Finding the Perfect Title: Your First Love Isn't Always the Best

Before I start the meat of this blog post, I just want to say that I hope everyone had a very lucrative National Novel Writing Month! Even if you were not working on a novel, I hope that you were able to get a lot finished in another project. Even if you did not reach your goal, remember that any writing that you were able to do is more than what you had at the beginning of that month!

I have recently been focusing on a short story anthology that I had been planning for a while. With my poetry collection book, I simply used the title of one of the poems for the title of the book, and that made it very easy and avoided any kind of stress. For the anthology, I wanted to do something a little different, so I came up with a title a few months ago that I fell in love with... The thing is that not all loves are meant to last. I always search online for the title I choose to see if it is taken, and having one or two other books with the same title is okay, but the original title that I had planned on using was taken by dozens of other books, and most of them were psychology textbooks. There is no way prospect readers would be able to find the anthology if I had used that title. My book would be buried in the search!

Something that you have to keep in mind when naming your book is how well it fits with the theme of your book and if it catches the prospect reader's attention. However, it is also important to think about the reach of your book. As I stated before, when a title is shared by many different books, it can be more difficult to find what you are looking for. And what if they aren't even looking? What are the odds of someone stumbling across your book in the massive online market if it is on page 19 of the search? And how many people who would stumble across your book would also be interested in it enough to buy it? The odds grow ever more improbable as you go down the line, so the most ideal situation is to have your book appear on the first few pages of an online search!

Since I discovered that my first title that I had fallen in love with would not work realistically to my advantage, I had to come up with another idea for a title, so that is what I did. "Ink Stains", I said. I figured that it was artsy, it sounded like a good title for an anthology of dark literature; it was perfect! Just to be sure, though, I searched it. Low and behold, there was a result for that title: it was an anthology of dark literature... just like mine. My book would be easily confused with that one if I used that title. (Shoutout to the person who came up with that title for a collection of multiple authors' work. We are like-minded people, and I'm giving you free advertising!) So, your second love will not always last either.

Now, I have decided on a title for my short story anthology. (Listening to music can give you your muse and help you see the beauty in words that you previously thought ugly.) I am not totally in love with it as I was with the first two, but it is mature, safe, and it has its life together. I can see us having a future. I am ready to move forward with my plans using this title. And I never would have found the right title for me if I hadn't done some digging on the others I had thought of using.

I wanted to share my experience of trying to decide on a good title with anyone else who may be going through the same thing. I have never been the best at choosing good titles (or boyfriends, hence the metaphors), as I have a hard time imaging a brief phrase that would help describe such a broad idea as an anthology or a novel. Other writers I know have no problem coming up with a title right away, but it may be someone else's already. Don't be discouraged if your first love is taken by someone else. That just means that it wasn't good enough for you, anyway! Just keep trying to find that perfect title, and true love (success) will soon follow.

Don't Feel Guilty About Non-Traditional Writing

It's November, which is a big month for writers everywhere. Even if NaNoWriMo is too daunting for you, it is likely that you have set some kind of goal for yourself. For me, this goal was publishing my first ever book and balancing promoting it while starting on my next project. I have never finished a novel before, so I'm using this month of writing to force myself to get a significant amount of a novella finished so that I can feel like I have accomplished something.

I mainly wanted to make this blog post because it was something that I have been thinking about recently since a lot of the poetry in my new book is more experimental than following a certain style. I worry that writers who are working on projects this month may be trying to force themselves to mold their writing around the "rules" that many think exist for writing such as the three act structure. To be honest, there are no rules for writing. You may argue that grammar is basically a list of rules one must follow when writing, but Lewis Carroll has proved that entire sections of books can completely ignore grammar rules and still be very successful. As an editor, I prefer to follow grammatical rules, but following a certain structure or plot that is already laid out for you just seems like it takes the fun out of writing.

Those who say that you need to follow a certain formula or style of writing are wrong. Poetry is writing what you feel, and no one can tell you how to feel. It can be beautiful without rhyming. It can be beautiful without iambic pentameter. The main questions you should ask yourself are "does it say what I need it to say?" and "will it connect with my readers?" It is the same with stories, whether short or long. Stories do not have to follow a three act structure as long as they are engaging. Some micro-fiction do not have acts, and they are still enjoyable to read. Even blog posts like this are written mostly without any structure and are only stream of consciousness.

