You pick up a book on the shelves of your local bookstore. Why? There could be a number of reasons behind it. The cover art, the author name or… drum roll, please – the TITLE. Stop and think of the way the book was placed on the shelf. Did you see the entire cover or just the spine? If it was just the spine, I’m willing to bet it was the title that jumped out at you and cried “Pick me! Pick me!”
Coming up with a title for my fiction pieces drives me to distraction. A magic wand or some sort of incantation would be wonderful for conjuring up a title… Hocus Pocus and poof! When the smoke clears, the title is there.
And after you’ve agonized over your title and think you’ve finally hit paydirt with it, there’s still no guarantee your publisher will fall in love with it like you did. Chances are, it will be changed. Why? Maybe they don’t find it catchy enough. Maybe there’s another book out there with a very similar title. They know the markets and what they’re talking about.
So we will continue to agonize, scratch our heads, compile long lists to choose from, enlist the help of others and just maybe, we’ll come up with a winner.
Since the review was submitted to Brian for inclusion, Chris’s book is also available at Smashwords for download for a variety of other platforms in addition to the Kindle for $3.99 US.
You can check it out at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/49443
Julie Chalmers leaves her home in Edinburgh, Scotland after a visit from the police telling her that her estranged husband was found dead in Dundee. Knowing that he left for another woman, she pulls up roots, reverts to her maiden name, Forbes, and moves to the city where he died planning on exacting her revenge on the “other woman”.
Little does Julie know that the Night Watcher has already arrived in Dundee and his Chosen One is the “other woman.”
Nicole’s reputation as a man-eater is well known within the store where she’s slept her way to the top and is currently having an affair with Ken, one of the senior managers.
Julie rents the flat above the one her husband had in the building where he died and puts her plans of revenge on Nicole into action.
Over the years, Nicole has amassed a number of enemies – Harry, the security guard at the store who she belittles at every opportunity, Ken – her lover who she dumps when it becomes clear he’s not about to leave his wife, Scott – her husband who has his own bit on the side who reminds him of Nicole when she was young, before she lost her innocence.
When Nicole thinks she’s being stalked and gifts mysteriously arrive for her – dead birds and animals – and just as mysteriously disappear, her husband doesn’t take her seriously. He tries to convince her that it’s her imagination. But does he have an ulterior motive?
After Scott has left for Paris on business, Nicole finds his passport and knows he can’t travel abroad without it.
When the police are called in, the head detective on the case doesn’t take Nicole’s accounts of her recent happenings seriously. Only when she ends up dead does he realize he’s made a grave error.
Things get even more complicated when he falls for Julie and they embark on a relationship only to discover that Julie – the estranged wife of the apparent suicide in the building she’s moved into – becomes the next Chosen One.
Even when you think you have it all figured out, Chris throws in one final twist to throw you off. Her descriptive narrative draws you in making the sights, sounds and smells come to life. The dialogue is natural and makes the characters seem like normal folk you would meet on the street or in your local.
For anyone who enjoys crime fiction, I highly recommend this as an addition to your must read list.
I loved every word of it. It kept me guessing until the end when she revealed ‘whodunnit’, and even then, there’s an unsuspected twist. It’s a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes crime fiction.
Now available at Amazon.com for their Kindle reader (or Kindle apps for other devices – ipod, iphone, BlackBerry, ipad etc) – Night Watcher by Chris Longmuir. I downloaded it last night (Kindle app for the ipad – which works great).
Well after getting up early this morning, seeing the snow removal grader get stuck and generally wasting time with assorted other Internet activities and mundane chores like laundry, I managed 1243 words on my manuscript. Yeah!!!
After much procrastinating and finding other tasks that needed attention… laundry, unloading & reloading the dishwasher, farting about on Facebook, I managed to write 1072 words in my manuscript. So not a totally wasted day.
Will go back to the kitchen shortly and turn the spaghetti sauce back on, preheat the oven for the garlic bread and start the water for the pasta. Yum yum! S’getti and meatballs.
Well since getting home from work and finding where I left off last night, I’ve managed to add 317 words to my manuscript. Not a lot but at least still moving in the right direction.
Off to grab a bite to eat and we’ll see what happens after that. Maybe just a bit of thought percolating.
Not nearly as prolific as Saturday but then I didn’t get settled down to write until the afternoon. Still ended with 93198 words which translated into an increase of 272.
My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King
