Back in 2014 I proposed a writing exercise on a now-defunct site I ran. It was to write a scene or short story based on this photo:
(You can see the photo in context as Blue Mist Road here.)
Being the clever type, I called my effort “Road Closed” and somehow tied it in to being about ghosts, somehow.
As I fleshed out the story I realized it was going to be more than just an exercise or even a short story and it became my official National Novel Writing Month project in November 2014. I won! I didn’t actually finish the novel, but I did complete 50,000 words, so it was more a technical win.
Four years later and I have made progress on the story (it’s sitting at 72,000+ words) but stalled late last year after making some good progress.
The essential problem is I’m not confident in the story arc I’ve developed and I’m hesitant to invest more time if it all ends up being poop. Or ghost poop.
At some point I want to properly write out the outline of the story but this post is really about the title.
The title “Road Closed” made sense when it was a short story and the road played a big part in the whole thing. It may not even survive the final draft now, so I’m casting about for something new. It could even provide a spark that could lead to other changes and get the whole ball rolling again.
Or I could just write that outline and go from there.
Here’s the elevator pitch for the story:
A 20 year old moves to a new town and starts college as a journalism student, determined to get away from a troubled past. His efforts to start over are stymied by two things: a drinking problem he brought with him, and a ghost he starts dating without realizing the ghost part.
And the initial lackluster titles I’ve come up with to replace “Road Closed” are:
Ghosts and Other Spirits (a play on spirits referring to both ghosts and alcohol–geddit?)
Impersonal Demons (I’m not even sure what this one means)
School Spirit (simple, accurate, but also very banal and easy to misinterpret)
When I look over these titles I feel driven to make “Road Closed” work. While the name suggests street construction and detours, it can also suggest that an avenue is closed off, which can work on several levels for the story. Still, it’s also pretty generic.
I know!
BOOze
I’m sorry, I’ll see myself out.
(I’ll do the outline this week and report the grisly results.)
