Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Title trauma.

So a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, in an era before I could explain the epidemiology of the Black Death or tell you gleefully about fluke parasitism...I outlined the first five adventures of a changeling named October Daye. Yeah, I've been working on this series for a while now.

Anyway, all five of the books have gone through dramatic changes since they were originally outlined. The later books especially, because every change to an early book sort of cascades through the continuity to land on their heads. Which brings us to book five, which you may have heard me refer to as The Brightest Fell. See, when that title was chosen, it made perfect sense. It was a good title. And then the book began to warp and struggle with its outline, and the title became a little less good.

And then I redid the outline for the last third of the book, and the title sucked. What's a girl to do?

Rename the book, of course.

Book five is now called One Salt Sea, which is in many ways a much, much better title for this book, and a much better indicator of what's going on between the covers. Book seven, assuming we get that far (dream big, shop smart, shop S-Mart), will be called The Brightest Fell. Because, y'know, this wasn't confusing enough.

Titles make my head hurt. Time to go and pack for my trip to New York.
Tags: book status, one salt sea, toby daye
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  • 36 comments
Are you going to New York Comic Con?
Yup!
To save everyone else the trouble...

Henry V, Act 1, Scene 2.

Archbishop of Canterbury: [...]
The singing masons building roofs of gold,
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
That many things, having full reference
To one consent, may work contrariously:
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;
As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;
As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot.
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
[...]
My gratitude.

erinlin

6 years ago

spectralbovine

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

I likey. While I love The Brightest Fell, and what it comes from, One Salt Sea makes a lot more sense
That's what I think, too.
Ooh. Mysterious. Kinda ominous. Salty. I like it.
Yay!
I. Understand. Completely.
The world just keeps shifting...
Safe travel!

And yes, you will get that far on the series. (And beyond there.)
I surely do hope so.
I have this book of Russian fairytales a certain someone might want if you're inclined to take it with you to NYC. "Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and Tales," edited by Serge A. Zenkovsky. I got it at Half Price and can tell I'm just never going to crack into it.
If you can swing it by my place by five this afternoon, I'd be happy to haul it away for her.
You could be in worse shape. You could've named your first book "Episode IV: A New Hope" and then slowly had to dig your way out of that mess for the next 30 years. And only succeeded in digging your way to the molten core of the planet, story-wise.
Yeah, but who'd ever be that dumb?

...oh, wait...

silvertwi

October 4 2010, 04:11:05 UTC 6 years ago Edited:  October 4 2010, 04:11:27 UTC

This is completely off-topic, but I thought you'd appreciate this: this year's game of Zombies vs. Humans started as of 11 minutes ago. I'm already paranoid, and there are only three zombies right now, and the dorm is safe until 24-hours from now. Nevertheless, I carry my nerf gun to the bathroom with me and to answer the front door.

Also, I'm using it as a creative writing exercise and blogging as if I'm actually someone whose world is overrun by zombies. At least one entry a day. This is going to be so much fun!

Zombies are coming
for me. No way to escape.
How long 'til I turn?
AWESOME!

Try to survive!
I'm very glad... The Brightest Fell is a title which filled me with a certain amount of dread; I was pretty sure we'd be losing a favorite character.

Granted, of course, we still might; you've shown yourself to not be afraid to do that when appropriate.
I note that the contents of the book haven't changed all that much...
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Although Anne of Green Gables disagreed, saying that it probably wouldn't be as attractive if it were called a thistle or a skunk cabbage. So if the name doesn't fit, the book shouldn't wear it, to change metaphors midstream, that stream probably going to the salt sea anyway where there is ne'er a drop fit to drink, and leave it to its sibling book which it fits better. Whatever, I'll buy it...
*snork*
I liked The Brightest Fell, but One Salt Sea is good, too. I'm the kind of reader who doesn't really care - I just want the book. Preferably now. LOL I just finished An Artificial Night, btw. Inhaled it as soon as I got home from the bookstore. Way to go on another awesome novel. Thanks. The only bad thing is now I have to wait again.
Sorry about that! I'm waiting too, if that helps at all...

Deleted comment

Absolutely.
Beth makes a "no one will bet against me" bet that there are going to be a lot of Selkies in Book Five. And/or a lot of the Luidaeg, who is a very cool individual indeed. (And I'm not just saying that because she's powerful as an undertow and then some.)
Well, true.
I keep telling people the writing of my trilogy is like chaos theory in action, and they chuckle in that way that means they think it sounds cute and contrived. But, seriously. I change one tiny little thing in book 1, like how annoyed my protagonist is about having to open her can of whupass, and suddenly, I have to scrap major plot lines in book 3, because everything in between changed on me.

So, yeah. I know what you mean.
Sister!

alicetheowl

6 years ago

We can has pirates?
Not precisely.