Ten Terrible Titles

- Books

Stephanie Burgis tagged me for this fun Ten Terrible Titles meme. Here are the rules:

Scroll through your manuscript and stop on a random place, ten times. Whatever you land on becomes one of ten terrible titles.

I did this for SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB. Basically, I opened the PDF of the galley, closed my eyes, scrolled and then dragged the cursor across before opening my eyes. Whatever was highlighted I chose (and, hey, I even found a typo on the way…)

The only changes I made were to make sure I had either full sentences or coherent clauses. Oh, and I left out one that would have been a total spoiler for the end of the book.

So, enough waffle, here they are, in no particular order (well, in reverse order, because, you know, just because I can):

  1. We have improved upon them beyond recognition.
  2. Smaller glass windows at the side. (Doesn’t that one sound exciting…)
  3. The moons were high and the sky clear.
  4. We plunged through the grass.
  5. All I could see were the whites of her eyes.
  6. The next moment, it regained its footing and came for me again.
  7. Mama’s eyes flashed. “And as for you, Edward!”
  8. A snapping serpent oak lunged out of the darkness.
  9. Their enormous pale eyes staring like mad moons.
  10. Hanging from a dragon’s claws far above the ancient Martian landscape.

Actually, SECRETS OF THE DRAGON TOMB had quite a few terrible titles before I got the one I wanted, but none of them as bad as these, I hope.

If you want to play, consider yourself tagged!