It’s hard (heh) when you come up with a fantastic contemporary romance idea, one that could easily turn into a series, but you can’t figure out what to call the series. Every series needs a name – but what to choose? How do you pick? Maybe all the good ones are taken. Jill Shalvis has “Lucky Harbor.” Toni Blake has the “Destiny” series. Lisa Kleypas has “Friday Harbor” coming this winter. And that pesky, troublesome Debbie Macomber took, like, ALL the good words for every one of her titles, dang it.
Behold! Smarty Bitchypants Bitchenatin’® Technology to the rescue! We have come up with an invaluable tool for all romance novel authors, everywhere: A Contemporary Romance Novel Series Name Generator!
Go ahead, give it a whirl! Push the button. DO IT. If you don’t like the title you first come up with, click on the button again and again and again. Some are silly, and some are totally possible – and maybe already in production. And after you generate that perfect series name, you can enter in another Smart Bitch contest–this one requiring more than your page-refreshing skillz.
Your next contemporary series should be called:
Contest Details
- First, keep clickin’ that button until you get a title you really, really like.
- Write a 20-words-or-less pitch for your contemporary series. All submissions must be headed by the randomly-generated title; those without will be disqualified.
- Post the title and the paragraph in the Comments, or e-mail the entry to Sarah. Entries must be received before 11:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 22 September 2010.
- On Thursday, 23 September, an entry containing
ALL valid contest submissions will be posted(Jesus what was I smoking?) the finalists as chosen by me will be posted (there’s nearly 175 entries and you’re all too creative. Note to self: NEVER give Bitchery inspirational bacon). Read through those entries, and then There Will Be Voting. Yes, the winner of this contest will be democratically-chosen. One vote per person. - You have 24 hours (or so) to vote.
- The winner will be announced on Friday morning, 24 September 2010.
- Prize will be a $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of the winner’s choosing!
So what are you waiting for? Generate that title and submit your entries, bitches!
The Sugar Canal
Seeking fulfillment, Gravel Broadblade encounters the Famous Chocolatiers convention. But there’s only one thing sweet enough to quench his desire…
THE ZINFANDEL STREAM SERIES
Wine, women and the waters that run through his land. Which beverage and beauty will he choose?
The Shelter Estuary Series
A lonely cabin right on the bank where the estuary meets the bay… where a girl can go to get away from it all. (Sexy groundskeeper provided, natch.)
The Lucky Brook Series
Helps people find their soulmates. Take a sip, take a trip, and true love will find its way to you.
spamword also48, apparently it’s a popular series with 48 titles?
The Honey Stream Series
A one night stand opens the doors to a life far more interesting than bake sales and shopping at Talbot’s.
He owned a travelling bed-and-breakfast ship with a big mast. Will he wind up owning her heart, too?
The Bacon Schooner Series.
The Hope Harbor Series
Three women with three different Magic Hoo-Ha’s will find love, and Mighty Wang’s, while on vacation in….Hope Harbor
The Ennui Reservoir series:
These men have money, power, and beautiful landscaping, but they care for nothing until love enters their lives…
OR
The Napalm Valley series:
The land is devastated and the future may be bleak, but these soldiers will find something worth fighting for.
The Destiny Creek series:
The red-headed triplets separated into different foster homes return to claim their inheritance. But is love lurking around the corner?
Okay, neither of these are my entry, but so far I’ve gotten “The Hirsute Sea Series” and “The Pregnesia Canal Series.” I don’t even know where to go from there—the imagery is almost overpowering.
Holy smoke, 90 comments? This is going to be some LONG voting – I may have to rethink this and select 10 or so finalists. BECAUSE YOU GUYS ARE CREATIVE AND CRAP LIKE WOODAMN.
The Hirsute Hills Series
They went searching America’s hairiest land for Bigfoot’s trail, but instead discover the greatest mystery of all – the human heart.
The Nymphomaniac Harbor Series
Hot, sweaty lovin’ abounds in this picturesque seaside town, hidden away from the rest of the world – until now.
The Chachbag Pass Series: Pickings are slim in the small town of Chachbag Pass… and three friends decide their love lives need a do-over.
The Hirsute Bay Series
A salon in a shifter town was risky but bikini season is paying off! If only Tammy could find love…
The Willow Cove series
Triplets—a computer geek, a bad girl, and a Wiccan lesbian—fight their personal demons while looking for love in a small Californian town.
(If you don’t count the “a”s, it’s exactly 20 words!)
The Ennui Beach Series
It’s hurricane season.
Two lovers torn apart by middle-class angst, brought together by a Gulf Coast timeshare.
The Hirsute Harbor Series: Four lonely seamen—Italian, Iranian, Indian and Russian—search the earth’s four corners for love and the perfect shag rug.
The Zinfandel Lake series, Book One: That’s Nice!
Heartbroken, Riu Nietzsche vows never to love again. But can she drown her sorrows with sexy neighbor Ahn Ice?
The Jingle Dinghy Series
Stranded Christmas elves make their way home on a boat made of toys, exploring lust and love on the way.
The Kindle Key series
Four women never expected that their new Kindles would lead them to new love.
