Uh, Oh. I chose the wrong title

"CATherine" wrote in message
...
I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I first thought of Robin's War. Then I thought of Robin vs Djoser.
Then, The War with Djoser. Or, The War is Almost Over. I finally chose
Tactics of Feline Warfare. It seemed appropriate. Now I know you have
to have a title that refers to the story but also appeals to the
reader.

Now I wonder if i ought to repost under a different title. But which
title? What type of title grabs the attention of cat lovers? I know
there are teachers and literary types in this ng. May we have a
discussion of title choosing?

CATherine

Actually, CATherine, it is a wonderful story and very well written (!!). On
some of the longer newsgroup stories I take longer to reply, especially in
this case because because I have this scenario going on in my household,
too, with Tucker and Oreo and Omar, I unfortunately am very tuned into the
stress factors making up the background of the story! Hits quite close to
home. It also makes me long bigtime for a truce! Some days I'm just so tired
of the kitty 'ttudes here. Tucker has actually come so far in learning cat
social skills, but really his only kitty friend is our Robin, who also
joined us after this summer's escapades. Midnight and Tucker do okay but
Oreo sees Tucker looking at her and just about has a cow -- think Djoser
screaming here. Despite repeated exposure, Omar is still just thoroughly
disgusted with Tucker's presence but is slowly resigning himself to the fact
that the horrible uninvited guest is here to stay.

I'm wondering if litterbox ambushing is going on in our household, too, and
maybe that's why Midnight has decided to pee elsewhere. How old are Robin
and Djoser? Here's hoping your kitty squabbles settle down and ours do,
too!
Please do keep posting about them!
Christine, Omar, Oreo, Midnight, Robin & Tucker

CATherine wrote:
I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I think the title was fine! I loved the story even if I didn't post a
reply. Sometimes I have to contain myself and not reply to every post I
read. Can you imagine the number of posts this group would have if we
all replied to all the posts? LOL!
I loved your story and I hope to read more in the future.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

CATherine wrote:

I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I first thought of Robin's War. Then I thought of Robin vs Djoser.
Then, The War with Djoser. Or, The War is Almost Over. I finally chose
Tactics of Feline Warfare. It seemed appropriate. Now I know you have
to have a title that refers to the story but also appeals to the
reader.

Now I wonder if i ought to repost under a different title. But which
title? What type of title grabs the attention of cat lovers? I know
there are teachers and literary types in this ng. May we have a
discussion of title choosing?

CATherine

I read it too and loved it. I thought the title was appropriate.

Bob

On 14 Dec 2003 15:11:19 GMT, CATherine
wrote:

I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I first thought of Robin's War. Then I thought of Robin vs Djoser.
Then, The War with Djoser. Or, The War is Almost Over. I finally chose
Tactics of Feline Warfare. It seemed appropriate. Now I know you have
to have a title that refers to the story but also appeals to the
reader.

Now I wonder if i ought to repost under a different title. But which
title? What type of title grabs the attention of cat lovers? I know
there are teachers and literary types in this ng. May we have a
discussion of title choosing?

Replies mean nothing - in fact it is impolite - a sin even - to reply
when you have nothing to say that hasn't already been said in the
thread. In the case of a good story, there may be no way to reply
without just posting some meaningless chatter that doesn't contribute
anything. This is usenet, not a chat room, and the technology is such
that messages consume enormous amounts of resources all over the world
When you consider that even a short message can consume tens of
megabytes of resources, and consider the number of pointless messages
posted everywhere every day, you can see that there is an enormous
waste associated with them.

If replies are important to you, then web based bulletin boards and
blogs are better bets - they are single server based rather than
distributed services, so the cost of individual messages is both much
lower and also is restricted to a single place.


T.E.D. - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)

I like the story, too. Thank God we don't have any litterbox guerilla
warfare around here - only at the food bowl, thanks to Rowdy. I am very
interested in how Robin is fitting in to life with his companions in his new
forever home on the plains. There are so many Robins on the streets of
Denver, living feral lives, I see them there whenever I visit, and thanks to
my nagging, some of my son's pals have taken in and given forever homes to a
few. Son is highly allergic, so is his wife, but the friends love cats and
"pass them around" if allergies or other concerns prevent adoption. Remember
"grey girl kitty" who is now the muse of the traveling alternative radio
station there? She's one of them. Keep on with the stories, CAT.



