Or at least one of them. I'm irritated by novel titles that use this format:
The [Profession/Position/Identity]'s [Relative]
Say, for example:
The Time Traveler's Wife
Over the past five or six years I've come across far too many books that march in tight fashionable lockstep title-conformity. The first few were fine, but after awhile they multiplied and it became more and more precious and pretentious. Maybe the publishers are saying "Look, this is a good book, but if we change the title to this vaguely post-modern literary-sounding format that stresses relationships we'll make an extra $50K." I came across yet another one in the new books section at the library today, and felt like tossing it out the window. I'd thought the trend was over.
Let me just make some random ones up to illustrate what I'm talking about - though I'm sure that some of these are real titles:
The Butcher's Daughter
The Assassin's Son
The Beekeeper's Niece
The Dictator's Friend
The Spy's Nephew
The Traitor's Lover
The Diplomat's Wife
The Musician's Uncle
The President's Husband
The Astronaut's Wife
The Torturer's Daughter
The Transvestite's Son
The Explorer's Great-Aunt
The Grandmother's Monk
The Writer's Second Cousin
The Magician's Apprentice
The Killer's Aquaintance
The Nephew's Uncle
The Niece's Journeyman Locksmith
The Hearing Impaired Lesbian Farmer's Adoptive Maternal Grandfather's Second Cousin
Friday, March 14, 2008
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9 comments:
I'm pretty sure the Magician's Apprentice is actually a real title. Titling has to be one of those tricky things in publishing and I bet the formula is used for a reason. How do catch someone's attention in the two seconds while they are walking by the bookshelf? Oh wait, let's call it Me: My Mother's only child.
Have a good one.
:-) Yeah, I put some real ones in there for fun.
I think I read The Hearing Impaired Lesbian Farmer's Adoptive Maternal Grandfather's Second Cousin once....
;)
I know who started this - C.S. Lewis with his The Magician's Nephew! Too bad he's dead or you could give him a stern tongue-lashing. :)
If only Goethe and C.S. Lewis knew what they'd started they would surely never have begun.
I've read some author blogs that suggest authors have serious angst over titles, quite apart from the marketing weasel-wiles of the publishers. And they're almost entirely at the mercy of the pulblisher for cover art. Genre covers in the blatent style of a best-seller bugs me almost as much as the titles you describe.
Still, I have fun making up titles and wishing someone more talented than I would make up a great story to go with it.
Xena Catolica
Well, you just blew the title of my next book, "The Templar's Grey Cat" clean out of the water.
"The President's Husband"
This alone is surely as much SF as "That morning the sun rose in the west".
"The Sledge-Maker's Daughter" was nominated for this year's BSFA awards--you're right! They're everywhere.
As soon as I read this post, I thought of the Lulu Titlescorer.
For example, "The Magician's Nephew" has a 41.4% chance of becoming a bestselling title. Sadly, "he Hearing Impaired Lesbian Farmer's Adoptive Maternal Grandfather's Second Cousin" has only a 10.2% chance. Listen to Lulu--it knows best!
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