(The series will, of course, be heavily promoted on Amazon, and plans are in the works for limited edition series-related Kindle covers.)
Napalm River
Vietnam vet’s daughters go searching for answers and meet lots of hunky guys, plus umpteen half-sisters who ensure the series continues ad nauseam…
captcha wrong 34… It would be wrong, but I could string this series out to at least 34 books.
The Bacon Lagoon Series
A series of crusty but lovable brothers in Maine decide to abandon their family’s fishing business and instead start a pig farm. Unfortunately, stinky pig farmers just aren’t as appealing to the local women as brooding, crusty fishermen. Can these confirmed bachelors find love in the muck before their pigs learn to fly?
The Bacon Lagoon Series
Four brothers sell fishing boat, buy pig farm. Can ex-fishermen find love in the muck before pigs learn to fly?
First entry was too long I realize. 20 words or less is hard to do!
Had to de-lurk just to use this title:
The Hirsute Canal Series
A heroine allergic to wax…
A hero allergic to hair…
But the itch for love is too strong.
Now SB Sarah—this was a gimme contest! We wouldn’t be reading your blog if we hadn’t read so many romances we can come up with descriptions of these series while standing on our heads! Even “bacon” doesn’t confound us! Lakes, hills, lagoons, rivers,…come on, there are so many weird real life names out there that Friday Lake isn’t even a contender.
Anyway I’m just about sure that Debbie Macomber had a series by that name or will have next week 😉
The Destiny River Series
Everyone in Wild Creek, Montana knew that if you walked along Destiny River, you would find your one true love.
Book One: Chevy Jones wasn’t looking for love, he was looking for the beavers that had dammed the creek to his property. But when he walked along Destiny River he rescued more than his land, he rescued Chantilly Lace, and the sparks flew.
Book Two: Amaretti Lace was running away from an arranged marriage, when she ran into Rambler Jones, literally. They floated away on Destiny River, into love.
Book Three: Thank goodness they have big families! When Diablo Mann went looking for his younger brother Rambler, he found true love with Madeline Lace.
Alternative series title: Dessert Cars.
The Shelter Pass Series
In Shelter Pass no one asks questions and everyone has secrets
until three friends come to town, and everything changes.
Bacon Bay
With only a frying pan and a troubled past, vegan chef Pumpkin must save the world from cannibalistic garden gnomes.
The Teacup Estuary Series
Physician and Anglophile, Amanda Huegenkis’ seachange seemed perfect. Then she met, and fell for, the hunky barista Joseph Blowe.
The Sheikh Valley Series
A band of lost virgin stable girls wanders the desert until they stumble into the testosterone oasis of Sheikh Valley.
Ennui Alley
A group of urban hipsters look for love, but will their sense of irony blind them to happiness?
(I had the urge to play again – if we can only enter once, then please use my first one).
Duffel Bag Lake
Like the lake, Sonya’s heart thawed in the spring warmth and the past resurfaced, drawing unwelcome attention from the ambitious young sheriff.
The LUCKY CREEK series: Four women, friends since elementary school, all unlucky in love, return to their hometown of Lucky Creek, Nevada, to nurse their broken hearts and, maybe, just maybe, find their true soul mates.
Meet all four:
Bree Calthorpe: Oscar-winning actress, dumped quite publically by her movie-star husband. Will she ever allow herself to trust another man? Even one as handsome, charming, and passionate as Josh Weathers? Find out in LUCKY STAR.
Vanessa Davenport: Top software designer who lost her beloved husband in a tragic accident. Can she find a love as perfect as that first one? Rancher Clay Dryden would like to convince her that she can! Share the adventure in LUCKY AGAIN.
Gayle Romero: A best-selling romance novelist, always writing about happily-ever-afters, but never finding her own. Will she finally have it with blue-eyed construction manager Wade Barrington? Read their story in LUCKY CHARM.
Charlotte Pryor: Her job as a high-powered executive for a Fortune 500 company has left her little time for romance. But now she’s back in Lucky Creek and ready to confront bad-boy Eric Sheridan, the man she’s loved since high school, who is now a high-stakes poker player. You’ll learn all their secrets in LUCKY CARDS.
Sorry—forgot the 20-word rule. Still, I had fun writing that!
Destiny Hills:
Destiny leads a wagon of rough and rugged ‘49s to a settlement owned by the feisty but winsome Hill sisters.
Bacon Canal Series
Sixteen miles, six degrees of locks, and an epic family feud couldn’t keep the Smoke boys from loving the Honey-Maple women.
War-weary, he found peace in her arms, her body his only refuge. In Avalon Nook he was home.
It pays to rread the instructions!
Avalon Nook
War-weary, he found peace in her arms, her body his only refuge. In Avalon Nook he was home.
Lucky Key
Kate was a hard-as-nails contractor a bite down on her luck in love, so she takes a trip to the exclusive island resort Lucky Key where everyone is looking for just one thing… to get lucky!
Sequels include Jane the single mom with no time for dating. Kevin the seasoned bartender at Luck Key whose finally found the one woman who makes his blood boil!