Saturday, March 21, 2009

Slush and Punishment: Shnookiedoodlepoo

Talk about being stopped dead by the title of a manuscript.

Of course now I wish I'd read a bit more so I could tell you what it was about, but at the time I was attempting to fling this manuscript as far away from me as possible. Only to find that the next manuscripts were "Shnookiedoodlepoo in the Sandbox" and "Shnookiedoodlepoo in Hot Water."

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps inspired by Joy Behar's "SheetzuCacaPoopoo" dog book?

PurpleClover said...

OH thanks so much for this post because I have a question and wasn't sure what an appropriate segway would be.

Here is my question:

How much weight does a title hold in a query?

I ask this because I find that even though I LOVE my manuscript I have yet to name it (and I feel that maybe I'll know my title by the time I hit the turning point so I'm being patient). In order to find it easier in Word I gave it a really basic name that I am totally unmarried to. But when I select a name that I totally love, I realize it may be a 50/50 shot of still being the title by the time it hits the shelves (maybe the odds are even less). Plus something I may think sounds FANTASTIC may be really nauseating to the agent.

So please let me know how much weight a title holds and whether it deters you from wanting to read it or whether you would usually skip over the title all together if the synopsis really grabbed you.

Sarah Laurenson said...

And here you may have discarded War and Peace written for 8 yr olds.

Deirdre Mundy said...

War and Peace is overated IMO---

It's really long. And there are lots of interesting characters and subplots. But it's basically a soap opera.

But my favorite Russian novelist is Mr. D, so maybe I'm just prejudiced.

Anyway, I'd argue that there are few Russian novels appropriate for PB format.... And now I have an overwhelming urge to try to do that to Crime and Punishment.

Thanks, EA. Now my laundry will NEVER get done.

Word Verify: Hortlead. Sounds like something out of Lewis Carroll

"And the hortlead frogs in the verdiferous swamp agreed"

PurpleClover said...

To quote myself "by the time it hits the shelves..."

YIKES. I reek of humility right? (and bad grammar)

Ahem I was being optimistic. *rolls eyes*

still though...if you could ignore the rest I'm still curious...lol.

Susan at Stony River said...

I quite like that title, actually. It's got one hell of a giggle factor in it.

Ok, maybe for the wrong reasons. But still--

Anonymous said...

Wait! Someone stole my idea. I have a picture book titled Shnookiedoodlepup Throws Up...

Anonymous said...

I agree with weekendwrite -- can you imagine any real pic book author trying to get away with Joy Behar's book title?

Makes me a little sad. A newbie writer doesn't understand they are going to get slammed for stuff like this but a celeb does it (with the approval of an agent AND editor???) and they land on the NYT bestseller list. Gag.

charlotte! said...

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say made up words ending in "-poo" should never be followed by "in the sandbox" or "in hot water". That might be just me, but I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

Maybe "Schnookiedoodlepoo" was originally "Timmy"?

Anonymous said...

I must be the only person in the world who actually thought that was a cute title - I so would have picked that up if I'd been shopping for books for my boy!

Chris Eldin said...

I have nothing to add, but this really made me laugh! Thanks for posting this!
:-)

Becky Fyfe said...

LOL! Thanks for the laugh!

Anonymous said...

OK, I guess it's just me, but I would have totally bought this one for my kids--they would have loved the title...!

Anonymous said...

I've dealt with too many litter boxes to make a comment right now.

Anonymous said...

Only to find that the next manuscripts were "Shnookiedoodlepoo in the Sandbox" and "Shnookiedoodlepoo in Hot Water."
*****

Hee. I bet the author was thinking 'Wow, kid's books are easy. They practically write themselves!"

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