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Welcome back, and congratulations on a successful surgery.

Well, so far, two potential publishers like "Out of Exile," so I'm leaning toward that, at least for Part I, which looks to be a book in its own right.  But for now, "The Sword of..."  Sure beats ""Untitled." lol

Oh, and another good idea is to post your work to groups that had big memberships, like the Premium group.  I went to look at it, and received the message, 'must join the mystery group.'  Sorry, my groups are filled up.

"Out of Exile" tested strong, and I think it does draw attention.  One person in "Close Friends" thought it implied banishment, but Rhiannon, in the prequel, was basically being forced to marry a king for the sake of the kingdom and that involved banishment or exile.  Another character's uncle is banished.  There are races in the kingdom that aren't acknowledged as citizens, and that counts as a kind of internal banishment.  The novel, now that I think about it, reeks of exile. The main novel starts with her escape from that exile, and, in the metaphorical sense, the novel ends when she realizes, deep down inside, that she has really, truly come home. (For most of the book, she does not feel that, even after moving back home, fighting a civil war, marriage, etc.). The plot is a quest one, with the quest being, well, to come out of exile, both literally and metaphorically. Oh, and if you want to be really, really old school, it is 'princess''  Before 1972, grammarians were saying that you don't add the s after the apostrophe in possessives for words  that end with 's.' It has only been since then that they allow the double s. I think you're right that the use of 'Fairy' in front of anything would have the reaction--same old, same old.  As I envision a four to five book series (for now), I thought at one point that everything should be '______of Rhiannon.'  But there is another series about the original Rhiannon, and I don't want to confuse the two.  Besides, that didn't test strong.  I think 'exile' has some archetypal qualities to it; after all, our civilization is built on Jewish and Christian foundations (yes, and pagan and scientific ones as well), and 'exile' is deeply embedded in our psyches.  It is a metaphor for alienation, sin, abandonment, and all of those weave into my story.  Well, as you may be my publisher, we may have hit upon a title that both reflects the book and is a good marketing tool.  I'll look at Christopher's covers at your website.  Cheers.

Oh, and following up on a comment about her type of hero:  any Marvel superhero you might mention.  lol

It's not either/or.  It's not choosing a title that sells well and has nothing to do with the book or choose a title that tells what the book is about.  Don't title your book "10 Ways to Winning Poker," if it's about murder in medieval times. But I had a publisher who titled a book I submitted "Rhiannon's World."  It didn't sell, but that perhaps is because the publisher died and the press fizzled before it hit the market. (It was an anthology, and there was only one new story in it, so I didn't search for another publisher.)  I wrote another book, sold some, and it was entitled "The Assassin's Daughter."  It didn't make the best seller list, but it had a couple of things going for it:  the term 'assassin' which tested well for attracting readers and 'Daughter,' which at the time was almost as popular to put in a book as women's bare legs.  The book was about a woman who just happened to find out her best male friend was a) an assassin and b) her real father.  It was not the crux of the story. Think of it:  "The King's Daughter,"  "The Daughter of the Fairy King."  These are thoughts for my novel.  My rule of thumb is:  if the publisher wants it, I'll do what the publisher wants because, as I mentioned, I too suck at titles (and covers).  I'm not going to use "The Daughter of the Fairy King" though as that stresses her relation to her father, not her quest to get home, which is the crux of the book. "The Sword of Rhiannon" seems good, although the sword is not the crux of the story either.  Other thoughts include "The Fairy Princess' Quest."  Hey, a thought that just popped out.  "Out of Exile."  Yes, that happens, in the literal sense, in the first few chapters, but the whole quest is to no longer be in exile, literally or metaphorically.  (Like the Jews were in their homeland at Jesus' time, but felt they were still in exile, as they weren't in control of their nation, the Romans were. Rhiannon doesn't feel like she's him (out of exile) until the last page or two.) It's Ryan's Forum, but I could use the help too (obviously). Thanks for the suggestion about juroddesigns.com

How does one delete a chapter? I posted two chapters which I subsequently deleted in my copy, but can't fathom how to do that on the site.  I simply reposted them with no content and a 'please skip,' in the content window.

A title is a marketing tool. It doesn't need to capture the heart of the book, or even be very informative.  It just needs to capture the attention.  Do a key word search for the genre that you are publishing in to see which books are popular.  Then devise a title that seems appropriate to you.  This is also true of the cover--it need not have anything to do with the book.  A few years ago, every book that sold well had pictures of women's bare legs on it, even if that didn't fit.  I know all of this because I, too, suck at titles, but my kung fu master, who built hs business from scratch, and boot strapped himself from poverty (literally, trailer trash) to millionaire status taught me this.  (He learned from Kennedy, the master copy writer who started his career in marketing when he noticed all the collection notices he received were in three's . So he devised the rule of three.  However, you market, do it in threes.)  And congratulations on getting your book published.

