{"id":477,"date":"2014-03-19T20:56:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T00:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/?p=477"},"modified":"2014-06-12T08:49:13","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T12:49:13","slug":"destiny-lives-in-the-titles-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/destiny-lives-in-the-titles-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Destiny Lives in the Title’s Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ElementsBelow, dear reader, please find bonus content<\/b><\/u> for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Sitting in the 11th slot in the Table of Contents<\/a> is: Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

Of all the stories I’ve written to date, I think that I’m most proud of the title, Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle<\/i>, the first of my short stories to be a finalist for an Aurora Award<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I believe that most writers struggle to pen great story titles. Back when I used to do formal critiques for Critters<\/a>, I used to say that titles were my nemesis<\/i><\/b>. <\/p>\n

\"tesseractsLike the cover for a book, the title draws the reader in. It should also foreshadow the plot. Coming up with words that meet all of these requirements is hard.<\/p>\n

One of the techniques I’ve grown to appreciate for generating a title is choosing a phrase from the story<\/u>, which is how I chose this one.<\/p>\n

Destiny<\/i>  is my first steampunk story. It begins with:<\/p>\n

I dropped from the airship like a rock, praying for my chute to open.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"AIRSHIParthursfortunecity\"Because, hey, if you’re going to wave the steampunk flag, you might as well use an airship. And what better way to introduce an airship than with an explosive crash to the ground!<\/p>\n

Although this particular story doesn’t include any corsets or goggles, the sequels might. Which begs the question, “Where are these sequels that you speak of?”<\/p>\n

They aren’t written. No yet<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Many of Destiny’s<\/i>  readers have asked me to write more fiction about these characters and their world. And on more than one butt-in-chair occasion, I’ve considered writing more about them. <\/p>\n

Maybe even a novel. <\/p>\n

Encouragement for such adventures is greatly appreciated. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Fun Fact<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

In my post Storm Child – Putting a Fresh Face on a Timeless Myth<\/a> I mentioned the writers’ group that formed after the workshop I attended at DragonCon 2000.<\/p>\n

\"SFSciFiCover\"<\/a>One of the members of the DC2K Writers’ Workshop, my good friend Louise Herring-Jones<\/a> challenged me to use the word “sage grass” in a story.<\/p>\n

I asked her, “What’s sage grass?”<\/p>\n

She answered, “It’s a horrible, bitter weed. Even goats won’t eat it.”<\/p>\n

Not only does sage grass appear in Destiny<\/i>, but I also used her line about goats refusing to eat the stuff.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Louise Herring-Jones<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\n

\"ElementsELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction<\/i><\/a>  is available in Canada and the USA from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below, dear reader, please find bonus content for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction. This series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS. Sitting in the 11th slot in the Table of Contents is: Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle Of all the stories I’ve written to date, I think that I’m most proud of the title, Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle, the first of my short stories to be a finalist for an Aurora\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,1],"tags":[25,3,76,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":810,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions\/810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suzannechurch.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}