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Place Place: Have You Been There? "The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location." Flannery O’Conner Let us search the recent winning titles of the Booker, the Pulitzer, and the New York Times Bestsellers (ranketime on the list) on for those that start with Place. A particularly rich list — contemporary writers are still obsessed with Place. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders Elmet, Fiona M

Obscure Titles Tricky Titles And Obscurity What utilitarian role does a book title provide? I would contend there are four that I look for in my own titles: 1. Grab the Reader—choose more like Demon Copperhead than I Was A St. Louis Steampunk Zombie. 2. Portend the Major Theme—if your book is about spies, then choose by global conflict and not by thing (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy rather than Peanuts and Eggcups). 3. Deliver the Book’s Aesthetic—if you’re writing a book abou

The Title Starts The Journey Let’s make an experiment that could lead you to choosing an excellent title for your own novel. Prize winning book titles can be all over the map (or the language, as it were). There are certainly times when we are beset by a formula. Take one of my least favorite—books titled [Profession]’s [Relative], e.g. The Bookie’s Illegitimate Nephew. Yes, I made that one up. Here’s a list starting in 2005, an 11 year sample. There are some great writers on

A larger-than-life character and a moment of cowardice When you buy a book, do you use the Amazon book description (full of soft ambiguous words), or the jacket copy (a torrid one hundred words), or a friend’s recommendation, or the New Yorker 3,000 word review? Consider the first lines instead. Pay attention and perhaps your own first lines will become the immediate link to your best reader. Grab the Character If you are writing a book about A person, the best decision may b