papersky: Title Thought

Jo Walton (

papersky) wrote,
@ 2008-05-31 08:55:00

Title Thought
How about:

Industrial Landscape, with Fairies?

This is not the book you were looking for
Ordinary People Are Weird
Interlibrary Loans Rock, But Magic Can Be Bad For You, Who Knew?
Anything For a Weird Life
Night's Plutonian Shore: Not Actually Set On Pluto
Karass
Quest for Karass

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	livredor 2008-05-31 01:00 pm UTC (link)
	I love that title. I think I love it almost better than Industrial landscape of Elfland. It sounds like a title, but doesn't really set up too many expectations of what the book will be like. (Reply to this)

	tournevis 2008-05-31 01:04 pm UTC (link)
	It does not flow for me. Industrial landscape of fairyland? Industrial landscape of faeryland? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	papersky 2008-05-31 01:21 pm UTC (link)
	But it is not about fairyland. I don't want something that makes it sound like The Iron Dragon's Daughter because it's not that kind of book. There is no secondary world. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

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tournevis, 2008-05-31 03:30 pm UTC (Expand)

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papersky, 2008-05-31 03:46 pm UTC (Expand)

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joenotcharles, 2008-05-31 04:57 pm UTC (Expand)

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joenotcharles, 2008-05-31 05:17 pm UTC (Expand)

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tournevis, 2008-05-31 07:55 pm UTC (Expand)

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radiotelescope, 2008-05-31 08:15 pm UTC (Expand)

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tournevis, 2008-05-31 09:26 pm UTC (Expand)

	txanne 2008-05-31 01:13 pm UTC (link)
	I dunno, I'm rather taken by Ordinary People are Weird. Because they SO ARE. But yeah, if you're not going with ILE, then ILWF works too. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	papersky 2008-05-31 01:22 pm UTC (link)
	It's a YA title. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 01:27 pm UTC (Expand)

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noveldevice, 2008-05-31 01:36 pm UTC (Expand)

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beamjockey, 2008-05-31 02:04 pm UTC (Expand)

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noveldevice, 2008-05-31 02:06 pm UTC (Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 02:12 pm UTC (Expand)

	stephdairy 2008-05-31 01:23 pm UTC (link)
	I think I prefer the working title to any of those. Looking back to the post of yours that started all this, I wonder whether Dramroads or Deep they delved us might fit, although JRRT's estate would probably trounce the latter. It's been amazing to watch a book grow from those musings earlier this year! (S) (Reply to this) (Thread)(Expand)

	papersky 2008-05-31 01:28 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I love Deep They Delved Us. I'd love to have written a book called that, and goodness knows it fits brilliantly. I love thematic titles. However, you're probably right re estate and fits. I've been going out of my way not to quote LOTR directly all through this book because of that. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

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drplokta, 2008-05-31 01:34 pm UTC (Expand)

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papersky, 2008-05-31 01:39 pm UTC (Expand)

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wolfinthewood, 2008-05-31 01:45 pm UTC (Expand)

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sam_t, 2008-06-02 10:44 am UTC (Expand)

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wolfinthewood, 2008-06-02 10:56 am UTC (Expand)

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sam_t, 2008-06-02 01:27 pm UTC (Expand)

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magentamn, 2008-05-31 02:02 pm UTC (Expand)

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bunsen_h, 2008-05-31 04:29 pm UTC (Expand)

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kate_nepveu, 2008-05-31 02:16 pm UTC (Expand)

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bunsen_h, 2008-05-31 01:39 pm UTC (Expand)

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janetmk, 2008-05-31 02:00 pm UTC (Expand)

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livredor, 2008-06-01 08:08 am UTC (Expand)

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sphyg, 2008-05-31 01:42 pm UTC (Expand)

