title mean?
posted
I'm not so sure that it's particularly high lit in itself - chastity pariah is the name of a character in Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. Considering that it's one of my all-time favorite movies, I'm not sure I'm very high lit, either. But I like it for a title, and the possibility of several different meanings (I think somebody pointed out the play on "complex") makes it intriguing. I'd take a look at it on a shelf for that very reason. It makes me wonder what it's about.
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