Wednesday 20 February 2008

"Help! My Teenage Character Is Having Sex!" (and other potential MNW talk show titles)




Quoth the inimitable Mr Isaak, on Aliya and Neil's blog, and the subject of fiction vs. autobiography:

"I think it's Oprah and Jerry Springer who've caused all this confusion between imagination and confession."

This set my brain ticking, and I've come up with a bit of a game for you all - you know how talk show episodes tend to have those awful, hyperbolic titles that usually involve mad sensationalism and copious exclamation marks? Well...what would your book's episode title be? If your characters were dragged up before one of the unholy army that includes Jeremy Kyle, Sally Jessy Raphael and of course the inescapable Mr Springer, what ridiculous titles might be used when the show aired?

Personally, for Cover the Mirrors, I like the one I've used for the title of this blog post (optional extra: ...With A 29-Year-Old!), or perhaps Fraud and Teen Pregnancy Exposed!. I'm lucky in that my protagonist is a sixteen-year-old girl, which automatically makes everything she does worthy of an even bigger fuss in talk show land, so that's useful.

What about the rest of you?

8 comments:

no said...

Great question, Faye.

Three Things About Me might have to be 'Help! My Characters Can't Keep Secrets!' And Light Reading, mmmm, how about, 'These characters' marriages are so over!'

It's impossible to write these things without plenty of exclamation marks.

Eliza Graham said...

Race Murder Crime Still Haunts Village!

Eliza Graham said...

Actually--it's quite a good way of summarising your own book: albeit in an OVER-EXCITED kind of way.

David Isaak said...

Oh. my.

Coming up next: "Women who Kill!"

Tim Stretton said...

This is fun...

"I Can't Let Go of the Past!" or

"Seduced By My Boss's Teenage Daughter!"

Hey, you all want to read that now, right?

Eliza Graham said...

You've got me intrigued, Tim!

Doug Worgul said...

Confessions of a Drunken Priest!

Apocalyptic Ravings of the Deranged and Deluded!

Faye L. Booth said...

There are some belters there, guys. (Doug's sound like they could have come from one of those documentaries about rabid 'endtimers'.)

Eliza's got a point, too - could this be the new, easier version of the synopsis?