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elianarus, 2008-06-01 05:31 am UTC (Expand)

	mayaknife 2008-05-31 01:30 pm UTC (link)
	"Kiss My Karass"? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	papersky 2008-05-31 01:32 pm UTC (link)
	You should write that one! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	xiphias 2008-05-31 01:34 pm UTC (link)
	I like Industrial Landscape, with Fairies, and also like OPAW, ILRBMCBBFYWK, and NPS:NASOP. (Reply to this)

	piapiapiano 2008-05-31 01:44 pm UTC (link)
	Industrial Landscape, with Fairies sounds like the title of a Richard Dadd painting. In other words, I like it! (Reply to this)

	mrissa 2008-05-31 01:54 pm UTC (link)
	I like that one. Probably also not The Real World, Shut Up About MTV Already, MTV Doesn't Own the Actual Real World, Dammit? But I still like just The Real World, too. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	womzilla 2008-06-07 12:32 am UTC (link)
	"The Realer World"? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	caindog 2008-05-31 01:55 pm UTC (link)
	I'd buy "Ordinary People Are Weird" or "Magic Can Be Bad For You, Who Knew?" (Reply to this)

	heleninwales 2008-05-31 01:58 pm UTC (link)
	I do like Industrial Landscape, with Fairies. Deep they Delved Us has wonderful resonance too and if it fits, I think it's the better title. Surely the Tolkien estate aren't that unreasonable? (Reply to this) (Thread)(Expand)

	beamjockey 2008-05-31 02:07 pm UTC (link)
	I like it, too. I have a feeling a more perfect title may be out there in the void, somewhere. But IL,wF provokes the curiosity and gives a good idea of [what I think] the book is about. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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bellinghman, 2008-05-31 02:56 pm UTC (Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 02:59 pm UTC (Expand)

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bellinghman, 2008-05-31 03:03 pm UTC (Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 03:04 pm UTC (Expand)

icon love -

vesta_aurelia, 2008-05-31 07:38 pm UTC (Expand)

Re: icon love -

txanne, 2008-05-31 07:43 pm UTC (Expand)

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muuranker, 2008-05-31 08:03 pm UTC (Expand)

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mjlayman, 2008-06-01 05:10 am UTC (Expand)

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muuranker, 2008-06-01 06:52 am UTC (Expand)

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mjlayman, 2008-06-01 07:22 am UTC (Expand)

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beamjockey, 2008-06-03 11:27 pm UTC (Expand)

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bellinghman, 2008-06-01 08:12 am UTC (Expand)

	xiphias 2008-05-31 02:12 pm UTC (link)
	I'm going to disagree with Deep they Delved Us, because, if I were a YA in the library or bookstore, I'd probably skip over that title faster than most of the other ones. If you want, maybe I can copy out these titles and, after Hebrew School on Sunday, maybe ask some of my students which of the titles they'd be most likely to pick up and read? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	papersky 2008-05-31 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	It is not a YA. This is a book for people who used to be teenagers, not for kids. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 04:00 pm UTC (Expand)

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papersky, 2008-05-31 04:20 pm UTC (Expand)

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txanne, 2008-05-31 04:21 pm UTC (Expand)

	antonia_tiger 2008-05-31 02:48 pm UTC (link)
	For some reason, pretty much unconnected with anything specific, "industrail" and "fairies" seemed to bring up, Where have all the gremlins gone?. Unfortunately, this may lead to filking. Some might think of Pete Seeger, but he was apparently inspired by a Ukrainian folk song quoted in And Quiet Flows the Don. (Reply to this)

	sartorias 2008-05-31 03:11 pm UTC (link)
	:loff: (Reply to this)

	wynnsfolly 2008-05-31 04:02 pm UTC (link)
	I'd buy ILwF (Reply to this) (Thread)

	elisem 2008-05-31 04:34 pm UTC (link)
	Me too, but you know that already. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	miladyinsanity 2008-05-31 04:59 pm UTC (link)
	Anything For A Weird Life It's a darn good YA title. I like Interlibrary Loans Rock... but it's toooo long and I would never remember it at the bookstore. (Reply to this)

	lferion 2008-05-31 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	I quite like Industrial Landscape, with Fairies, but I would grab Deep They Delved Us off the shelf in a heartbeat. But no matter what it ends up being called, I'm looking forward to reading it. (Reply to this)

	bunsen_h 2008-05-31 06:10 pm UTC (link)
	I like Industrial Landscape, with Fairies. Deep They Delved Us works nicely too, if it's got the right cover; I didn't instantly associate it with LotR but once that reference was made, I remembered it. With the wrong cover, that title would also be thematically appropriate for some really clunky porn/erotica. (Reply to this)

	darius 2008-05-31 06:13 pm UTC (link)
	I'd snatch up Deep They Delved Us even not knowing the author. The Real World I like, too -- it's too bad about the TV show. ILE as a title is excellent but does sound like The Iron Dragon's Daughter to me. (Reply to this)

	kgbooklog 2008-05-31 06:59 pm UTC (link)
	I like: Deep They Delved Us, Ordinary People are Weird, and Not Actually Set on Pluto, in that order. I do agree that most of these suggestions sound YA; is that appropriate? (Reply to this) (Thread)(Expand)

	papersky 2008-05-31 07:05 pm UTC (link)
	Not really. But most of those titles were jokes. The more I think about Deep They Delved Us the more I like it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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womzilla, 2008-06-07 12:33 am UTC (Expand)

grimmwire
2008-05-31 07:17 pm UTC (link)

