Friday, September 28, 2012

Title Crisis! Title Crisis!!

Okay. It isn't really a Crisis! And it certainly isn't a Crisis!! I guess it's more like a crisis. But I wanted to get your attention without screaming CRISIS!!!

As always I am extremely proud of myself for figuring out a new visual for the blog. Adorable pictures of Scooter can only go so far (don't tell Scooter that).

Where was I? Oh yeah, problems with the title for the fourth moon book.

Wednesday night, after 25 hours of fasting, I came up with a few really lovely titles for said book. But today I got an email from my editor rejecting all those lovely titles for being too lovely. She pointed out, in a firm but kindly manner, that none of the other moon book titles are especially lovely, so why should this one be.

She still likes "Shadow Of The Moon." That one won the poll (over to the right), and it certainly is a nice title. It's been a nice title whenever anyone has used it, which is why quite a number of people already have.

While I'm not opposed to moving away from the 5 single syllable word format I've used for the other three moon books (one should always be open to change, like the fabulous ways I've changed font size in this very entry), if I'm gonna move away from it, I'd like to at least move away from it in a more original manner.

So I'm asking (begging) for your help. I cleverly told my editor to give me the weekend to come up with some new title ideas. And I will think about them, I promise I will. 

But why don't you think about title ideas also? Or not even think about them, but send me some title ideas, either as comments, or as emails (see the email address to the right [that's twice I've suggested you move to the right, and trust me, that's not a suggestion I usually make]). 

Keep the following in mind:

It doesn't have to be 5 single syllable words.

It doesn't have to have Moon in the title.

It shouldn't be too lovely. The book is about Jon, and he's a boy, and not a particularly lovely one at that. 

Without giving away too much of the plot (no more than I've already given away), there are some fires scattered around the story, and Fire, Flame, and Blaze are all single syllable words (and I think a cover design with buildings on fire would be extremely fine, not that anyone consults me about these things, which they don't, in case you ever wondered, and even when they do, they don't listen to what I say, so I don't know why they bother pretending to consult, and I'm not even putting all this in teeny tiny print, which would be the discreet thing to do).

If your title suggestion ends up as the actual title for the actual fourth moon book, you'll win the personal satisfaction of knowing you came up with the actual title for the actual fourth moon book. You'll be able to go to bookstores with friends, relatives, acquaintances, enemies and total strangers, and point to the actual fourth moon book, and say, "See that actual book over on that actual shelf over there, where it's not really displayed very well, so I may have to rearrange the display just a tad, so people can see the book and actually buy it? Yes, that one, hidden on the lowest shelf, where only teeny tiny people can see it? I named it. Yes, I did, and New York Times Best Selling Author Susan Beth Pfeffer would tell you the exact same thing, except she thinks my name is Anonymous."

Hold on. I want to try something else.

HELP!!!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

And just because I now know how to: Thank you!!!

35 comments:

Heather said...

This is a fun exercise for a Friday afternoon!

1. Like a Moth to a Flame
2. Dust & Ashes
3. Walking Through Fire
4. What the Fire Revealed
5. Sifting Through the Ashes
6. Fire & Ash
7. This is Seriously the Last Moon Book: Don't Ask Me Again

Margaret said...

-In the Line of Fire
-Trial by Fire
Drat, those are already taken. So is “Fireshadow”.

Shadow Blast
Shadow Burn

Melissa said...

Memories of the Moon
Moon Dust
Stories of the Moon
Moonflame
Shattered Moon
Pieces of the Moon
Fires of the Moon
Moonfire
Flames of the Moon

...I don't know. If I think of anything else later, I'll post it!

Melissa said...

..ok, here are a few more!

The Moon and Me
Jon and The Moon
Me and The Moon
Fires of the Moon
Jon and the Moon
Jon's stories of the Moon

Anonymous said...

The Dusk of the Moon
The Moon Burns by Night
The Moon Burns so Bright
The Glow of the Flame
Fire Falls From the Sky

Best wishes!

JulieB

Margaret said...

Too Close to the Blaze/Fire/Flames

exBFF said...

