/lit/ - Literature

first one

>>4022964
Depends what it's about
Those are all pretty shit but trembling is least bad

>>4022971
This. What's the story about, OP? All those titles are pretty awful.

Lost Country Tales

but you can't even come up with a good title so don't bother finishing it

>>4022968
>>4022971
>>4022973
Thanks. I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with one.

Please pick one before reading the below, because I figure you should judge a title without knowing what the book's about:

The book's about a comic book studio in the early 1950s and the end of the Golden Age of Comic Books with the Comic Book Scare of 1954. The narrator is the scripter for the horror title, "Tales Devised to Scare."

>>4022992

Definitely "The Dead Cry Out in Ink and Flame".

>>4022964
The last one is the best because it's a little distanced and shit

>>4023003
You don't think it's melodramatic? I just put that one up as a joke mostly...

>>4022992
Now I want to call it
Tales of tales devised to scare

>>4023004
>>4023010
The downside with that one is it'll make you think it's a collection of horror stories. Sure, the book includes 7 scripts for horror strips, but the rest of the book is literary historical fiction. I don't want to give people the wrong impression.

>>4023010
Maybe something like "Writing Scary Comics"?

>>4023020
No
Read my suggestion again

>>4023022
Sounds like nonfiction.

>>4023026
Tales of Tales Devised to Scare sounds mad dumb though.

>>4023020
if your writing is so wack it will make people think of shitty goosebump stories then deal with it
this is by far the best title

>>4023046
Hey, Goosbumps is what introduced me to trashy horror. This book is inspired by EC comics, the guys who put out Tales from the Crypt. The script chapters are pastiches of those sorts of stories, but with imagery tied to the surrounding historical text and the personal lives of the writers and artists.

The title works on a metaphorical level, too. The novel is about the nature of the horror genre, i.e. tales devised to scare, the many forms of everyday fear, and the book itself is also a cautionary story about moral panics and political correctness.

The score so far:

"Nocturnes of the Lost Country" 1
"A Cup of Trembling" 2
"The Dead Cry Out in Ink and Flame" 1
"Tales Devised to Scare" 3

>"Nocturnes of the Lost Country"
Best.
>"A Cup of Trembling"
Awful.
>"The Dead Cry Out in Ink and Flame"
Overkill.
>"Tales Devised to Scare"
Sounds like a Garth Marenghi novel.

>>4023110
I like "Nocturnes of the Lost Country" because "nocturnes" sort of refers to the horror stories themselves as well as the text in general, and "the lost country" is a reference to Shakespeare's "undiscovered country" from Hamlet, which is a metaphor for death, and by extension the future, while I think "the lost country" refers to the past (i.e. the 1950s), the narrator's childhood, as well as a country that lost its way, with the moral panics and all. Anyway, that's the thinking behind that one.

Bumping in the hopes of garnering additional responses.

Another bump and I'll be back later. Thanks to everyone who has offered advice so far.

I have used shitty titles for everything I've ever written. My favorites so far are "Chisinau, City of Techno Fever" and "Girls Nite Out: A Re-Imagining of Xena: Warrior Princess."

inb4 "lel so RANDUMB XD"

Current score:
"Nocturnes of the Lost Country" 2
"A Cup of Trembling" 2
"The Dead Cry Out in Ink and Flame" 1
"Tales Devised to Scare" 3

Sigh.

I guess I'll just keep the working title "Tales Devised to Scare" and come up with a better title for the final draft...

Those titles almost made me throw up OP

I can guarantee, without reading a single word, that it's absolute trash

>>4024101
Well that's not fair. These are working titles and I admit there really isn't a good one among them, which is why I came here in all humility, asking for suggestions. There's no reason to be nasty.

>>4024112
Not being 'nasty', being realistic

>>4024118
Nah, you're being a big meanie. You can tell from the sage. Loosen up.

>>4024129
Would you mind posting an excerpt? I read the blurb you included, but it's hard to really get in to the minutiae of titling works without reading some of the stuff. I promise not to judge your writing.

>>4024129
not him but stop being a child

The Dead Tales: Cry of the Lost Country (in a Cup of Trembling Scare).

