Writing Excuses 4.25: Mating Plumage

James Dashner and Julie Wright join Brandon and Dan for an episode about what Lou Anders called "Mating Plumage" back in this 2008 episode of Writing Excuses recorded at Denvention. Lou was just referring to covers, but for this 'cast Dan has extended the metaphor to include  titles and first lines. These are the three things that are best positioned to quickly "sell" a book. But to whom? And why? The crew talks about their experiences with each of these. Yes, we judge books by covers, and no, writers don't have any control over them. We have a little more control of our titles, and still more over our first lines.  Humorous and tragic anecdotes follow, along with a great example of a first line from Barbara Hambly. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: The Maze Runner, by James Dashner Writing Prompt: Julie Wright, when offered the chance to use the word" monkey," came up with "I can't believe you did this to me." James suggested "Brandon and Julie go on safari and get attacked by monkeys." Plenty of material there. PLENTY. Big Hugs One Last Time: With the absence of Producer Jordo and Former Audio Engineer Howard (neither of whom could make it to CONduit) Revan and Malek of Dungeon Crawlers Radio stepped up and made each of these last FIVE EPISODES of Writing Excuses possible. We owe them big-time, and you should go check out their podcast. I bet it's about puppies: I Don't Want to Kill You, by Dan Wells. This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.