Thursday, August 3, 2017

Which comes first: the title or the book? by Donna Andrews

JENN: In March, I was lucky enough to attend Honolulu Havoc, Left Coast Crime's annual conference. My panel was named Crazy Crimes: Screw Ups to Die For. Well, didn't that prove to be true when our moderator went MIA! We renamed the panel Mystery of the Missing Moderator. Luckily, we had Donna Andrews at the helm and she gamely took over the double duty of moderator and panelist and with her usual wit, she led us into a lively discussion about writing humorous mysteries. She writes one of my very favorite series and I'm delighted to have her visit us today!

DONNA: With the launch this week of Gone Gull, the twenty-first book in my Meg Langslow series from Minotaur, I once again expect to hear a familiar question: do you think of a good title and then write a book to go along with it, or do you come up with a book idea and then figure out the title.

And the answer is: yes.

Or, less cryptically, it all depends on the book.

When I was about to submit my first book, I hadn't yet come up with the perfect title. The best I'd come up with was Three Weddings and an Undisclosed Number of Homicides. I called a friend who was good at this title thing, and asked her what she thought I should call it. Knowing that I had several projects in progress, she asked, “Is this for the murder mystery? The one with the peacocks?” Aha!  Murder with Peacocks!  And thus a title—and a series concept—was born.

All my books have birds in the titles. Often there are birds in the plot, but not always. The good thing is that unlike Sue Grafton, who will be up a creek if she wants to keep her series going after she hits Z is for whatever, I'm not likely to run out of bird names to use in titles. Although it is an ongoing challenge to come up with good titles—prefererably punning titles—that include a bird name, please not only me but also my editor and my publisher's marketing department, and last but very definitely not least, have some connection to a mystery plot that I think will work.

Sometimes the title comes first. For example, I knew for a year or two beforehand that the book in which my heroine was pregnant would be called Stork Raving Mad. No real storks were required, of course, which gave my plotting more freedom than usual.

Sometimes the plot comes first. I came up with a Christmas mystery plot in which someone was playing pranks in the various churches in the small fictitious town of Caerphilly, Virginia, where the series is set. Pranks that were non-lethal, caused no real permanent damage, but played havoc with the busy schedule of services, classes, pageants, and social events churches have at holiday time. When I came up with a good title—Duck the Halls—all I had to do was make sure that one of the pranks involved unleashing an impressive number of ducks in a church.

With Gone Gull I knew I wanted to set a mystery in the residential craft center owned by Meg's grandmother Cordelia. But I puzzled, at first, over how to bring Meg's grandfather into the picture. Cordelia and Grandfather were only briefly a couple; they get along very badly in ways that I find enormously entertaining (and hope my readers agree).  I knew the book would be much more fun if I could involve Grandfather. Aha!  The craft center is located in a picturesque small town on the edge of the Blue Ridge, surrounded by wide expanses of forest and mountain. The sort of place where Grandfather, a zoologist and ardent environmentalist, could be in pigheaded pursuit of some rare and endangered species. But what species?

At about this point, the title Gone Gull sprang into my brain.  Perfect! No, wait. The craft center is in the mountains—I can't move it because it already appeared in another book. Gulls live at the seashore, right? I did some quick research. No, gulls are not exclusively shore birds. They often live far inland, especially in places where they find good pickings, like garbage dumps and mall parking lots. The grey gull, a South American species, has its breeding grounds not merely inland, but in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, the dryest non-polar desert in the world. I can have my gulls, even in the mountains.

Okay. Gone Gull it was.

I try not to get too invested in a title until I'm sure Marketing approves. Later this year—okay, October 24, 2017, if you really want to know—I have a Christmas mystery coming out. I was originally going to call it Jingle Bills. Marketing wasn't crazy about that, and I had to admit it didn't have the pizazz of Gone Gull, so I was delighted when Marketing suggested calling the book How the Finch Stole Christmas instead. Of course, that did mean I had to go back and rework my plot to finchify it, since there were no actual finches in my first synopsis. But the changes I made ultimately improved the plot.

Someone once asked me if it wasn't a pain having to figure out a way to work in a particular bird in order to justify a catchy title. Sometimes, if I'm in a grouchy mood, it feels that way. Most of the time, though, I just consider it a part of the challenge. The balancing act. I try to write a book that balances mystery and humor. The elements of the plot that surround the requisite murder often pull the book in a darker direction. The brainstorming I have to do to make my title work the the book often beefs up the humorous side of the plot, and helps it achieve the right balance.  And even on those days when I think it's a pain—well, I'm sure poets who write traditional haiku sometimes find the seventeen-syllable limit a pain. It's a pain that makes their art what it is.

