Title Report

This week's guest blogger, Chris Grabenstein, is a Renaissance guy. He has done improv in Greenwich Village. He's a survivor of twenty years in advertising, writing spots for such clients as Seven Up, Miller Lite, and KFC. (He's also notorious for having created "Trojan Man") And now he's an award-winning writer. Tilt-a-Whirl, the first book in his John Ceepak mystery series, won the Anthony Award for best first mystery. Kirkus called Mad Mouse, the second in the series, one of the ten best mysteries of 2006. Critics also loved Whack a Mole in 2007, and when Carroll & Graf, his original publisher, closed its doors, St. Martins Minotaur snapped up the series, and will be releasing Hell Hole in August, 2008. He also writes the Christopher Miller Holiday Thrillers--to date, that includes Slay Ride (2006) and Hell for the Holidays (2007)--and this month he makes his debut as a middle grades author with the release of The Crossroads (Random House).  (Wait a minute. . . they're letting the guy who invented "Trojan Man" write for the middle grades???)

Um . . . take it away, Chris!

Every once in a while, folks ask, "Do you come up with your own titles or does the publisher decide what to call a book?" In my case, almost all my titles were of my own creation. Almost all. HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS was originally titled TURKEY SHOOT. It takes place between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I thought TURKEY SHOOT made a nice two-word bookend with my previous Holiday Thriller SLAY RIDE. Sort of punny, sort of punchy. NEW YEAR’S EVIL was to be the third book in the trilogy but then Carroll & Graf went out of business and, sorry world, you’re on your own. Christopher Miller and his FBI pals will not be showing up every winter to save your yuletide bacon anymore. At least not until some other publisher picks up the series.

Anyway, TURKEY SHOOT was deemed too cute for a tale of domestic terrorists running amuck amidst the Macy’s parade. Hence, it became HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS – you know, from that old holiday song, "Oh, there’s no place like Hell for the holidays…." 

Speaking of HELL, how, you might ask, did Ceepak Mystery #4 get the title HELL HOLE?  I can hear you out there: "We’re with you, Chris. TILT A WHIRL, MAD MOUSE, WHACK A MOLE. Amusement park rides. Boardwalk arcade games. Got it. What’s next? FUN HOUSE? TUMBLE BUG? LOG FLUME?"

No.

HELL HOLE!

You see, when I signed my first Carroll & Graf contract, it was for two books: TILT A WHIRL and MAD MOUSE. When those did okay, the publisher wanted to sign on for two more. I told my agent, "I know I want to call the third book WHACK A MOLE but I have no idea, yet, what to call the fourth book."

The titles are actually quite important to the Ceepak series. I usually start with it then use it as a springboard to find my themes, plot, plot twists, characters – just about everything.  I was expecting to see TBD, the good ol’ To Be Determined, as the title for Book #4 in the contract when it arrived in the mail. Imagine my chagrin when I saw HELL HOLE listed instead.

"What the hell is a Hell Hole?" I asked my agent.

Point of clarification: my agent, when not inking mega million dollar deals (for someone else, not me), is one of these amusement park aficionados. These thrill ride enthusiasts go on organized tours and ride roller coasters all over the country, comparing the relative merits of wood to steel, rickety to not-so-rickety. Don’t believe me?  Check it out here.   

So now I had to find out what a HELL HOLE is.

Time to Google.

Turns out, there was/is a HELL HOLE at world famous Coney Island:

"You stand inside a circular chamber with a dozen other sadomasochists, when suddenly, the chamber starts spinning as the floor drops out. Before you know it, the centrifugal force has you pinned to the wall like a sock during the spin cycle of a washing machine. Dare to throw up and the centrifugal force glues your spew to your body. When the nightmare finally ends, you agree to the ride operator's offer of a second ride at half price."  —Mitch Lemus from Coney Island, Brooklyn's Playland By The Sea

Googling on, I came across this:  "You're from South Jersey if you have a story about the "Hell Hole" ride in Wildwood."

Who knew?

My books take place down the shore in a fictional South Jersey resort town. Looks like they should have a HELL HOLE on the boardwalk in Sea Haven. To see old photographs of the real ride in Wildwood you can visit this page on my website.

The HELL HOLE has since been torn down, although I did go to Wildwood last summer where I rode its very close cousin, the Gravitron, just so I could vividly recreate that nauseating sensation created by centrifugal force similar to that used to train the Mercury astronauts who needed to know what all those G-forces might feel like when they blasted off. John Glenn, hopefully, did not lose his lunch. Or his Tang.

In the Gravitron, once you’re pinned to the wall by all those whirling G-Forces, the floor not only drops away, the wall cushions slide up, too. In my on-going research, I soon discovered that many of these beloved South Jersey "stories" regarding the HELL HOLE involved entering the spinning chamber while a) intoxicated b) stoned or c) both.

But I began to really like the metaphor of the floor dropping out from under my main character, John Ceepak. What if everything he believes in falls away, leaving him spinning, unable to move?

So, I’m starting to think, okay, maybe I can work with HELL HOLE as a title. If not, we can always change it later to THE CORKSCREW or TUNNEL OF LOVE. No. Wait. Save that one for my romance series, if, you know, I ever write one of those.  Besides, I figured, the title HELL HOLE was not set in stone. If I came up with a better one for book #4, nobody would really care what it said in the contract?

Then I went out to lunch with my editor.

"I loooooove the title of the fourth book! HELL HOLE! I can see it on a cover now! HELL HOLE! It’s a helluva good title, HELL HOLE!" Or words to that effect.

So, long story short, the title of the fourth Ceepak book will be HELL HOLE. I did not come up with it. My agent did.

The fifth Ceepak book, I think, will be called MIND SCRAMBLER.  Came up with that title, all by myself.

Comments

[ToniLPKelner]

Dude, I don't care what you call 'em. If Ceepak is in it, I'll read it.

Though when you publish the comic book of "Ceepak Vs. Trojan Man" I may only read it when nobody can see me.