# Which title do you like better?



## BWFoster78 (Jul 9, 2012)

Though I'm not much of a short story guy, it seems the accepted route to getting recognition and creating buzz for your book is to write them.  I think I've come up with an okay plot for one, so I'm going to made the attempt.

I've titled my book _The Power of the Mages_.  The sequel is going to be _The Power of the Wizard_.  I was thinking, then, that I'd used the format X of Power for my short stories.  Which do you prefer:

1. An Abuse of Power
2. Abuse of Power

The first sounds better to me, but it reminds me too much of GRRM.  Same thing with another plot I'm tossing around:

1. A Clash of Power
2. Clash of Power

Thanks.


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## Roc (Jul 9, 2012)

I think the concept of "The Power of Mages" and then "The Power of the Wizard" has already been slightly done in Michael Scott's novels. Then again, I don't really know what you're writing about, it's just the titles that are very similar.

I like "Abuse of Power" over "An Abuse of Power".

I like "A Clash of Power" over "Clash of Power".

Those just flow more naturally to me.

P.S. GRRM George R.R. Martin I ASSUME, is a crappy author 

Good luck


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## Telcontar (Jul 9, 2012)

Seeing as one of GRRM's books is also "Clash of this-or-that" I'd go with "Abuse of Power." To be honest I'm not crazy about that either, but you only gave me a couple options.  I'd suggest something else, but seeing as I know little about the book I'd just be spitballing.


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 9, 2012)

Roc said:


> I think the concept of "The Power of Mages" and then "The Power of the Wizard" has already been slightly done in Michael Scott's novels. Then again, I don't really know what you're writing about, it's just the titles that are very similar.
> 
> I like "Abuse of Power" over "An Abuse of Power".
> 
> ...



Roc,

I'm not familiar with Michael Scott.  I looked at his book list on Wikipedia and didn't see any titles that looked too close to the ones I proposed for my novels.  Which, in particular, were you thinking of?

I agree with your sentiment on GRRM.  I made it through A Dance With Dragons, but I will not be buying any more in the series.

Thanks for the response.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jul 9, 2012)

Roc said:
			
		

> P.S. GRRM George R.R. Martin I ASSUME, is a crappy author
> 
> Good luck



That is insanity speaking... You may not care for a certain element of style but to call it crap is just ridiculous.

Anyway not to hijack....

With the exception of the GRRM statement, I agree with ROC on the titles.


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 9, 2012)

Telcontar said:


> Seeing as one of GRRM's books is also "Clash of this-or-that" I'd go with "Abuse of Power." To be honest I'm not crazy about that either, but you only gave me a couple options.  I'd suggest something else, but seeing as I know little about the book I'd just be spitballing.



Telcontar,

I want to keep a consistent title format between the stories and the books, maintaining Power to link them together.  If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for the response.


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## Mindfire (Jul 9, 2012)

Roc said:


> I like "Abuse of Power" over "An Abuse of Power".
> 
> I like "A Clash of Power" over "Clash of Power".
> 
> Those just flow more naturally to me.



I agree with this. But a slight change. Instead of "A Clash of Power", I would use "A Clash of Power_s_". The s makes all the difference.


Also, glad to see there's someone else out there who doesn't care for Martins work. I don't feel so alone anymore. xD Although my reasons for disliking it are probably different from yours.


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 9, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> I agree with this. But a slight change. Instead of "A Clash of Power", I would use "A Clash of Power_s_". The s makes all the difference.
> 
> 
> Also, glad to see there's someone else out there who doesn't care for Martins work. I don't feel so alone anymore. xD Although my reasons for disliking it are probably different from yours.



Thanks for the opinion.

I don't like his work for a few reasons:

1. It's a lot darker than I prefer.
2. I read series because I like to follow a character for a long time.  Kinda hard to do that when they all die.
3. I hate that he switches viewpoint characters so often (moreso the shift in time and space instead of continuing with the current narrative).  It disrupted the flow of the story for me.


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## Mindfire (Jul 9, 2012)

BWFoster78 said:


> Thanks for the opinion.
> 
> I don't like his work for a few reasons:
> 
> ...



You're welcome. My reasons are similar. I wholeheartedly agree with your points. His stuff is way depressing from what I've read online. I actually saw the first book in the bookstore and read the prologue. I thought it was good and put it on my to-read list. Then I went online to find out more about the series. Instantly killed my desire to read the book. And if the bleak tone and gratuitous sex weren't enough to turn me off, I also found out that those cool "Other" things- the story element that interested me the most in the prologue- they never show up again. WTF Martin.


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## Ireth (Jul 9, 2012)

I agree about the constantly-shifting POVs in Martin's work. Sometimes it feels like they could easily be separated into their own distinct stories rather than lumped together into one.


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## Steerpike (Jul 9, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> ... I also found out that those cool "Other" things- the story element that interested me the most in the prologue- they never show up again. WTF Martin.



They do show up again. But the role they play is not large, yet.


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## Mindfire (Jul 9, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> They do show up again. But the role they play is not large, yet.



And how _long _does it take for them to show up again?


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## Steerpike (Jul 9, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> And how _long _does it take for them to show up again?



