We’ve finalized, I think, titles for my two middle grade fantasy books. Beyond the Door will be released in 2011 and Time Out of Time in 2012. Both are being published by Abrams/Amulet.  Notice I said we. Final title selection is collaborative. Remember that wonderful scene in Julie and Julia when Julia Childs and her editor move around words written on 3×5 cards to come up with the best combination? My editor and I came up with a list of possible titles and then polled friends, students and colleagues, did a little mixing and matching, and more head scratching. I had to know what I liked, but also be open and willing to compromise.

Because a title needs to be fresh, it’s important to see what’s already out there.  Okay, it’s probably impossible to be completely original, but check and see when a similar title was published and if the title represents a book with a similar theme. I loved the title A Wolf at the Door, but Amazon shows a number of recent books with that title. Datlow’s collection of retold fairtales with that title is a little too close to my genre. It even has a cover I’d love to steal! I couldn’t use it.

So, what makes a good fiction title? Here’s my list. It has to be fresh. The title should have a sense of intrigue, make the audience curious. It should be easy to remember. I like titles with visual appeal, that create an image. It should reflect the genre, tone and theme of the work: humorous, mysterious, literary, smart and snappy.  After all, it’s the first of your words a reader reads, and it becomes a promise to the reader of what’s to come.

Start your morning with a poem. Houndbite offers poems from The Other Journal read out loud.

Ten Rules for Writing Fiction contains gems like: Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again – if all else fails, pray. (Guardian U.K)

I’m excited: Neil Gaiman, PD James and Margaret Atwood are quoted. Do they mean sex and similes at the same time?

Look who’s coming to the Tri -Cities next week! Cavalcade of Authors is bringing Dia Calhoun, Patrick Carmen, Suzanne Selfors and other outstanding authors to the Red Lion hotel in Pasco. For once, we don’t have to travel to Seattle or Portland for an author event! Thanks to Michelle Lane for brainstorming this event!

And if that isn’t enough, Cavalcade is followed by RadCon the fantastic fantasy/Sci-Fi convention. Check out the site for the preview of authors–there are too many to mention. Who will wear the fairy wings this year? Will there be a Steampunk element?

So, Tri-Cities, dust off the red carpet; the authors are coming!!

Tomorrow, very early,  I board a plane to NY. Now this may not seem like a big deal to most, but it’s one more step towards  a goal I’ve been pursuing for a long time. I’ll meet  my new editor, Howard Reeves, at Abrams/Amulet,  attend the SCBWI conference and have dinner with the amazing Jessica Bian and her Ted.  

So intrepid writer friends, I’ll be keeping you posted on visitng a NY publishing house (this is big news for us West coasties), meeting with my editor for the first time,( and hoping I don’t say anything too goofy), and I’ll  be taking notes on the latest publishing buzz at the conference. Of course, I’ll have to take notes on a few good restaurants too. Did you know it’s open table week in NY? Nom!

Do you think three pairs of shoes are enough?

A photo of some of the pirate-wrtiers at Chelan Middle School after the Map Your Way into Story workshop. I’m hiding in the middle. Watch for their maps and stories here.

So what do editorial comments look like? First round. Lots of work to do.

Admit it. You love having the last word, especially if it is the perfect exit line. How many of us turn to the last page of a book and read that final sentence before we should? Here’s the goal. Write one last line a day, a last line that could end a short story or a novel. Happily ever after does not count. Check them out on Twitter @maureenmcquerry.

Nancy@1stsentence will be tweeting first lines. Try your own story using both the first sentence of the day and the last.

To start us off, J.D. Salinger, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”

The next ones have to be original.

Each year Dick Staub of The Kindlings hosts  a Christmas show Hales Brewery in Seattle with writers, artists and muscians. This year I was privildged to be a featured guest, read some of my recent poems and reflect briefly about my mother’s recent death at the beginning of Advent.

Ripped from the Wall Street Journal. Know which author writes on colored 3×5’s from Office Max, who writes in bed, who writes at 4 A.M? Maybe you’re not so strange after all.

One of the joys of writing is doing research for the weird, quirky bits needed to fill out a story. So, in support of my current project Goblin Girl, I’ve been wandering the late 1800’s and came across this kerosene masterpiece.

The ornate brass SEARCH LIGHT Bicycle Lamp
manufactured by The Bridgeport Brass Company.
Louis Hornberger’s Pat. No. D28,080, Dec. 21, 1897

I want one!

 It was right out of an Agatha Christie novel–10 anonymous guests invited by a generous host, a chalet in the mountains, good food…you get the idea. But, we did not disappear one by one. The weekend was a Kindling’s Hearth retreat and full to overflowing with great discussions.

One of the most intriguing questions came from a side conversation:  Is computer game narrative the next genre? Can a player be transformed through the storyline of a game in the same way a reader is transformed through a novel? Transformation requires immersion and identification. It asks that a character grow and change by the end of the story.

Are there any games where you see this happening?

I love my critique group. This week’s question: I need some advice on plotting out the storyline. I’ve gone looking for facts and ideas that might give the character a place to go, but how do you plot a story? The advice was so varied and  helpful I thought I’d share it.

The beginning must make the audience ask questions that are answered by the story’s ending–that means identifying the character’s core need . The story itself comes from the charcters’ needs and their journey to get those needs met. 

Action  – make sure you have something that sets the story in motion…something that significantly affects the main characters (they drive the plot, after all).

Background – provide the reader with background/justification, but only as needed.
 Conflict (internal, external or both) – this comes directly out of the characters’ needs and drives the entire plot.  When the story slows down too much, add something that steps up the conflict, or add a complication.

Some people use a step chart or oultine of major scenes; others use a stoyboard approach. Either way, it is helpful to think in scenes keeping in mind that extra scenes can be added or deleted as the story emerges. And for me the story always emerges as I write no matter how much plotting is done beforehand. Another friend describes this as the process of excavation, digging down through layers to let the story out.