Wednesday, August 25, 2010

And Bob's Official Title Is...

…At the bottom of this post:)

Aw, you guys are awesome! Five hundred words isn’t a lot to go on, but you came up with 249 titles. Like I said, awesome.

Before I announce the winners, I have a brain fart to confess. I should have mentioned how I planned to handle the word “The” in the contest post, but since I didn’t even think about it until I was judging all the entries, I guess I’ll mention it now. I decided to treat entries with and without “The” as separate entries, so TOOTHLESS and THE TOOTHLESS are, in fact, different. (Which actually makes sense in the context of the story, because TOOTHLESS can refer to the condition of being Toothless as well as the group of people who are, whereas THE TOOTHLESS is most definitely the group.)

My short list was pretty long, but here it is:

Honorable Mentions

BITE THE HAND by Ryan Z Nock
THE LAST WINGTOOTHER by Myrna Foster
SETH TUCKER AND THE SHARK ZOMBIES by Liesl
SETH WINGTOOTHER AND THE STREAM BREAKERS by Joseph Adams
STREAM OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS by L. Bowser
STREAMBREAKERS by Taryn7
TOOTH FOR A TOOTH by Joseph Adams
THE TOOTHLESS by Gwendolyn Conover
TOOTHLESS RISING by Stephanie McGee
THE WINGTOOTH CHRONICLES by Holly
WINGTOOTHER by Christauna Asay

I liked a lot of things about these entries. For instance, I loved SETH TUCKER AND THE SHARK ZOMBIES and SETH WINGTOOTHER AND THE STREAM BREAKERS, but both of these felt more middle grade than young adult to me.

THE LAST WINGTOOTHER sounds great, but it follows a too-common pattern. (You can blame THE LAST SAMURAI and THE LAST AIRBENDER for that:) ). And while I love the idea of using THE WINGTOOTH CHRONICLES as a possible series name, I’m not as wild about it for a single book (which Holly already pointed out).

Because I thought these titles were so great, I’M OFFERING THE HONORABLE MENTIONS A PRIZE AS WELL. I’m not an agent, but I’ve spent the last two years trying to get one, and I think I’ve learned a thing or two about writing queries and first pages. So honorable mentions, if you’re looking for some feedback, feel free to e-mail me at kvandolzer@gmail.com with your query OR first page. I’d love to learn a little more about the stuff you’re working on.

Third Place THE ASSASSINATION OF MARVIN HERMES by Diana. Love this title. Really love this title. But if anybody’s name is going to be in the title, I’d rather it were Seth’s.

Second Place FEED DEAF by Too Cute (Penelope Wright), which I am taking the liberty of changing to STREAM DEAF. I didn’t mention it before, but sometime between now and when I first set up this contest, I actually came up with two titles I really liked. STREAM DEAF was one of them, so when Honey Bear read this one off, I just about snorted my ice water. I figured it was a sign:)

First Place WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS by Ben Spendlove. I honestly couldn’t decide between STREAM DEAF and WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS, but I decided to give WHOSE TEETH the win because it was the one title I couldn’t get out of my head. The phrase comes from a scripture in Proverbs (Proverbs 30:14), and that verse couldn’t be more applicable to Bob.

Congratulations, Ben, Penelope, and Diana! Please e-mail me at kvandolzer@gmail.com so we can work out prizes. And everyone else, thanks again for all your help. Bob has needed a title for a long, long time, and now he has one.

Bob, I dub thee WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS. Or maybe STREAM DEAF. I can’t quite make up my mind.

Next stop--agents’ inboxes! (And Ben (or maybe Penelope), no one is rooting for you to win that Kindle as much as I am:) )

20 comments:

Holly said...

Congratulations, everybody! Krista, what a fun contest. I loved WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS, too. It blew me away.

Glad Bob will finally name a real name.

Holly said...

Oops, I meant, glad Bob will finally have a real name.

And Krista, thanks for the generous offer to the honorable mentions to read our queries or first pages. I plan to take you up on it.

Kristine Asselin said...