"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
. ..
: CATherine wrote:
: I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
: could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
: is a skill they teach in writing school.
:
: I think the title was fine! I loved the story even if I didn't post a
: reply. Sometimes I have to contain myself and not reply to every post I
: read. Can you imagine the number of posts this group would have if we
: all replied to all the posts? LOL!
: I loved your story and I hope to read more in the future.
:
: --
: Victor Martinez
: Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
: Send your spam he
: Email me he
:

in article , Christine Burel at
wrote on 12/14/03 9:42 AM:


"CATherine" wrote in message
...
I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I first thought of Robin's War. Then I thought of Robin vs Djoser.
Then, The War with Djoser. Or, The War is Almost Over. I finally chose
Tactics of Feline Warfare. It seemed appropriate. Now I know you have
to have a title that refers to the story but also appeals to the
reader.

Now I wonder if i ought to repost under a different title. But which
title? What type of title grabs the attention of cat lovers? I know
there are teachers and literary types in this ng. May we have a
discussion of title choosing?

CATherine

Actually, CATherine, it is a wonderful story and very well written (!!). On
some of the longer newsgroup stories I take longer to reply, especially in
this case because because I have this scenario going on in my household,
too, with Tucker and Oreo and Omar, I unfortunately am very tuned into the
stress factors making up the background of the story! Hits quite close to
home. It also makes me long bigtime for a truce! Some days I'm just so tired
of the kitty 'ttudes here. Tucker has actually come so far in learning cat
social skills, but really his only kitty friend is our Robin, who also
joined us after this summer's escapades. Midnight and Tucker do okay but
Oreo sees Tucker looking at her and just about has a cow -- think Djoser
screaming here. Despite repeated exposure, Omar is still just thoroughly
disgusted with Tucker's presence but is slowly resigning himself to the fact
that the horrible uninvited guest is here to stay.

I'm wondering if litterbox ambushing is going on in our household, too, and
maybe that's why Midnight has decided to pee elsewhere. How old are Robin
and Djoser? Here's hoping your kitty squabbles settle down and ours do,
too!
Please do keep posting about them!
Christine, Omar, Oreo, Midnight, Robin & Tucker


Same here Christine. Catherine, it was very interesting and cute. Pearl
still has her problems, but Grant is slowly learning that her noisiness does
not necessarily mean anything "bad". Nor does biting meowmie for attention.
When Pearl does this, he used to get up and run over. I would look at him
and say "no, Grant" very lightly and he would stop. Now he usually just
looks a bit concerned. While I don't think Sugar and Pearl will ever "like"
each other, if Pearl has Grant to concentrate on, she is learning to ignore
Sugar. Grant and Pearl do play chase and it is OK if they are both in the
mood *and* if Pearl is doing the chasing. It can still get uncomfortable,
but they are gradually learning. I really constantly separated them the
minute any noise started for the last two months (Pearl is WAY persistant)
or if I had time, distracted them by playing with a toy, since they did well
together if a third party "played". So, Cat, you might try this. They do
seem to eventually learn that this ambush stuff can be fun and not rude if
you stop at a certain point. We are not completely there yet, but I think by
spring, we might actually be "integrated"!

Karen

in article , Hopitus2 at
wrote on 12/14/03 11:31 AM:

I like the story, too. Thank God we don't have any litterbox guerilla
warfare around here - only at the food bowl, thanks to Rowdy. I am very
interested in how Robin is fitting in to life with his companions in his new
forever home on the plains. There are so many Robins on the streets of
Denver, living feral lives, I see them there whenever I visit, and thanks to
my nagging, some of my son's pals have taken in and given forever homes to a
few. Son is highly allergic, so is his wife, but the friends love cats and
"pass them around" if allergies or other concerns prevent adoption. Remember
"grey girl kitty" who is now the muse of the traveling alternative radio
station there? She's one of them. Keep on with the stories, CAT.

Mine seem to know that litterbox ambushing is "off limits". Hall cornering
howver is not. Pearl has also always been VERY good at allowing beneath the
bed to be "off limits" so if she chases Sugar when she doesn't want to be
chased, she stops at the bed. All their little "rules' are fascinating.

Karen

"CATherine" wrote in message
...
I wrote a funny story and got only two replies. I had so many titles I
could choose from. I chose the wrong one. I guess choosing the title
is a skill they teach in writing school.

I first thought of Robin's War. Then I thought of Robin vs Djoser.
Then, The War with Djoser. Or, The War is Almost Over. I finally chose
Tactics of Feline Warfare. It seemed appropriate. Now I know you have
to have a title that refers to the story but also appeals to the
reader.

Now I wonder if i ought to repost under a different title. But which
title? What type of title grabs the attention of cat lovers? I know
there are teachers and literary types in this ng. May we have a
discussion of title choosing?

It happens to all of us - we write a story that we think is great and post
it to the NG, and then wonder what we did wrong because the responses are
lousy. I've had it happen to me, and I know Bev has because she asked me
about it a while back, as has someone else who has faded through the mists
of time.

