Friday, September 26, 2008

Resurrecting the Saints

Smack. I've been hit with another rejection for my novel. The book needs work. I'll admit that. It was the first thing I wrote with the intention to publish. My early shorts were pathetic, so Saints obviously could use a major overhaul as well.

Well...I'm going to do it. I'm going to tackle a significant revision of the entire novel. I can't look forward to NaNoWriMo if I abandoned my former MCs to the file cabinet. I believe in this story; I want to tell it. I want people to read it.

The first thing to change...the title. I like The Last Days of the Sprindale Saints, but it is a tad long. How about The Saints are Dead or Springdale is Dead? (By the way, the Saints are the high school football team in the book.)

I have a long haul ahead, but I've worked to long on this for Andrew's (the MC) voice to be silent. I owe him that much.

Off to work.

8 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

I prefer the original title - and what's wrong with long titles?

ie 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' and that was a huge hit.

Aaron Polson said...

Point taken, Cate. I like the original, too. I'm just tired of rejection--thus, grasping at straws.

Unknown said...

I like the origial as well. Has a bit of mystery to it. Keep it up! You know you have something when your MC just won't leave you alone!

Jamie Eyberg said...

I don't think I would change the title either, unless the re-write demands that you do. I am thinking of changing the title of the book I am working on too but I am going to get closer to the end to know for sure.

Carrie Harris said...

I like the title too. I've also come to the unfortunate conclusion that it doesn't matter how long I spend on my titles, some editor who knows more than me will likely come by and change them.

There are worse problems to have. :)

Carrie Harris said...

Ahem. The original title, I mean. Durr.

Jeremy D Brooks said...

Yeah, I'm with the crowd, here...I like the longer title better. Kinda drags you into the story before you even open the book.

Aaron Polson said...

Thanks all. I'm off and running with revisions. Boy, did I need some revsions...