Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-08
CATCHY BOOK TITLES
ADVICE TO THE PERPLEXED
AUTHOR OR PLAYWRIGHT.


| of fiction Of today is the entirely new line
| of titles that authors are taking for their
novels and stories, and playwrights, too, for
| that matter, in the dramatic arena, said a
| well-known local literary man who, with a
| group of Washington Bohemans, were dis
| cusSing the subject in northwest resort
| frequented by litterateurs a few nights ago.
"Of course we all know that an appropri-
ate title to novel is a nugget of literary
gold, which often transforms itself into the
real yellow metal If an author is happy in
| its selection, and has a good story behind
1t, and 1t is very hard to decide this ques-
ton. Books are made and unmade by their
title very often. For some years, until quite
recently, authors were given to selection of
short titles as, The Bohemian or Bill
Bilkns.' or John Crawford's Wife which
are absolutely inane and meaningless.
Lately, however, they have gone In
strongly on the disposition and emotional
line as The Stubbornness of Geraldine, or
The Kittenishness of Kate and the like,
and this style of nomenclature has reached
appalling proportions in the literary and
theatrical worlds.
However. since 1t is the literary fad at
present, and there number of as
piring young authors in the capital who are
struggling with this brain stunning problem
of suitable title to their literary produc-
tons, 1 have jotted down a few which l
am sure will be found of great service.
w mere the heroine is Ol the COlu, ICY,
white lily type of angelic femininty, her
name should be Alice. We can all imagine
her, and we all know what a naughty, UNI
approachable, dignified young miss she is.
Her lover, usually of the softly kind, has
hard time in reaching her elevated ideals,
and the story of their love trials should be:
"The Appeasing of Alice Alpaca.
perhaps some of our young authors have
taken the opposite kind of darling to lay
be world his ideal of trne
heroine She is the antithesis of the frozen
Alice, and she leads her devoted admirer
into all sorts of sad and bewildering entan-
clements before she finally consents to
make him the happiest man in the world.
The title of this story should be:
"The Fickleness of Friskie Fitzsim-
mons"
"Of course there are many of our aspir-
ing young authors who have already en-
tered the bliss of matrimony, but their
ideals struck a snag in the preliminary river
of love, SO they want to tell the world what
they would have liked to have had but
didn't get. l caution these young authors
not to do this. Instead, take their own sweet
little WHEY as a theme and write a novel
upon married life they have found it
and not they wanted it, and entitle their
effuSion thus:
Some writer's are moved to make of love
and what follows a theme of gloom. Their
heroines are of the lachrymal kind, whose
beautiful eyes are bedimmed with tears
every time George forgets the bonbons
These sad-eyed beauties go through the
whole book in state of more or less tear
full humidity and their laundry bills for
pocket handkerchief must be considerable
by the time they have reached their thir-
tieth summer l commend the following title
to fit this mournful class of herones:
ION the other hand some of our aspirants
go in for the virie heroine, the rollicking,
laughing. teasing piece of fictional sweet
ness, whose appetite is always good. and
whose sleep is undsturbed by dreams of
little Willie. These heroines all have red
cheeks and carmne lips and tons of good
health so the book which portrays their
loneliness should be captioned like this:
"The ROBUSTNESS of Rosie"
Some select as their themes rough noun
taineer life, and the dialect in some of these
stories of mountain life and folk is some
thing fierce. Still the literary pubic can't
be choosers, you know, and there is no ban
or state prison sentence upon these au-
thors mainly because of the lack of suita-
BILE laws upon the statute books. Here is a
the calico heroine:
"Swayback Sues Sauciness."
Some authors go in for the robust COL
lege athiete for a hero, and he is usually a
tremendous individual in his own and his
creators estimation. We can all picture
him, and fairly tremble when he shoots
his athletic presence into our fctional VS.
ion. Let US entitle the book which gives
him life like this:
"The Roughness of Rufus Rastas
Reuben Observation-Disclosures"
Some authors appear to our imaginations
by selecting the fetching, flirting. fitting,
fitful and fascinating creature who keeps
us on pins and needles all through the book
to the very last page to learn what she is
really doing after all is tod These are
entertaining herolnes. but they are very
trying upon the nerves They all go into
the literary mill, however, and here Is a
title which just fits that sort of heroine
"The Fascinations of Fannie"
"Politicaf stories are very popular with
some writer's. There is usually a state sem
ator or an assemblyman who plays an i'm
portant role in this class of stories. Very
often the poor man is the victim Of the