Quite a while. I don't expect they'll have major importance until the end game, whatever that is going to be. I could be wrong, though.


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## Mindfire (Jul 9, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> Quite a while. I don't expect they'll have major importance until the end game, whatever that is going to be. I could be wrong, though.



A redeeming quality that ain't.


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## Steerpike (Jul 9, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> A redeeming quality that ain't.



It doesn't bother me, personally, but I'm not going to continue with things until the series is finished. With a few exceptions, I'm also not going to start any series that isn't complete


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## Roc (Jul 9, 2012)

I was sort of referring to how he has a series that goes Alchemist, to Wizard, to Sorcerer, to Mage, to Necromancer, I'm not 100% sure of the order. It sort of reminded me, but it's not something to worry about at all, sorry for the bother.

Good luck!


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 9, 2012)

Roc said:


> I was sort of referring to how he has a series that goes Alchemist, to Wizard, to Sorcerer, to Mage, to Necromancer, I'm not 100% sure of the order. It sort of reminded me, but it's not something to worry about at all, sorry for the bother.
> 
> Good luck!



Ahhh.  I understand now.  That's not really my concept.  The third book is tentatively titled: The Power of the Wizard's Counsel.  It's the "The Power of" that I want to keep.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jul 9, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> And how _long _does it take for them to show up again?



They show up again about 3/4 of the way through book 1, and then again in book 3. And possibly again after that but I don't recall offhand.

If mysterious undead are the kind of thing that you're most interested in, then ASOIAF is not for you. That series is primarily about how people are flawed, not about zombies and magic. Nobody should expect every series to appeal to everyone.


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## soulless (Jul 9, 2012)

BWFoster78 said:


> Ahhh.  I understand now.  That's not really my concept.  The third book is tentatively titled: The Power of the Wizard's Counsel.  It's the "The Power of" that I want to keep.



I would maybe cut the "Wizard's" in that to keep the pattern of "The Power of the *one word*".

Also I prefer both 1s, though agree that it might be better if the word Clash was changed in the second one.

By the way I really like your unifying theme with your titles, and having the structure of the short story title opposite to the longer works.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jul 9, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:
			
		

> They show up again about 3/4 of the way through book 1, and then again in book 3. And possibly again after that but I don't recall offhand.
> 
> If mysterious undead are the kind of thing that you're most interested in, then ASOIAF is not for you. That series is primarily about how people are flawed, not about zombies and magic. Nobody should expect every series to appeal to everyone.



Yup, to each his own...

The reasons stated for dislike earlier are the reasons I love GRRM.


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## Telcontar (Jul 9, 2012)

BWFoster78 said:


> Telcontar,
> 
> I want to keep a consistent title format between the stories and the books, maintaining Power to link them together.  If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
> 
> Thanks for the response.



Hmm... perhaps "Power Corrupts"? It implies abuse of power, and that the power led to its own abuse. 'Corrupts' is a nice, dark word, very sinister.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jul 9, 2012)

Sounds a bit Orwellian...


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## psychotick (Jul 10, 2012)

Hi,

Back to the OP. First, I doubt that short stories are the way to create a buzz for your work. They generally sell much more poorly than novels.

As to your titles I don't like "The Power Of - etc." It just doesn't sound catchy to me, though I do like the idea of having a series with related titles, and power being the central feature of those titles. If I was going to go that route I'd probably alter it a little to something that sounds slightly odd. Something with a hook. So Maybe - A Power of Mages, A Power of Sorcerors etc.

As to GRRM, I only read the first book in the series. I found it too dark for my taste. Well written, and interesting characters, but in places simply too horrible. The tv series however, that's been edited a long way and I think it improved for that.

Cheers, Greg.


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 10, 2012)

psychotick said:


> Hi,
> 
> Back to the OP. First, I doubt that short stories are the way to create a buzz for your work. They generally sell much more poorly than novels.
> 
> ...



The idea is pretty much to give the story away.  If people like it, the hope is that they'll come back for the book.  I'll build an email list when they download it.

That's the plan anyway.

Regarding the titles of my books, I'm pretty much set at this point on The Power of...  It's not great, but I hate coming up with titles.


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## Chandrapal (Jul 12, 2012)

Well guys what do you think about this title - HALF STOLEN SCROLL? That's the story I am working on.


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## Ireth (Jul 12, 2012)

Your title is intriguing, Chandrapal. I would want to know how a scroll could be "half stolen". Or is it half a scroll that's stolen?


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## Chandrapal (Aug 2, 2012)

> There was once a scroll that confines a secret that even Gods dare to reveal it.



That's all I can say.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Aug 2, 2012)

If you feel you must mention the scroll in the title, I would just call it

The Half Scroll

Putting "stolen" in there feels clunky to me.


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## Chandrapal (Aug 4, 2012)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> If you feel you must mention the scroll in the title, I would just call it
> 
> The Half Scroll
> 
> Putting "stolen" in there feels clunky to me.



The Half Scroll ! well that's really good suggestion. I too think the word 'stolen' will reveal some plot of the story.


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## shangrila (Aug 7, 2012)

Isn't one of Martin's books named A Clash of Kings? I'd probably go with Abuse of Power in that case.


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