My main point is that you, as a writer, do not have to force yourself to write a certain way simply because that is how you are told it is done. Some of the most iconic writers of all time have broken boundaries of rules in their literature. Write what you want to convey to the reader, and if you convey it well, the reader will enjoy it. And if you like following the rules, that's fine too. Everyone should write in whatever way makes them feel the most inspired. Happy National Novel Writing Month!

Finding Your Style and Resisting the Urge to Follow the Crowd

Lately, I've been going through a sort of crisis with the fact that I have next to nothing published. It seems like many other people my age are living on their own with amazing jobs, doing what they love. Meanwhile, I am stuck in the same rut I have been in for years. So, I decided to do something stupid in an effort to make some money off of writing: sell out. 

I was struggling to write a children's book because they tend to be easier to publish since they are much shorter and printing costs are low. However, I came to the realization that writing at a 1st grade level is not my style. The story was boring to me; and, if it is boring to me, you can bet that it would be boring to the kids reading it too. There was no way that this would sell, and, even if it did, I would hate it. 

I had to come to terms that my style is not suited for the profitable market of publication. I like big words and prose-like descriptions. I also like writing Gothic literature, and it's hard to write that for youngins, being that it would be too scary for them. I like writing deeply psychological character-focused stories with themes too complex for children to understand. I might be able to get away with writing a 4th or 5th grade level children's novel if I push the fantasy aspect of my writing over the psychological stuff, but it would no doubt take a very long time for me to find the inspiration to get through an entire novel when it takes me over a month to complete a simple short story. 

Yes, this post was a lot more rambling than my last one, but I wanted to share these thoughts because I am sure there are other writers out there who had the same thought as I did to write what is popular with audiences just to make some quick cash when it really goes against the very essence of your work. My advice is not to go down that path because you will struggle the whole way through writing it, and you will hate yourself for it. Writing is pain, yes, but it is also supposed to be fun, and you should be proud of the work you put out into the world. Don't follow the crowd because the average reader these days likes crap like Fifty Shades of Grey, so what do they know? Someone who reads just what is popular and can't form their own opinions is not worth your talent.

The Agonizing Wait- Or Wondering if Your Work is Good Enough

As some of you may know, I had recently written a short story to submit to an online publisher that was having a special themed magazine in mind and were accepting short story submissions of the post-apocalyptic genre. Of course, this was a struggle for me because apocalyptic stories of any kind are not my strong-suit, as I am usually more character-focused than world-focused. It was also stressful because I had never written a story outside of my genre in only two weeks, which is all the time I had before the deadline. (I only found out after I had submitted that the deadline was pushed back. Sure, I was angry, but I apparently work well under pressure, so hurray for that!)

Nonetheless, with many factors working against me, I made it work. While the story I turned out is of the apocalyptic persuasion, I still crafted it to be the Gothic literature that I know and love. In fact, the ending was so cruel that it even made me, the writer, tear up a bit. It was perfect.

However, I didn't feel that way for long. Many writers go through this stage of thinking that their work is crap after they have already submitted it and can make no further changes to it. Not to mention the fact that I have to wait on a response, whether positive or negative, for about five months. Five months! That is such an agonizingly long wait. I would really like the response to be affirmative so that I can have a publication under my belt that is my work alone. (I have only previously published a comic book that I only co-write and an article about steampunk, but none of my own stories have been professionally published.)

The other sad thing about this is that I expended so much creative energy trying to push that story out in two weeks that, when I attempt to work on some of the other stories I have planned, nothing good comes out of it. I was working on a children's book that I wanted to be a picture book, but now I'm thinking of restarting it as a chapter book because I can't seem to get the plot going fast enough for such a young audience. I know that it is a petty complaint, but I want to branch out a bit more with age groups because most of what I have produced so far can only be enjoyed by young adults or full-grown adults, but I enjoy reading children's books the most, so it would make sense for me to write for that audience, right?

In short, waiting for a response back about one story is making me doubt my ability to write other stories. It is not like this is the first time I've ever submitted something. In fact, I have tried to publish two other short stories and three poems before, all to no avail. However, for some reason, this one is hitting me hard. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that I have been joining in on writers' groups and meetings lately, and it seems like everyone is published except for me. I don't want to be trailing behind the group, floundering in a world that I can't seem to break in to. I want people to recognize that I have talent, too. Maybe that request is a little selfish... but it would be nice to be able to share my creations with many people in a way that will also allow me to pay off my student debt.