Friday, October 9, 2009

Title help for my WIP and a couple wedding pics

So I'm trying to come back to reality post wedding & honeymoon, albeit not trying very hard. I've been just kind of staring at the messy state of my house and my email inbox and wandering off to eat leftover wedding cupcakes, stare at new pots and pans, and daydream about husband. Next week I'll get productive again, I swear. And yes, productive will include blogs about and photos of the wedding. I have to organize those and wait for photos from the professional photographer. But for now I will share two of my favorite images. The first one taken by my cousin Becca and the second by our photographer, Brian Hacker.



I did come home from my brief honeymoon to good news though. My agent is ready to send out the partial of my next book! However it was titled Anarchists, Soap Stars and Regulars, which she thinks is a little too unwieldy so I'm trying to figure out a new title this weekend. If you have any ideas please feel free to leave them in the comments.

As I explained in a blog last month the reason for the initial title was because the main character Zoë is a very political teenager whose former stepfather Pete taught her about punk rock and anarchy when she was ten. Pete was her real father figure. Zoe refers to her estranged real father as the Soap Star "because that’s what he was—although the “star” part was debatable. He’d never won a Daytime Emmy or even landed a leading role on a well-known show like General Hospital. He played a brooding vampire bar owner on Passion Creek, one of those cheesy half-hour soaps that combines daytime drama with the paranormal." And finally, Zoë's mother Ivy is a bartender (yes, finally my bartender book!), whose regulars teach both Ivy and Zoë a lot about life.

The basic premise of the book is that every time Ivy breaks things off with a man, she and Zoë flee like the end of a relationship is a natural disaster. At seventeen Zoë has already lived in eleven cities in five states. On Sunday, August 28, 2005, the same day that a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans is declared due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Katrina, Ivy announces that they are moving from Seattle to Chicago. At first, Zoë accepts her fate because everything in her life is messed up: her anarchist boyfriend Gabriel broke her heart for the second time and her best friend, a homeless punk who calls himself Bender, kissed her. But after seeing a poignant interview with an elderly woman who had to flee New Orleans because of the hurricane, Zoë decides she needs to fix her problems in Seattle and claim it as her home. So Zoë and Ivy make a go of staying in one place, working through their various relationship issues (Can Zoë become more than friends with Bender? How will it affect Ivy when her ex-husband the Soap Star comes to town?), and trying to grow up together (Ivy is an alcoholic and perpetual teenager herself). Added to the mix is Jake, the son of Ivy’s best friend Hanna, who has come to live with them and he's dealing with anger issues and possibly bipolar disorder.

Umm yeah that is all I'll say about it for now and that's probably too much already. It's very much in the early stages (I have 50 pages and a synopsis that will go to my editor at MTV in hopes she'll like it enough to give me a contract before I write the whole thing), but hopefully that's enough to inspire title suggestions? Lemme know your thoughts. In the meantime I'll be listening to music looking toward lyrics and song names like I did with IWBYJR. Ugh, I wish good titles could always just come to me like the title of Ballads did. That book was Ballads of Suburbia from the beginning. It was perfect and just stuck.

Anyway, quickly for those of you in the Oak Park area, there is a local author reading tomorrow, an event I am hoping to go to if I can slog through enough post-wedding work. Kathi Baron is celebrating the release of her book Shattered at Magic Tree Bookstore (141 N. Oak Park Ave in Oak Park, IL) from 1 to 3 pm tomorrow, Saturday, October 10. Go if you can! Shattered looks like a great book for music lovers (about a teen violinist who runs away after her father smashes her violin in a violent outburst) and I can't wait to read it. Kathi will be on the blog in a couple weeks for Women Who Rock Wednesday!

Okay more cohesive blog entries with wedding pictures next week, I promise!

18 comments:

Annika said...

YOU LOOK SO PRETTY!!

What about just cutting one of the three archetypes from your title? So "Soap Stars and Anarchists" or whichever two best suit the story and/or you like best.

Diana Dang said...

I can't wait to see the wedding pictures! :D I am sadly terrible with titles so nothing came to mind. But the premise is quite interesting!

Circus Freaks said...

Congrats on the wedding.

here is a small list. maybe it'll get the creative juices flowing

Father Anarchy
The life and times of a teenage Anarchist
My life as a teenage anarchist
An anarchist's quilt
Anarchy and the age of reason

little miss gnomide said...

Love the pics, Stephanie. You look beautiful.

That's so exciting that your agent is ready to shop your work in progress. You rock!

Brittany said...

I love you're dress. You guys look amazing.

as for titles (not that I'm an expert[though I like to think of myself as somewhat of a connoisseur])*laughs*

People You Meet in Bars
Punk Rock Soap Operas
or Punk Rock and Soap Operas
Anarchist Leaving Town
Anarchy in 6 States

Urgh... Well hopefully those can at least inspire you, I honestly love your title, I would deff. pick that book up.

Just Your Typical Book Blog said...

You look so pretty!! Congrautlations and a happily ever after =D

And just by the snid bit you gave, I want to read that book like right now. I hope you get it sold because it sounds very intresting!

Authorness said...

Gorgeous wedding pics, Steph! You both look so happy.

As you know, I'm dreadful at titles but I shall keep mulling this over.

x

Anonymous said...

I think you should use a song title again, something like "And She Was" or maybe "Flowers For Zoe"

Sara said...

LOVE your dress!

bunnybea said...

Congrats on the wedidng! Cute pictures!

Love, love your books! This book sounds enticing. Title suggestion: Gypsy Love (or something based on gypsy because of the constant moving). Gypsy Road?

staging professionals in Toronto said...

Hi. Congratulations on the wedding. Beautiful pictures. You are gorgeous in the wedding dress and of course your husband is not less amazing. My friend is going to marry soon and she's looking for her wedding dress in these days and your pictures provide inspiration. I'm looking forward to see the rest of them. Good luck!

Ella

The Old School Records said...

you know the only thing cuter than a punk rock wedding???
a punk rock BABY!!!!

Heather said...

All of your wedding photos (from Facebook and this blog) are so gorgeous, Stephanie! I can just tell you are brimming with happiness. :]

Congratulations on your agent being ready to shop your proposal! That's good news for me - as I want to read this new book asap. :D I'm terrible at titles, but I'll keep my mind open. Maybe something will pop in?

Unknown said...

Gorgeous photos! So lovely!

As for titles, how 'bout:

Anarchy in the Daytime
Anarchists & Cocktails
Anarchists & Exes
Daddy was a Soap Star

I can't wait to read it, whatever the final title is!

Shooting Stars Mag said...

OMG, I love those pictures! AWWW...you both look wonderful.

Soo...I'm really bad with titles myself but you said you like lyric ideas so I'm going to go with that for now...

Running up that Hill (song by Placebo)

Yeah, that's all I got right now. LOL

-Lauren

Stephanie Kuehnert said...

Thanks for all the wedding congrats and for all the title help. It's been inspiring though I'm still not set on anything so keep em coming. I'm edging away from anarchy related titles and looking more at home/run away/vagabond types of titles.

And thanks for all the compliments on my dress. I thought it was pretty perfect :)

D Swizzle said...

Aw, you look gorgeous!

As for the title thing...how about something simple, like just "Anarchy"? Or, if your gonna go with song titles, "For Those About to Rock, We Solut you" (which I was seriously wishing was the title for "Joey Ramone".

I don't know. Those are bad ideas, lol :)

Susanne said...

OK: here are my thoughts:

Staying Put

Or:

Zoe Staying Put

Sometimes You Have to Stay Behind

i'll keep thinking!

Susanne