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Book Titles—Trends and Formulas, Brilliance and Duh – Our final List based on Things
Let us search the recent winning titles of the Booker, the Pulitzer, and the New York Times Bestsellers (ranked by time on the list) on for those that utilize THINGS.

Scott Archer Jones
Aug 22 min read


Book Titles—Trends and Formulas, Brilliance and Duh
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

Scott Archer Jones
Jun 141 min read


Observation No. 4
Why Are They Just Sitting There? Every writer goes down to the DoItYourself for story ideas. For some, it’s the obituaries DIY, for some it’s the Police Blotter DIY, but they come home with a notebook of nuts and bolts, a hammer, a trowel. But then for all writers, it’s observation that provides the lumber to build the story out. Here’s your observation: You’re late driving back from Albuquerque up through the Native American Reservations to your house In Taos. You didn’t get

Scott Archer Jones
Mar 232 min read


Observation No.3
Visitors Every writer goes down to the DoItYourself for story ideas. For some, it’s the obituaries DYI, for some it’s the Police Blotter DYI, but they come home with a notebook of nuts and bolts, a hammer, a trowel. For all writers, it’s observation that provides the lumber to build the story out. Here’s your observation: You are marching along a suburban street, looking for a house number. When you find it, the house is revealed as a Craftsman style bungalow, very out of cha

Scott Archer Jones
Mar 81 min read
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