Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Torment of Decisions….


            One of my biggest issues involves making decisions. 

            Big or small. Important or trivial.  When faced with a choice, I simply I can’t pull the trigger. 

Even standing in front of an aisle full of ketchup, I end up paralyzed. 

So many choices! So much information to process! How can anybody ascertain all of the needed facts, consider them all with due weight, and then make the proper decision???  It’s mind numbing. I get a head ache just thinking about it.

Over the past eight years, I’ve been making terrific progress in this area by simply having my wife tell me what to do.  Everything turns out fine that way. I haven’t botched a decision yet!

However, alas, I now come to decision that only I can make.  A decision that might start my writing career off with a bang! Or end it before my work reaches the dusty bookshelves of your public library.

            I need to create a blurb for my book. 

You know, that paragraph on the back of the book you read before selecting it?  I need to write one and my wonderful wife won’t tell me what to do.

Thanks to the help of friends at www.theonering.com and www.absolutewrite.com, I have created two drafts.  But I’m not sure which one to use. Some people say one. Others say the other.  And, well, I can’t make up my mind. (Big surprise!)

Tell me what you think. Which should I use to promote my book?



Version 1:
Riddle in Stone
Long after the last of the great heroes of old have died, the Undead King is stirring again, amassing a goblin horde ready to sweep out of the mountains and destroy all of humanity. The only thing preventing utter annihilation is Edmund—a stuttering librarian who knows a secret, a secret that every thief, assassin, and king would kill to have. Fleeing from pursuing peril, Edmund wages a solitary battle against an ancient evil. But how can one man succeed when so many before him have failed?


Or Version 2:

Riddle in Stone
 The Undead King is stirring again, amassing a goblin horde ready to sweep out of the mountains and destroy all of humanity. The only thing preventing utter annihilation is Edmund—a stuttering librarian who knows a secret, a secret that every thief, assassin, and king would kill to have. Fleeing from pursuing peril, Edmund wages a solitary battle against an ancient evil. But how can one librarian succeed when so many heroes of old have failed?


Okay!  Cast your votes and help enable me as a horrible decision-maker!

Should I use version one or version two?

Also, what do you think of the phrase, “Fleeing from pursuing peril…”?  Too much?

As always imaginary reader, you’re thoughts are welcome.

4 comments:

  1. I prefer version 1 ...... but don't ask me why, it just 'feels' better.

    “Fleeing from pursuing peril…” seems OK, and 'fits' with the way I think the book will be written.

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  2. Hey!! Thanks! I think "relentless peril" might be better. But I still can't look at this stuff objectively.

    Thanks for your help! Hopefully I can make the blurb better!

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  3. I still stand behind my choice of the second version. Seems tighter, more "blurby," if you will.

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  4. I keep going back and forth. Some days I like the first, others the second. Most times...neither. Honestly, writing this damned blurb is harder than the first two books put together!!!

    I have a week before I turn it in. I suppose I'll just let the editors choose!

    thanks for your input!

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