How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Eli Cranor's website.
Ozark Dogs works pretty well for this novel. The main theme is the vicious cycle of violence caused by poverty in places like rural Arkansas. My family is all the time taking in stray cats and dogs. I wanted to extend that metaphor to the people in my home state and play up the sense of loss. What's funny, though, is that Ozark Dogs was not the original title. When I turned the manuscript in it was called Salvation. Which hits on the book's other main theme of redemption. In the end, Ozark Dogs won out because of marketability.
What's in a name?
This book is chock full of original names. Evail, Bunn, Rudnick, and Beladonna Ledford. Guillermo Torres. Dime Ray Belly. Jeremiah and Joanna Fitzjurls. I...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: Don't Know Tough.
Q&A with Eli Cranor.
--Marshal Zeringue
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