Hey OP, an idea:

Instead of "Nocturnes of the Lost Country" why not
>Lost Country Nocturnes

Or instead of "The Dead Cry Out in Ink and Flame" why not
>Ink and Flame

What do you guys think?

>>4024134
Yeah, sure. You can judge it if you want. I'd appreciate any advice.

>>4024136
When someone's being irrationally hostile and negative without contributing anything constructive, it's best to just call them a big nasty meanie pants. Doing so lets them know they're not being taken seriously and maybe should either lighten up or get lost.

>>4024140
I like it. It says everything I want to say haha.

>>4024145
Thanks.

>Lost Country Nocturnes
That sounds less pretentious, but it makes me think of country music.

>Ink and Flame
I thought about that, but I googled it and that phrase is used by all kinds of things, like literary magazines.

>>4024160
>>4024160

How 'bout just "Trembling" then?

Excerpt. (Sorry it's not very good. It's a work in progress.)

>>4024164
I don't know. I don't like one-word titles. That word ties in well to the themes, though. The "Cup of Trembling" title is a biblical reference and is just ripped off from the short story "Sonny's Blues," though.

>>4024177
Reading and thinking, be back in 20 or so.

>>4024177
inb4
>1st person
>protagonist is a writer
>fedora
Also I'm going to fix the two uses of the term "mob" being used so close together.

It's a pretty awful opening and I think I might just drop it altogether anyway. :/

>>4024177
What program did you use for this?

>>4024177
Here's a bit more.

>>4024192
Just took a screenshot of my OpenOffice editor. It's a pain to set up columns though.

>>4024177
>First sentence
>Passive voice
Into the fucking trash it goes.

>>4023122
AWFUL

>>4024177
don't capitalize "Big One" that's incredibly cheesy if you weren't a part of that generation (unless you can mimic the voice of someone who was, which you can't)

>>4024196
Ok, well based on what I read of that, I think the closest out of your ideas would simply be "The Lost Country"- Drop Nocturnes, it sounds bad and like you're trying to be edgy. Also, you say it's about the comic book industry and specifically a horror comic, so venture in that direction a little more, explore some of the vocabulary that they use that could be relevant to a title.

The only suggestion I could think of on my own are still pretty garbage, but I'll post them anyway.

"Faded Ink"
"Empty Panels"
"Drawing Board"

Like I said, they're still pretty bad, maybe even worse than yours, but I have trouble thinking of titles for things I didn't write. Hope this helps

They're all shit, but how are we supposed to know without having read it?

>>4024216
Are you sure that's passive voice? I didn't think it was. Do you mean the "I caught" clause?

>>4024230
How do you think I could I make it more authentic?

>>4024239
Thanks. There was one technical term I came across that I thought might make a good title, but I forget what it was. I'll have to look it up again.

Nocturnes of the Lost Country sounds a little too... full of itself for a novel about comic books

>>4024244
Titles are a first impression kind of thing. I'm trying to gauge reactions for some titles from people who don't really know what the book's about, which I think are valid in themselves.

>>4024249
>Are you sure that's passive voice?
Decidedly so. I generally shy away from making my first sentence meandering as well. Clear, concise, and poignant - that's how I start 'em.

>>4024256
Yeah, I thought it's a bit pretentious, too.

>>4024239
How about "Emanata" as a title?

Means "the lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise," but it's a term from the '80s.

>>4024268
Yeah something punchier could work a lot better. Thanks.

Oh yeah, and "morgue shots" was the term I was thinking of. It's a comic book technical term, it's morbid, and it relates to unoriginality, which is a big theme in the book. I'm not sure how I'd work it into a title, though.

>>4023006
You mean Tales Devised to Scare wasn't a joke?

>>4024309
No, that's the actual working title. It's the name of the fictional '50s anthology horror comic book the novel's about.

Hey, I've got to go in a couple of minutes. Big thanks to everyone who helped me out with this. I've got some new ideas for better titles and ways to improve the opening. (Last chance for comments.)

>thread about literature on /lit/

Whoa guys, why are you here instead of in the youtube whore thread which has unaccountably been up for three hours now? It's got lots of great shitposting and kike jokes!