Reflections on popular book titles, characters & themes

Post date: Feb 5, 2018 8:58:19 PM

Remember when it seemed that all you needed to write a great book was a title that included “girl?” (Think of The Girl on a Train, Diary of a Young Girl, Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, etc.) In fact, Goodreads has a list of 100 such book titles. Or, how about books about Amish love stories? Goodreads has a list of 415 such titles! Another popular genre features zombies: Goodreads has 98 titles in one list, called Zombie Romance. However, books about vampires beat out books about zombies with over 1,078 titles. Disturbingly, for me—I’m a wuss—there was also a link to OTHER VAMPIRE LISTS, so there are many more books in multiple categories.

I have become a huge fan of eBooks over the past 5 to 7 years, as I acquired iPads, iPhones and Kindles. Retirement has given me more time to read: when I was a full time writing teacher, I was lucky if I could read a book a month for book club and possibly part of one more. Grading, prep, committee work, and researching my monthly column consumed my days. I loved to read at night, because it relaxed me to go to sleep. Now, I am often juggling a couple of books and love it. However, if I can’t get a book through the library, my reading habit can become costly. So, I have also become a big fan of websites like bookbub.com that offer free or low-cost eBooks. I subscribe to a daily email and get a list of books each day from the following sources.

https://www.bookbub.com/launch Free and low-cost books

https://www.bargainbooksy.com/ Not free, but bargains

https://www.freebooksy.com/ Free books

https://www.instagram.com/bookriot/ Low cost

https://earlybirdbooks.com/ (to sign up for your daily email and see great deals)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/b/ref=pe_170810_269129890_pe_button/?node=11552285011

Amazon will also email you with its Kindle Daily Deals

First off, I have to admit a pet peeve about e-books and an emerging subgenre in the mystery category: over the last few years the “cozy” mystery subgenre has emerged, generally referring to mysteries with good clean language, not a lot of sexuality or violence, etc. Unfortunately, a number of self-published cozy mysteries have problems resulting from not having a critical reader or editor. I have found numerous typos, wrong words, screwy punctuation, and other glitches—such as a switch from third person to first person for a few paragraphs! As you can imagine, this is disconcerting for a former English teacher.

Now, let’s take a look at what I have discovered from looking through lists of eBooks over the past few weeks. From reading the titles (and sometimes, the descriptions), main characters include some interesting patterns:

· I found a lot of references to witches, zombies, people who see ghosts, ghosts of people, vampires, vampire hunters, aliens, senior citizens, young adults, among others.

· Many novels feature soldiers or veterans, as well as scientists, archeologists, doctors, researchers, grad students, law enforcement officers, ranchers, etc.

· The main characters in cozy mysteries tend to be young women (or middle aged women, or older women) who clean houses, bake cookies, run small businesses, or own Bed and Breakfasts while moonlighting as amateur detectives, who work with hunky Cops, FBI agents, sheriffs, or other law enforcement types.

· Other main characters are Biker outlaws, lonely ranchers, cops, sheriffs, grandfathers, newspaper editors, business owners, mayors, teachers, etc.

· A new subgenre focuses on Alpha males, Submissive women, and the words “Submission” or “Domination” are often used in the titles, which often include the words “Dirty, Dark, or Dangerous.” Covers feature lots of naked, well-toned male chests, with or without tons of ink/tattoos or couples in a sweaty clench of sorts. (Obviously, those Fifty Shades of Graybooks and movies made an impression on a few writers—and readers).

Supporting characters include:

· Feisty grandmothers (think of Stephanie Plum’s grandma)

· Gay friends or coworkers

· Siblings

· Best friends since childhood

· Spouses, dating partners, and sometimes former lovers

· Animals (cats, dogs, horses, and in one story set in Alaska, a moose)

· Surrogate parents, foster parents, adopted parents, and grandparents

· Ghosts or other paranormal creatures

In terms of plots and storylines, themes emerge as well--

· Yes, AMISH love stories live! Often the love interest is a non-Amish person who must meet certain tests to be accepted, or the Amish person must choose between an Amish person or an outside person for a mate. Or, a couple must overcome obstacles to win approval of the Amish community and family. Or the Amish person has left home and must make his or her way in the outside world.

· Returning to one’s home town and having to overcome obstacles to find happiness, while trying to make a small business go—and then needing to solve a murder to clear someone falsely charged

· Inheriting a house, bakery, hotel, B and B, bar, or other business or residence after the death of a parent, uncle, aunt, grandparent and having to struggle to make it work

· Recovering from a broken heart, having moved to the big city for that job he/she thought was perfect, only to be lonely and then confronted with a reminder of the past

· Trying to find ways to thrive in small towns while solving murders and coping with eccentric family members, unreliable boyfriends, and sympathetic coworkers

· Fighting for survival after a global disaster, usually leaving the planet in sad shape with few survivors who must compete for resources or travel to find safety, while fighting the bad guys hogging the food, water and shelter

· A supposedly “dead” twin appears and leaves the surviving twin questioning everything

· Alternative history stories—what if Lincoln survived? What if Kennedy lived? What if the astronauts had been stranded on the Moon?

· A man (or woman, teenager, senior citizen, or zombie) on the run, meeting kindly strangers along the way, while trying to avoid the bad guys looking for them

· Arranged marriages and brides traveling out west by stagecoach or train in the 1800s

· Old boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, roommates, or former bosses, showing back up at inconvenient times—generally when things are going well for the main character

· A curious phenomenon of lonely billionaires looking for love (these are young, hunky versions – not the typical 80-year-old men you might associate with billionaires)

· Lots of dystopian societies (think The Hunger Games or Divergent) with repressive regimes, ridiculous and cruel rituals and tests, and plucky individuals who resist those in charge

So, there you go – some of the ingredients for great reads! Unfortunately, it is one thing to analyze components and another thing to actually undertake the hard work of writing and revising a novel. After seeing numerous Amish love stories and Vampire romances, I once joked that the perfect book might be about a young Amish woman in love with a Vampire who was conflicted over his own strange family history that included a South American dictator, reality TV Stars, and a singer from New Orleans. I just haven’t gotten around to fleshing it out yet.

Lists mentioned:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/13067.Books_with_Girl_in_the_title

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/amish-romance

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8734.Zombie_Romance

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1193.The_Best_Adult_Vampire_Romance_Books

Last updated January 25, 2018