And now I will return to the current draft--which involves graverobbing and a thirty-year-old jewel robbery and is traveling under the title of Toucan Keep a Secret. And there will be a toucan, and a whole lot of secrets, and both will play a humorous but integral role in the plot. I keep telling myself that, because I'm at that part of the writing process where every creative decision I've made seems highly suspect if not disasterous, and only the fact that I've already done this twenty-six times before makes me think I can pull it off.

So maybe this is the right moment to remind myself that I felt the same way about Gone Gull about a year ago, and that seems to have come out okay.  I hope if you get a chance to read it, you'll agree.

Gone Gull is available in hardback, as an ebook, and as an unabridged audiobook read by the award-winning Bernadette Dunne. And in honor of the latter, just mention in a comment`—here or on Facebook—that you're an audio book fan, and I'll enter you in a random drawing to win the CD-set of Gone Gull.

All right, Reds, chime in, what's comes first for you -- the title or the book?



72 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new book, Donna. Your bird titles always bring a smile [and make me curious to see how they are involved in the mystery]. I’m certainly glad there are many more birds for many more books . . . .

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    1. I love Donna's titles, too. They definitely set the tone for the books.

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    2. Many more birds, but the titles get harder. Some birds, like the Lesser Yellowlegs or the Worm-eating Warbler, do not lend themselves readily to catchy titles.

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  2. Congrats on the new book!

    As for me, if the book is by an author I already read, then the title really doesn't matter to me, I'm going to buy it.

    But as I walk through the shelves of the B&N mystery and thriller sections, scanning the titles of authors that I haven't read before, it is usually the title that jumps out at me first. If the title grabs my attention I'll pull the book from the shelf and read the back cover synopsis. That's where the main hook is for me and how I determine if I'm going to commit my money to yet another new author.

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    1. I agree, Jay. Titles are the initial hook. What about cover art? Does that factor into your buying decision?

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    2. I sometimes have to close my eyes when walking through a bookstore, because too many books want to leap off the shelves into my hands!

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    3. Jenn, cover art doesn't really affect my decision to buy a book. I'll look at the cover art but I kind of move on quickly from that to the back cover synopsis. I think the only time that enters into the buying equation is if I'm buying an album. (And yes, I am one of those who still buy the physical product when it comes to music.)

      Donna, I don't have to close my eyes but when I check out, the sales clerk always asks, "Did you find everything you were looking for?" which prompts me to respond, "Yes, but I can't afford all of it."

      I actually feel depressed if I walk out of a bookstore without at least one book.

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  3. I do love a good pun in a cozy title. Too often, I feel that the end results are a stretch, but I have yet to hear a Donna Andrews title that didn't make me smile.

    Gone Gull is not only brilliant because it makes clever use of the bird theme, but also because it is so on trend as a play off of Gone Girl (do we need another girl title, NO!, but we do need a Gull title). ;)

    As for next year's book - Toucan Keep a Secret - another winner. Immediately made me finish that familiar saying in my head: "Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead."

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    1. Yes, definitely brilliant! And I could relate to her not getting invested until Marketing said it was a go. Sales and marketing actually have the final say on titles.

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    2. And there will be a toucan. And secrets. Not telling how many bodies.

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  4. A year (or maybe more) ago, a guest blogger on JRW critiqued book titles. She loved my first title (the manuscript now languishing on a shelf), but hated the second: Carriage House Corpse. I came up with another title which she approved: Curtains for the Corpse. I wish I could remember her name.

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  5. 26 times! Donna, you are amazing. And I agree, if this is not going over analytical, your pun titles are truly funny, not just because they are puns, but because they are meaningful puns.
    And I am with you, sister, about that inevitable moment of self-doubt. If it is any consolation, it makes me feel better that after all those books, and mad success, you still feel that way too!
    And my titles? My new book, coming in 2018, is a psychological novel called called Trust Me. I think that's about the 50th title we considered. Whoa.

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    1. Trust Me. Absolutely love that title, Hank!

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    2. The struggle is real - I remember when you were sifting through different titles, Hank. Trust Me is fantastic!

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    3. I don't think we've ever quite reached 50 rejected titles, Hank. I am shuddering at the thought. And yes, unless I can make the title relate somehow to what happens in the book, it doesn't work for me.

      I was floored the first time I heard a seasoned writer confess that it hadn't gotten easier. Glad I know better than to expect it to.

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    4. Of course, pretty much anyone that says "Trust me" these days is the one you definitely don't want to trust. But in the book world that is a good thing!

