I been struggling with this for um, well over a year now. I had an concept that I began researching almost 2 years ago, nothing happened with it. I never named it or wrote it out. Last year for nano i finally wrote it out and now I'm rewriting it but in comic format cuz lets face it, comics > prose.

Only problem is i dont have a name.

The book is about a young black woman(16 or so) living in a post apocolyptic version of Los Angeles. Her and her brother are vagabonds who fear an oncoming storm. They flea and the journey begins. He heads underground and joins a cult, gets mad at her for leaving him to find some girl(Polyhymnia) who she has fallen in love with. The heart of the story is about the way many people approach religion. How you can either approach it with closed minds, "This is true and anybody who does not follow the sacred teachings must be expelled from our lives, even if that means killing them." or with openness and compassion, "my religion says to love everybody equally as god does, so even though you disagree with me, we can still be friends." (kinda funny that both of those can exist in the same religion, eh?) and anyway, I'm stuck on a name.

The book is serious and Renzo Podesta will be doing art(same guy that did my ogre project for those familiar with it). I'm thinking of taking a very Tank Girl approach to the art style though. Also it will feature themes of sub cultures like wicca/pagan/new age religions as well as Hip Hop and Punk style art and attitudes.

I was thinking of calling it "A Love Song For Polyhymnia" but there isn't an actual love song sang in the story. bleh. I dont know.

It's hard coming up with ideas for something you have not read but..

Going down the religion theme:
Prayer for Polyhymnia
The Gospel According to...
Evangelica
Here I stand

Smug Sub Editor Style:
Hymn to Her
Polyhymnia to Freedom
Psalm Girls are bigger than others

i don't think you need to have the love song actually in there to use it. it's just a suggestion, and i like the sound of the title.

ONe of the best sci-fi comic strips i read as a kid was the Ballad of Halo Jones, and it had a sort of pacing to it that was redolent of a ballad, despite no actual singing.

So if the story 'feels' right having that title, go with it.

I prefer single word titles. Gives the reader (and the writer) more freedom to draw the parallels. For example:

- Choice

- Faith

- Hymn(ia)

- Lovelorn

- LA Psalms

"A Love Song for Polyhymnia" is a great title. My only suggestion would be get rid of the "A" - I just don't like "A," "An" or "The" at the beginning of any title.

"Love Song for Polyhymnia"

Even if there is no love song in the story, the story itself could be considered a sort of song or ballad without music just as Homer's ILIAD and ODYSSEY no long fit the common definition of songs.

And your thematic elements (even though I'd be careful to not too totally define the "message" of the story - or even to have a definite message) seem to suggest that love, religious and romantic, is central. So it is a kind of love song/story anyway.

yes, that title works for me as well. it's oblique sounding.

Thanks for the suggestions. Everybody else hated the name I had previously chosen. I can't find any that really work.

Psalm Girls are bigger than others

is hillarious and if the book were silly it would be perfect.

the only issue i see with the title is the name.
kinda tough to pronouce, eh.

Polyhymnia is stough to pronounce?

Poly Hymn nia

I know there is only one n, but in Hymn the n is almost silent. In hymnia it isnt.

I agree about the name being tricky--only in the title, not as her name. Don't make your readers trip over pronounciation when they go to buy it.

(But does she get called Polly by her lover? And if that makes you shudder, better consider what her nickname will be in the story...)

My other thought was that--given her name--it should be plural (songs) in the title...

And have a quick look at Octavia Butler's work--similar territory.

Everything so far invokes the image of songs.

Brainstorm of song-related words:

adagio
aria
ballad
canon
canticle
carol
chorus
credo
dirtych
dirge
duet
elegy
etude
fanfare
fantasia
fugue
hymn
idyll
interlude
lament
legend
lullabye
madrigal
march
melody
minuet
nocturne
ode
offertory
overture
pastoral
phantasie
preamble
prelude
postlude
prologue
psalm
quartet
quintet
rhapsody
requiem
serenade
septet
symphony
sonata
toccata
verse
variation

But a lot of those words mean very specific things. Dirge, elegie, lament, and requiem are all to honor dead people, for example.

"Sojourner's Song" occurred to me ... it turns out to be the name of a religious song, but that doesn't mean that it (or something like it) couldn't be the name of a story. A sojourner is a temporary resident, and the word is often used in a religioius context. I thought of that because of the fact that they are vagabonds. "Pilgrim" is a similar word. "Wayfarer" is another good word. "Fugue" is neat because it's both a piece of music and an altered mental state.

- Cho, just tossing words around

Well if Dick and Zelazny can call a book Deus Irae, I think Polyhymnnia should be fine.
Although I also prefer one word titles.
Storm
Deluge
Downpour
Rainfall
Tempest
Passion
Adoration
Devotion
Rapture
Agape (The greek version)

quote:

Originally posted by jazzcat:
I agree about the name being tricky--only in the title, not as her name. Don't make your readers trip over pronounciation when they go to buy it.

(But does she get called Polly by her lover? And if that makes you shudder, better consider what her nickname will be in the story...)

My other thought was that--given her name--it should be plural (songs) in the title...

And have a quick look at Octavia Butler's work--similar territory.

First time I read parable of the sower I was like NO NO NO NO NO NO NO and then once i got into it a bit i was like YES YES YES YES YES. heh. They're very different, and she was super brilliant. I love her work.

oh and for the record we decided to stick with love versus. The first story arc is called Underworld(which sounds terribly cliche, but it has rather strong significance) and the second I think is going to be the dark ages, because I had a terrible thought today that made me think we're headed for another dark age period. Hmm. Not sure of the other ones yet, but they arent written yet so its ok!

But I like how the title plays and I'm almost completely happy with it.

The ironic part is a friend of mine is a singer, we became friends when we found out both like the sandman and are both working on a project with polyhymnia as the love interest. Her first song that talks about Polyhymnia is "A Story Of Love" and mine kinda hints at a song about love. Coincedental, but rad.