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[personal profile] velvetpage
I just went through and renamed all the files that contain the parts of the novel that are in series, calling them, for want of an actual title, "Annarisse" and a number. There are ten actually written, the longest of which is 12 000 words. in total, I have more than 50 000 written. I also started writing detailed outlines for the next few sections of the book. I got to the chapter which should be the climax, and typed in the title: Annarisse 13 - The Sea Witch. Then i stopped.

You see, that sounds so - Disney - to me. I can't see myself actually using that. And at the moment, I can't think of it any other way.

So here's what I need: suggestions. I believe she had a name, in Piet's notes, but those aren't published anywhere so they can be changed. I want a character name, and I want a title I can use for her that won't completely give the plot away. "Oh, don't look now, here comes the climax! THey're going to fight a Sea Witch! Is her name Ursula, by any chance?" She's a bad'un, totally depraved, quite prepared to ruin whole civilizations in retribution for what was done to her before any of her current victims were even born.

Please? Help???

And while you're all exercising your brains on my behalf, if you can suggest titles for the whole book, I'd appreciate it. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-02 09:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] athelind.livejournal.com
You could call her the "Sea Hag", but you'd be opening yourself to Popeye jokes.

(Give that lady a Seegar!!)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-02 09:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
LOL

Now could you offer an actual, possible suggestion, please?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 12:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nottheterritory.livejournal.com
I think most of the interesting suggestions I could make for something like this would come out of a more detailed background than what I know.

However, in general, I favour titles or names that aren't intended to be particularly forboding but that begin to communicate meaning based on the way the characters treat them. The two really good examples I can think of are 'The Kindly Ones' (for Faeries in old English myth) and the 'The Doctor' (if you don't know, ask your husband). Both fairly dull, abstract titles that don't communicate forboding or excitement particularly, but the way that everyone reacts to them gives the terms a life of their own...

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 01:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Good examples to mull over, certainly. And this creature has been putting out eidolons and spreading dreams to the populace for about a hundred years at this point. I could do a lot more with those dreams than I have, including giving her a title that's actually designed to be enticing. After all, she wants to be rescued, so she wants people to come to her.

Hmm. This bears more thought.

Oh, I got the Doctor reference. I've been with Piet for nearly eleven years, after all. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 12:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-caton.livejournal.com
Sorceress of the Salt/Sea
...sailing/saline jokes....
Mizzen Persons....
Sorry *compose self*
Saline Sorcery.
Nope. Mr.brain is being uncooperative.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 01:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
Let me know when it comes back online. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 02:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-caton.livejournal.com
I like "Sorceress" better than Witch or Hag. Annarise is not unattractive, no? Could try Wytch or Wyrd (fate IIRC) nice spellings...
Sea is salty and we have the alliterative S with Sorcery.
But alternative for "Sea Witch"?

Apocalypso is taken by Robt. Rankin I think...

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 02:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
So do I, but I think I've settled on something that's more neutral in terms of referents. Everyone knows that a witch in literature (sorry, pagan friends, no insult intended) is evil, but Dreamcarver is somewhat more neutral. At least, from the characters' perspective she'll be neutral, until they finally reach her and realize what a witch she is.

Annarisse is the name of the character I actually played in this campaign. She's a priestess. She's very uptight, getting less so by the scene, has a dad who has more opinions and power than love or understanding, and she gets to work through her faith over the course of the pirate adventure book she finds herself in. Who was it who said all good characters are slightly autobiographical?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 02:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] redstorm.livejournal.com
I think, for the book, "The Spirit of Midchain"

Lovely title that has you guessing when you pick it up - and since the book is one long sea voyage, then the name of the original ship fits perfectly.

As for the Sea Hag... perhaps just something simple -
"The woman in green"
"Lady of the Deep"
"The Ocean's Secret"

etc etc

(I like lady of the deep) ;o)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 03:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
THere is a part of the Bisclavret supplement that talks about Midchain, who was a Bisclavret hero when they first came to Calabria. If I use that as the title, I'll have to work in the myth. Also the follow-up story, where Riddock battles the Rinaldi and sends them home with their tails between their legs. I can find a spot to do that. Everyone on the ship would be familiar with Riddock, but Midchain would be known, probably, only to Treeden and maybe Annarisse, and eventually, Kharaba. I'll have to think about this. Where exactly would all this fit?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] redstorm.livejournal.com
I thought it was the name of the ship. The whereabouts of the place ther ship is named after is of no concequence. It's just a very good ship name and would make an interesting book title.
Like Laurel K Hamilton - she names her books after places and things in the world - like 'The Lunatic Cafe'. Or Brian Jaques and 'Redwall' etc.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 07:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
It IS the name of the ship, but the name has special significance for the Bisclavret. I was considering bringing it in anyway, because it makes a good tie-in to popular Calabrese culture.

I almost think I'd be better naming the book The Riddock's Dawn, or just Riddock's Dawn. They spent more time on the second ship than the first. But the name Spirit of Midchain rings better, and I might be able to pull the legend in a bit better than the actual history of the second ship.

I've been reading Guy Gavriel Kay, and his style is definitely rubbing off on me. :) If you've never picked up his stuff, do. It's incredible.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 09:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] redstorm.livejournal.com
What does he write again?

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 09:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvetpage.livejournal.com
He takes historical settings that interest him and sets them in parallel worlds - close enough that it's easy to see the comparisons, far enough to let him put real magic and creatures from myth or legend in it. My favourite is "Tigana", though I think the one I just got is going to be a close second - "Last Light of the Sun", about Vikings/Anglo-Saxons/Celts. Very good stuff.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-01-03 10:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] redstorm.livejournal.com
Have you read any Robin Hobb?

Thats by far my favourite fantasy author, and co 'favourite author *ever*' with C.S. Lewis.

I'll look your guy up.

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