But Bob is so much easier to say...kidding. I love the new title--sounds very epic to me. Good luck!

Esther Vanderlaan said...

Congratulations to the winners and to the ones who got honorable mentions!

I hope you'll host another contest soon- these contests are so much fun!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

Congratulations winners. You deserved it. Those are awesome titles!! Yay for Bob having a title.

Amy

P.S. My word-verification word underneath this comment is "tothy." Ha ha ha! Very fitting. :)

Carol Riggs said...

How fun! Yes, the winner is a very memorable image and title. Well, both--Whose Teeth Are Swords AND Stream Deaf. As far as which to use, it all depends on which one is more marketable I suppose...or unlike something else...or what fits the gist of your novel better.

Kinda like having a baby but just calling it "Kid" or "Sweetie" for a while, huh?! Now your ms has a name, congratz.

Erin Edwards said...

Great titles! I wanted to enter but I couldn't come up with anything that I thought was good - now that I've seen what won I *know* what I came up with wasn't nearly as good. I'm glad you got your title!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Holly, it blew me away, too. WHOSE TEETH was Ben Spendlove's ONLY entry, by the way. Guess he knows how to pick 'em:) (And please take me up on my offer. I'd love to check out your query or first page.)

Kris, Bob is much easier to say, and I'm sure I'll still call him that around the house/blog. But I'm happy to hear you think this title sounds epic.

Contests ARE fun, aren't they, Esther?

Thanks, Amy. And man, it's too bad Word Verification didn't spit that one out sooner. You could have entered it in the contest! :)

Carol, it definitely comes down to marketability, doesn't it? As much as I love WHOSE TEETH (and STREAM DEAF, too), I'll be totally open to any suggestions from an agent or editor. *wink, wink*

Thanks, Erin. And yeah, there was some pretty stiff competition.

Myrna Foster said...

I was actually thinking "The Last Starfighter," but "The Last Airbender" cartoon was great too.

I love your winning title. Congrats to everyone, and thank for the Honorable.

Jemi Fraser said...

Those are some absolutely fantastic titles!! Love them :)

Suzanne Casamento said...

Congratulations to the winners! You got some awesome titles from this contest. Brilliant idea.

I'm totally stealing your contest the next time I need a title. That is, eh hem, if you don't, um, mind. ;)

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Myrna, you're welcome. And I'm so glad you like the winner, especially since you've read the book. Your feedback (and everyone else's, too) has made me feel like I made the right choice.

Me, too, Jemi! Weren't they great?

Suzanne, steal away. Just mention my name in your acknowledgments page, and we'll call it a fair trade:)

Jenn said...

I think this contest idea was awesome!

And thanks for the comment on my blog. :)

Jessica Brockmole said...

Both are great choices! Thanks for giving us a chance to play along. This was fun!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

You're welcome, Jenn.

Glad you had a good time, Jessica.

Nina said...

Hey, I just disocered you after you commented on my writing in the nathan bransford forum. It was more your blog name that caught me; the fact that you are a mother of two and have barely any spare time to write is "nice" to know. I'm there myself, and I', always looking for advice and company on this part.

Sorry my bad grammar at the moment. My brain is sort of fried after little sleep. (New job).

Oh, and I have two cats...

Ben Spendlove said...

And to think I had such a hard time picking a title for my own book, and I'm still not sure I like it. Thanks, Krista!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Nina, you live in Norway? How exciting! I had a roommate in college who grew up in Sweden (she moved to the States when she was about 13), and my mother's mother's family hails from Denmark, but those are my only Scandinavian connections - except for you, I guess:)

Ben, THANK YOU. Maybe I should read your query and first page and try to come up with a title for you:)

Stephanie McGee said...

How very generous of you! I plan to take you up on the critique. I just need to a)decide whether it'll be query or first page and b)write the query or decide if the prologue is staying so I know what the first page is.

Congrats to the winners! Whose Teeth are as Swords is amazing.

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Stephanie, please do! I'd love to find out more about what you're working on.