From the ash of hope

An ember among the shade

A spark in the shade

The burning flame of hope

From the ash of life now

Tinder of our life after

A spark within the shadow

Tinder of life now

Heart you, David. :-)

exBFF said...

The Ember of Once Was

The Tinder of Once Was

david

Melissa said...

Woke up this morning and thought of a few more!

Moonlight Fire
Rise of the Equinox
Falling Moon
Lunar Fires

Esther Pfeffer said...

The Moon of our Fears
(five syllables...)

exBFF said...

Update: The Embers of Once Was

Rebecca Gomez said...

The World Ablaze
Fire Beneath the Moon
The Flames of the Moon
This World on Fire
Through the Flames
Shadow, Flame and Moon
Moon, Shadow, and Flame

Everette said...

I am the title KING!! It's my favorite thing to do for anything. For the record, I love all the titles of the books and I love The Shadow of the Moon and The Shade of the Moon and think you should stick with them... but since you asked here are some ideas of mine :)

With "Moon" in the title
1. We Don't Deserve the Moon
2. The Dark Side of the Moon
3. When the Moon is Full
4. Sending Back the Moon

Five Syllable titles
5. The Heart of the Earth (my favorite because you can change "heart" to spell "earth")
6. Before the Wind Comes

exBFF said...

Fade to Grey

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

blaze from the moon

-where i was/ who i am
or
-who i was/ who i am

-how the moon changed me

-what i want vs. what i have (variations too, with who)

-under the fire, under the moon

hope this helped


from jon (I know it says anonymoys, but its me)

Bridget Higdon said...

Craters of Embers

Robyn said...

Ablaze: The Night's Light

Bridget Higdon said...

The Craters of Hope

Susan said...

- The Flames of our Fires
- The Burn of our Blazes
- When Our Days Were Done
- By the Light of the Moon
- In the Pale Moonlight or In the Moon's Pale Light or By the Moon's Pale Light
- Under a Pale Moon Sky
- The Fires in Our Skies
- By the Fire's Light

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

-Rising from the ashes, I also like tigerlily*'s suggesting of The Craters of Hope ~Kelsey





Anonymous said...

-A Flame of Hope
-My life in flames

Unknown said...

I like susan's "when our days were done". here's some more

what the moon taught me

when it all changed again

and the last one was an old title you had, but i always liked it. its the "what was/ what is" title. I'm a big fan of the slash, plus all the other titles in the series dont say moon in them, so it would be weird for this one too.

Jon

Unknown said...

The Darkness of the Flame
Hope among the Ashes


Anonymous said...

From Flames and Fury Rising

Of the Flames and Fury

Out Of The Flames and Fury

The Flame and the Fury

Rising from Flames and Fury

The Backdraft Shadows of Earth

Anonymous Fish

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Thank you everybody for your suggestions, which I've read multiple times.

I just sent a couple of possibilities to my editor. If she okays either of them, I'll let you know.

If she rejects them, I'll return to reading your suggestions a few more multiple times!

Emily said...

"The Blaze of the Moon"

"In the Moon's Flame"

"In the Moon's Shadow"

That's all I've got so far.

Nina said...

I still like The Shade of the Moon or Shadow of the Moon.

vey said...

All's well that ends well

That's a bit cheerful but it is the last book and having not read any of the excerpts your posted, I'm keeping positive. :D

Other less lovely titles would be:
The Wrath of the Moon
Flame to Dust and Ashes

Kiralys said...

I was thinkinking of some titles and here is what I have:
- set fire to the moon
- The taken
-Taken with fire
-Alone on Earth
-Death and Despair

Anonymous said...

I really really like the option of "The way the moon..." because I feel like it settles in with the others but I just can't find something that fits in really nicely with the last word :/ hmmm

Maddie said...

Hi Susan!
Perhaps

-The End Of The Road
-Our Time is Here (not 5 words but I kinda like it)

Thats all for now

-Maddie

Twilight's Dawn said...

The Sum of Our Fears

Anonymous said...

Brynne Lindstrom- Ashes to Ashes
The road I walk on
Footprints in the wind
A spark to a flame

Brynne said...

Ashes to Ashes
This road I am on
A spark to a Flame
A trail of Ashes
Memories on Fire
-Brynne