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  6. Welcome Donna! Gone Gull is brilliant--I agree with Kristopher on that. Also love the other two that are forthcoming. And your comment about growing suspicious of every creative decision is spot on. I'm in that part, too, and isn't it astonishing that it happens over and over? Can you say more about how you get past this?

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  7. I'm with you, Donna. Sometimes the title comes first. But very often, I start with something and it isn't until much later (sometimes as late as the final draft) that the final title comes to me.

    Titles, as I have often said, are the bane of my existence as an author.

    Margaret - I remember that! She liked the title for my then (and now, come to think of it) Work-in-progress, but I ultimately decided it was either too cozy/cute or would lead people to expect a serial killer and ditched it. And I'm not happy with the current working title either.

    Mary/Liz

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  8. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
    Fascinating.
    Libby Dodd

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  9. Welcome, Donna! I love your books. Congratulations on Gone Gull. I agree with Lucy -- the title is brilliant. Can't wait to read it!

    In answer to your question, I'm writing my first book, which is called "Text Story" right now. I've been advised that I should at least come up with a better working title. LOL. So, yes, the story came first.

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    1. I recommend brainstorming with fellow writers if you're having trouble thinking of a good title. Someone coming in with a clean slate often finds it easier to think of the perfect title than the writer, who is down in the weeds of the text.

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  10. Congrats on "Gone Gull" Donna! Are you a birder? Your knowledge of birds is extensive, it would seem!

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    1. My dad--on whom Meg's dad is based--was a birder. I am merely a seasoned observer of human foibles. I have to do bird research.

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  11. Hi Donna! I still remember chatting with you at an evening reception at Malice a couple of years ago, commiserating about the impossibility of keeping up with reading all the cool new things we were hearing about. At that time I think I had read only the first two of your series (Puffins?), but I've found a few more since then and enjoyed them a lot. Congratulations on Gone Gull!

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    1. Yes, the first two are Peacocks and Puffins, as I call them. Or Murder with Peacocks and Murder with Puffins, if you want to be formal about it. Have we figured out yet how to clone ourselves so we can read everything we want to read? Sometimes for long stretches of time I settle for buying my friends books and announcing my good intention of reading them.

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  12. Gone Gull! Hah! So glad I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read that.

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    1. If only I could figure out which keyboard manufacturer to buy stock in!

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  13. Before my life here, I thought that writers wrote the titles. Now I know that marketing does. Interesting. I have some amount of faith in marketing decisions, as they are usually well thought out and with one and only one object: SALES

    Can't fault that.

    I rarely buy a book due to title or cover, and almost always choose because of the author. That doesn't mean I don't try new things, but I am fiercely loyal to old friends.

    Puns in titles tend to put me off unless the subject is humor. And I too have wondered if Sue Grafton is going to retire at Z IS FOR ZEITGEIST. I heard her speak and read when A IS FOR ALIBI first hit the stands. Barbara Kingsolver was the other person on that panel. What a treat it has been to see them flourish.

    I am very intrigued with titles that make me wonder and ponder the meaning. IQ84 comes to mind. That one definitely got me reading Haruki Murakami. I was driven to know the meaning. (I still don't.) And Toni Morrison's PARADISE, read several times with no idea who the white girl was.

    Forgive the ramble, full of thought today, getting ready to get second eye lasered, then two pre-op appts for the Biggest and Best Ever Salvage the Knee Fiasco Surgery. We are going to New Hampshire this weekend, for one night to eat lobsters, Maine, on the hoof, and then next week is my final few days to get everything done. Surgery is August 14. Is this TMI? Sorry darlings.

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    1. Congrats on Gone Gull. Great title!

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    2. I can help with one of these, Ann. 1Q84 is actually a play on George Orwell's title, 1984. The Q is a romanized version of the way the number 9 sounds in the Japanese language ("kew"). So technically, the title of the book is ichi-kew-eighty-four. Now, how 1984 and IQ84 related to each other, that's a whole other matter. ;)

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    3. Thanks Kristopher. It was an incredible book. Scary too

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    4. Fingers crossed for a great outcome for all your surgical alterations, dear Ann!

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    5. Ann, I wish you the best with your upcoming surgery. As someone who had to have a major surgery redone about twelve years ago, I can sympathize. And have a great weekend!

      DebRo

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    6. Ann, wishing you well on the upcoming surgeries!!! It will be a relief to get that second eye done, I can testify!

      As for titles, I've written all of mine except one. And I'm not always sure what they mean:-)

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    7. Good luck on the surgeries! And may you have plenty of books (e-, paper, or audio) at your bedside to distract you during the healing!

