It's Title Time!

by Stephanie Black

Technically, it's still Wednesday, at least in my time zone, so according to Frog Blog rules, I still get full credit for blogging on time. After midnight, it's half credit; after that, you become known as "Rob."

I finished the second draft of my work-in-progress. I'm happy about that. I tried to print it out so I can read through it, but the printer jammed after twenty pages. I hope that isn't symbolic of anything bad. My daughter fixed the printer, so tomorrow I'll finish printing it--ten-point type, single-spaced, and blue ink, all the things you'd never do to a manuscript you're actually submitting. I didn't write it that way, but I formatted it that way for printing to save paper and black ink (because we're forever running out of black ink). I'm not doing a line edit, so I don't need extra space, and I didn't want to use 340 sheets of paper to print it out for a quick read-through.

It's a much different experience reading a manuscript straight through in printed form than it is working through it chapter by chapter on the computer screen. I need to see how it reads as a whole. I know it needs work, but that's okay--that's why it's the second draft, not the final draft. Ironically, given that I'm teaching a class on villains in a few weeks, the villain is currently lame-o.

It has no working title. The file is called novel5draft2, which is dull. By the third draft, it's nice to have something to call it. Once again, I'm turning to our kind, delightful, witty, and all-around awesome blog readers to give me some suggestions. Same rules apply as last time--anyone who submits a title suggestion--whether serious or goofy--will get entered into a drawing. I'll draw a name next Wednesday, and the winner picks whichever of my books he or she would like. And if I end up using any of the suggested titles, I'll send a book to the person who suggested it. Here's a little blurb about the book:

Ever since her wayward brother, Derek, created a humiliating scene at a family funeral, Abigail Westcott has struggled to mend the rift between Derek and her parents. Derek seems to be getting his life back on track—until someone near him is murdered, and everything from the motive to the murder weapon points to Derek as the killer. Abigail is the only one who believes in him, and her fight to prove his innocence doesn’t sit well with a ruthless killer willing to do whatever it takes to conceal a fifteen-year-old secret.

Other info . . . hmm. It takes place in upstate New York in November, so it involves cold, snow, ice, that kind of thing. And rocks play a role in the story. Yeah, rocks.

All suggestions are welcome!