I don't think I know enough about the Work In Progress to have any useful suggestions. I know where and when it takes place, but that's about it.

Most of the titles suggested so far (with tongue-in-cheek, obviously) seem too long. True, PKD got away with great long titles such as Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, but if they sound jokey then they sound YA-like.

A possibility might be to derive shorter titles from the longer ones, e.g.:
Ordinary Weird
A Weird Life
Deep Delved

(...although I don't personally like that last one. Anything with "Delved" in the title sounds like it's about dwarves. Probably because my Warhammer story had a dwarf named "Delvrak" in it.)

I might have some better suggestions if I knew what the central themes actually were. Which I'd probably know if I'd be paying closer attention.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	txanne 2008-05-31 07:44 pm UTC (link)
	Ooh, hey, _Ordinary Weird_. (Reply to this) (Parent)

jane_dark
2008-05-31 07:19 pm UTC (link)

I like Deep They Delved Us, but I still really liked Industrial Lives of Elfland, and I shall resolve to read back and see why you're not using that one.

IL,wF, for me, suggests the sort of thing that's been done before: "there ARE fairies in the human-civilized urban spaces -- there ARE!" Or, to put this differently, as though the fairies have just been added into the industrial space -- not that they're a fundamental part of it. What I'm balking at, specifically, is the "with" in your title. For me, it suggests a separation between the industrial and the elven.

And what I loved about your original post, back in February; what made me ache with wanting to read the story, was that you seemed to be suggesting an entirely different sort of story that unified, or connected, the industrial and the elven in a different way. That was how I saw the tramroads/dramroads
connection, and the idea that what you played in was post-apocalyptic, rather than left behind.

I should stop rambling at you, because I'm just a lurker, and besides, who knows how the story has grown and changed since the original vision? But the difference of "with fairies" vs. "of elfland," really just the "with" vs. "of," is really significant, from my perspective.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	jane_dark 2008-05-31 07:23 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, and the other titles are interestingly catchy or intriguing, too. I don't know at all how they match up with what you've written. But best of luck in choosing, anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wolfinthewood 2008-05-31 08:03 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know if this is any use to you at all, but your original description some weeks back of 'the industrial ruins of Elfland' reminded me of the Anglo-Saxon poem 'The Ruin'. Especially the half-line 'brosnað enta geweorc': which translates as something like 'crumbling (decaying, ruined) is/are the work (building, fortifications, ramparts) of the giants'. (Reply to this)

	fadethecat 2008-05-31 08:53 pm UTC (link)
	I would love the Interlibrary Loans one as a subtitle. (Reply to this)

Industrial Landscape, with Fairies

pir_anha
2008-06-01 12:29 am UTC (link)

i continue to like the working title best, but i like this one too. i'd definitely pick it up and look at it; it's that kind of title for me.

deep they delved us -- hmm. i don't get the reference, but even with it, that wouldn't entice me any more (because i am not a particularly big tolkien fan to start with). but it's not a bad title; it's intriguing. i cannot believe that it would be a copyright problem -- but there are people who will actually _know_ whether it'd be ok to use it.

i like a number of these titles in general (though maybe not for this book), including Night's Plutonian Shore: Not Actually Set On Pluto -- that actually fixes what was wrong for me with that title, *heh*.

(Reply to this)

	mjlayman 2008-06-01 05:17 am UTC (link)
	You know how there are Flower Fairy, Garden Fairy, etc., types of books? Maybe Industrial Fairy! Okay, I'm all right with IL, wF, but the only reason I'd pick up Deep They Delved Us is because it had your name on it. I'd think, oh no, another dwarf book. Ordinary Weird is actually a good title, but it doesn't sound right for this. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	womzilla 2008-06-07 12:34 am UTC (link)
	The Institutional Green Fairy Book? (Reply to this) (Parent)

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