      Marketing doesn't ALWAYS choose the titles. I have created the majority of mine. But Marketing gets a veto. And if they suggest a good title, I'm not going to turn up my nose at it!

      And I also get a veto. I think they came up with Toucan Keep a Secret during the title discussion for a previous book--I can't even remember which. And I liked the title, but suggested I'd rather save it for a book in which an actual toucan was involved. So that's what we did,.

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    8. I've come up with my own titles, and luckily, Putnam has liked all of them.

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    9. Ann, enjoy your get away! I hope this next surgery really fixes the darn knee. And we are honored that you now have a life with us LOL

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    10. Ann - Here's hoping your Salvage the Knee Surgery goes super smooth and as painless as possible!

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  14. This series has some of my all time favorite titles. And all your work behind the scenes pays off in my eyes because the birds always seem to show up seamlessly to me.

    Looking forward to reading this one!

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    1. Glad it appears seamless! So I won't reveal in which books it occurred effortlessly and in which books it took an immense amount of work to achieve that seamless. Think of a swan floating across the pond, serene and elegant; and then think of the legs paddling furiously below the surface.

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  15. I enjoy writing from prompts or specific guidelines. I am much more creative than if I start from my own limited brain. So I love the idea of having the challenge of the birds in your books. These sound like fun, and I will be a new reader and fan very soon.

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    1. Precisely! The idea of the birds not as a constraint, but a writing prompt. A challenge, if you will; and meeting that challenge makes the book even better!

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  16. I have always enjoyed Donna's titles as well. Gone Gull is very good. And for some reason, I'm really in love with "How the Finch Stole Christmas."

    I agree with earlier comments, the title doesn't affect me much if I've read the author before, or if I am responding to a review or recommendation. But on those occasions when I'm just browsing the shelves, looking for a new reading adventure, then titles matter a lot. Also, titles usually sort of communicate the genre, too, which helps when browsing shelves.

    BTW, I am an audiobook fan. And I think that's the form in which I've enjoyed all the Donna Andrews books I've read so far.

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  17. Donna, I'm really looking forward to this one! How have you managed to come up with so many great plots?

    From the calendars you've seen, you know our family loves birds, and coincidentally, the first audiobook Steve and I listened to together was Gone Girl, on a long car trip. So I would love to have a chance for your latest. Thank you for offering it to the Reds gang!

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    1. Glad you like the plots! I actually worry less about the plot at the start than the situation--I find a situation that I think would be find to write about--in Gone Gull, for example, murder in the relatively closed confines of a residential craft class center; in Die Like an Eagle, the potential for both humor and homicide in the world of youth sports. Then I try to figure out who you'd be apt to meet in that situation, and who doesn't like whom, and before you know it, I've got a body and the plot is off.

      But the key is finding something that's fresh enough that I can have fun with it. Because writing a book is a lot of work, and so why not at least start out something you think will be fun to spend the long days, weeks, and months of writing with.

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    2. Your nephews' many ball games have given you lots to work with on the topic of youth sports, I'm sure.

      Thanks for the glimpse at the process!

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  18. @Jenn McKinlay, for me, cover art doesn't matter unless it's really bad. Mostly, if I'm buying at a shop or browsing the library, the books are shelved so you can't see the art anyway. If I'm buying online, it's a specific book I've seen or heard reviewed elsewhere. NPR and SBTB reviews have driven a lot of my new-to-me-author purchases.

    I do love Donna's books, and Meg's crazy world. Donna's an author whose books I discovered at the library- right on the edge of the row and at eye height. Never underestimate the advantage of a name at the beginning of the alphabet!

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    1. I will remember to thank my mother again for decided to marry someone named Andrews. I'm sure she had other options, though in my biased opinion, she chose the best of them. (Dad a large part of the inspiration for Meg's dad.)

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    2. Thanks, Jennifer! I've always wondered how much cover art matters. It feels like it should matter a lot but then I can't think of any covers that made me buy the book - so there you go.

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    3. Jenn, I can't think of any that made me buy the book, but I can think of times when it makes me think twice about buying it. Or at least, makes me want to wrap it in one of those old middle school book covers before taking it out in public! Sci fi and romance are particularly bad about that.

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  19. Donna,

    As a birder and a lover of humorous mysteries I was delighted when I first discovered you years ago! You've graduated from someone whose books I reserve at the library to someone whose books I buy.

    I can't wait for more!
    DebRo

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  20. I love punny titles! If there's a pun there has to be some snark. I hope. I just got an email from my library that Gone Gull is waiting for me. How great is that? I do enjoy audio books although I seem to listen to them only on road trips.