The first thing is to reassure the author that is rarely got anything to do
with the quality of the story. I too read it and laughed. However, I didn't
reply because, well, there was nothing much to say. I could have put "ROFL"
but thats about it, and while in retrospect that would have been a Good
Thing, just putting that at the bottom of the post sometimes seems a bit of
a waste.

The second is to point out that even the best of stories don't necesarily
get timed right, and thats also got nothing do with the quality of the story
but rather the unpredictable lives of the readership. Besides being busy
this time of year anyway, and the way people's lives tend to fluctuate, look
what else was going on in the group at the time you sent your message. Was
it a time of trollery, or sadness, something controversial was happening, or
some weird meandering but popular thread? These days, most people don't have
time to read and respond to all the messages posted in one day (I certainly
don't) and while I try to read the start of every thread, I really really
don't have the time to reply to each and every thread on the NG that day.
You'd be lucky to get three of four responses out of me, and one of those is
invariably for purrs. Your messages was wonderful, but it didn't make me
feel I *needed* to reply to it, it stood quite well by itself.

The third point is that a group of people never quite behaves predictably.
Even the greats like Bev & Dave Y have written stories that for some reason
don't get many responses. Go back and read them and you won't know why on
earth that story in particular 'bombed' while another went down really well.
Blame it on the phase of the moon, or solar flux or whatever, it just
happens sometimes with no logical explanation at all. Don't feel bad about
one your stories appearing to be "ignored" - it wasn't (I am sure most if
not all of us read it). Don't measure the quality of the story by responses
only, but rather what it adds to the group as a whole. Would you be missed
if you stopped posting here? Most definately. You & your stories are part of
what makes RPCA great.

And the fourth and final question I ask of an author who feels their story
somehow "failed" is "why did you write this story in the first place?". I
can't answer that one for you, but its something I had to ask myself when I
thought one of my stories "failed". I don't write them for anyone but
myself. I'd write them even if I didn't have an appreciative audience, the
fact that you guys seem to love my work is just an added bonus, but I don't
write for you folk, I write for me. And I'm not going to lie, I love the
attention and praise that you folks give me, but thats not in the end why I
those stories got created. Sure, I am also dissapointed when one doesn't get
the response I thought it was going to get, but if I look over them all with
a critical eye, the ones that get the most replies are not necessarily the
best written or the funniest stories. The ones that get a reaction tend to
be ones that actually ask for a response in some way or another, be that
subtle or direct (eg, 'please purr', 'I am outraged', 'why me?', 'I don't
know what to do'). If you are writing stories mainly so you get a large
number of replies, then you'll have to keep that in the back of your mind
when you write - make sure that your audience is going to react to your
story in such a way that they are just *itching* to have their say on the
matter. There's nothing wrong with this writing style. But if you write by
some other motivation, then stay with it. The number of responses will vary
of course, but responses really don't measure the quality of the story, how
much people enjoyed reading it or even how valuable are to the group. All it
measures is the number of responses your message invoked, and there are so
many other variables in that mix as to make taking the number of replies as
a measure of 'success' completley nonsensical.

Just remember, we love hearing about your kitties, you are a valued part of
the group, and we'd miss you if you left. That seems a much better measure
of your stories to me than taking the results from one single post as a
measure of your worth.

And just a final thought, I rarely if ever notice the headings of the posts
here. All I tend to look for is the start of a new thread, and the posts of
a particular few posters who tend to be my favourite authors here. You could
have called your story pretty much anything and I would have still read it.
YMMV, of course.

Hope that helps, and that I haven't offended you,

Yowie

Yowie wrote in u on 14
Dec 2003:

The ones that get a reaction tend to
be ones that actually ask for a response in some way or another, be that
subtle or direct (eg, 'please purr', 'I am outraged', 'why me?', 'I don't
know what to do').

This is very true and was described to me almost this exact way in a Yahoo
group for feline IBD. I sometimes wondered if I wrote too much, was too
vague or just too boring to get a reply. The group owner told me my posts
ended with something like "comments?" rather than "can you help?"

I know in this group I tend to post stories about my cats and was a bit
discouraged at first when I don't get a reply but I know this is a very
busy group and now I just tell stories for me and anyone who cares to read
it. I realize I don't reply to a lot of the purr requests but in my
heart and my house they are being sent. I admit I cry a lot reading this
group and sometimes the words just don't come.

--
Cheryl

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
- Helen Keller

CATherine wrote in on 14
Dec 2003:

I am so glad my feline performers have such a great audience. Now I
must get busy and publish more of their antics.


I can relate to all of what you said. Please know that your stories do
create smiles.

--
Cheryl

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
- Helen Keller