Rhiannon isn't your traditional hero, John, in that she isn't always in control of the situation.  She is more like her real life counterparts, a new adult (19 years old) who is managing the best she can.  She faces one situation after the other.  In the short story series, it might not be so obvious, as each situation was a story in itself.  I am thinking of taking out the chapters on the coal miners, and just mention the situation, as those chapters don't fit the trajectory of Part II.  The trajectory of Part I is tight, and she manages.  And she is in charge of her love life (well, not entirely, but that would be telling).  She will never command the flow, but she will triumph.  She's not Dany who, when sold into slavery by her brother, hatches a plot that will either end her up on the throne or I will stop watching. She is more Kara, who has to fight off aliens while not alienating her sister and best friend, and handling the grief of losing her boyfriend.  Keep reading and commenting and having fun.  Yes, after maybe pruning those two chapters and receiving enough reviews, I am ready for the plunge.

KDot:  Thanks for the reassurance.  I deliberately tried to avoid that while making her an effective and sympathetic person.  She is naive, gets into trouble both in the battlefield and off it, is too trusting, makes mistakes, gets cursed due to her insolence, ends up naked in jungles, in prison, sexually harassed, and gets involved in a civil war while ignoring the obvious--although she does have a contingency plan for when that happens.  Her sexual liaisons could get her into serious trouble; she's an unreliable narrator, which means her perceptions aren't objective, she is mistaken in her analysis of people and situations. And she cares way too much what others think of her, but is insensitive to the feeling of those who love her. She takes certain people for granted, doesn't question the motives of others, and although her complacency has been shaken up and her nakedness gives her empathy for the have-nots, she still has a feeling of entitlement and takes things personally. I could go on, but I'm sure you have your own list of her flaws.

Although we loosely equate protagonist and the main character, the protagonist is the first actor ("pro"), the antagonist is the actor opposed to him or her.  So we have Antigone and Cleon, neither of whom are evil.  In "Atlas Shrugged," the protagonist was John Galt, the main character Dagny Taggert; it is written entirely from her POV; the antagonist for most of the book works behind the scenes (almost like an antagonist). The POV could even be the antagonist's, and the main character be the protagonist.   I was going to use Dr. Watson as the example, but Gacela beat me to it.  But we have Archie Goodwin as another example (and in the last fifty years).  All the rules Gacela mentioned are for novices.  You have to watch out, as many editors/publishers are frustrated writers and English teachers (harsh but true), and they will come down on you for breaking the rules.  I've had rejections because of my comma use.  (No!  Not comma use.  Yes, I'm afraid it's true.)  But just remember, many of the greatest writers in history would not be published today if the rules are too rigidly enforced (Dorothy Sayers comes to mind) and once you're profitable enough, you can break the rules.  You aren't supposed to write in present-progressive.  Patricia Cornwall just wrote a book in that. And one person's cliche is another person's trope. You can succeed with the same old, same old, but use a twist.  Another Zombie story.  ::yawn::  Ooh, but the main character has a Colt Python (not a boring old S&W No. 29).  Instant ratings. 

I think it was Hemingway (it was one of those old guys, anyway) who, when asked how he wrote, said, "I begin at the beginning, go to the end, then stop."  Great advice, but James Joyce didn't follow t.

Write on!

Rhia

I was so happy for you when I found the reference.  It happened as I was watching an Australian show,"The Mind of a Serial Killer," about a man who killed 70 people in Norway in (I think) 2012. They had to rationalize calling him a serial killer. (In America, we would call him a domestic terrorist, not a serial killer--he was like the guy killing gays at the Paradise in Florida, only his target was politicians who let Muslim immigrants into Aryan Norway and their children.)  This got me thinking of you, and I started my research, which led me to that article by the German psychologist, dated 1930. Bravo on finding the "Identification Order."  You could also make up a private detective agency, modeled after the Pinkertons, to had as extensive a file as you want.  Keeping files on everyone dates back to at least Fouche, Napoleon's police chief, who had a file on everybody (and I do literally mean everybody) in Paris.  Sherlock Holmes' files on London criminals was as complete as only a fictional detective could make it.  Lots of ways to simulate modern stuff.  (I have to do similar things.  I have werewolves, who can see the full light spectrum, do spectro-analysis.  They just see the difference in elements. Got the idea from an Ambrose Bierce story, "The Damned Thing," about a beast that had the color of the invisible light spectrum.  Bees might be able to see it, but humans couldn't.  Although this is sort of the other way around. lol)