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    1. Pat, Audible and Amazon Alexa have turned me into an audio book addict. We have Dots (the little satellites for the Echo) and I listen all over the house. The Audible book picks up on any device right where you left off.

      Right now I'm listening to Rhys's CROWNED AND DANGEROUS again (before reading ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE) and it is hysterical. Highly recommended.

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    2. After a couple of rocky starts, I'm starting to enjoy audiobooks again. There was the audiobook that left me dangling when disk 9 out of 10 was so damaged it would not play. (Don Winslow's California Fire and Life, if you're curious.) And the audiobook whose narrator went overboard with really bad foreign accents. Alexia Gordon's Murder in G Major kicked off my recent audio binge. I'm currently listening to Wicket Plants and getting really annoyed that the reader says "NOX-ee-us" when all my sources say it should be "NOCK-shuss." Regional variation or lack of proper direction to the narrator?

      I'm very glad that Bernadette Dunne, who has been the reader for all of my books, seems to be a very good narrator. I say seems because I haven't listened to most of my own books on audiobook. Having read them before a time or two . . .

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    3. OH! So fabulous--I NEVER thought of listening to books on our Dots! Brilliant!

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  21. Hi Donna! I love your books and your titles crack me up! Gone Gull made me snort my tea:-) I know that as a RED I'm not eligible for the Audible giveaway, but it's made me think that I'd love to listen to your books. Good thing I have a couple of Audible credits to use...

    I think your title/plot process is interesting. I don't think I've ever come up with a title before the basic idea for a book. But once I know more or less what the book is about and where it's set, I find I have to have a title before I can go any further. Weird how all our mental processes work, isn't it?

    Congrats on the book and wishing it much success!

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  22. I agree about not being able to go beyond a certain point until I know the title. Because the title has to work with the book, and the book with the title. If I'm not happy with the pairing, I think some part of my brain won't stop fretting about it, and that keeps me from really immersing myself in the writing.

    Although one thing I find fascinating after years of hanging out with writers: how different our processes are. If I thought of something that sounded like a crazy idea to me--say, deciding the ending of my book by writing the names of the suspects on a dart board and aiming a few darts at it while blindfolded--I bet that somewhere out there is someone who has done that. And maybe even gotten a bestseller out of it!

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  23. Just call me the oddball ostrich, who is now taking my head out of the sand to take notice of this series. Donna, I, of course, have been aware of you as an author (would have had to have been a dead ostrich with my head in the sand not to), but I always have so many series to catch up on, that I hadn't taken a good enough look at your Meg Langslow series. And, as too often happens when a reader comes across a great series, I have to wonder why I hadn't looked closer sooner. First, I am a huge fan of witty titles, and your titles are an absolute delight. And, the birds. I've recently become much more interested in them. And, I find myself in need of some witty entertainment. I guess timing really is everything, and the timing seems right for your series for me. Gone Gull, with its alliterative title (another love of mine) and interesting characters, may be well into your series, but I think I might just read it first. I've gotten over my "must start with the first in a series before I read any others in it" rigidity.

    I'm betting that the audio of Gone Gull would be amazing. I listen to audio versions of books when I drive, and I can't imagine a better audio book than Gone Gull to make a trip pass pleasantly.

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    1. I hope you do enjoy it! I try to write the books so that a new reader can pick up the latest and enjoy it . . . while at the same time trying to add in things that will delight the reader who has been reading all along--having a minor character take center stage, or revealing a bit of someone's history. So enjoy wherever you start!

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  24. Just finished Die Like an Eagle. As always, had some belly laughs and loved the twists and turns.

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    1. Glad you liked it! All those years watching the nephews' baseball and basketball paid off, I like to think.

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  25. I really liked the title and the cover of Lord of the Wings, but basically, I love all of your titles and can't wait to start reading. Humor is something I think we all need a lot more of these days! (And I am a big fan of audiobooks!)

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  26. I love the punny titles and think your audiobooks are great ones for car listening.

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  28. I picked up Murder with Peacocks because of the title, then saw it was by the author of the Turing Hopper mysteries and knew I had to fit it in my book budget. Since then, I've bought them all.
    Love the punny titles and love the books even more.

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  29. Talk about serendipity--I was trying to remember this author's name, whose book I'd read and really enjoyed. It had a healthy dose of humor mixed in with the mystery--a married protagonist--and a witty title. I was thinking how so many authors shy away from married couples--as if marriage is too boring to be of interest after you get your main character together with someone--and this book popped into my mind. And lo and behold, here you are, Donna--that very author! And now I won't forget again--especially since I've got plenty to catch up on!

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    1. I enjoy married sleuths, too! It makes for a nice change pace.

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