this post brought to you by the multi-chapter fic i am currently writing which is titleless

[lirazel]

Can we talk about the art of the title? And how sometimes you have this brilliant title and then you build a fic/story/poem around it and other times you've got a great story and you want to post it, but you can't because you can't come up with a title that works for it? Sometimes things sound too trite or obvious or else too ambiguous, but titles are important, because I absolutely will skip over a fic if the title (usually + summary) rubs me the wrong way.

So do y'all have tips on story titles? Mine have really evolved over all my years of fic writing. I'm not particularly fond of one-word titles anymore even though that's what I used to cling to. If I go with that, it has to be something with a lot of zing to it (I still like "Chromaticity" and "Liminal" because those aren't everyday kind of words as is evidenced by the fact that my spellcheck isn't recognizing them right now).

I often resort to poetry or more obscure lyrics (I rarely like it when I think people will recognize where the line comes from). Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell are my go-tos when it comes to lyrics, and I feel like you can't go wrong with Siken or Carl Phillips when it comes to poetry.

But sometimes even that fails me. What do y'all do when you need a title and nothing is coming? Got anything ridiculously creative?

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

My favourite titles tend to be lyrics or various vague references or quotes that I don't expect anyone to get. It depends a bit; especially for drabbles, I often want the title to say something that the rest of the fic can then play off - so the title either underlines the point or subverts it. Or something like that. Then again, looking back at the more recent things I've written, a lot of them have really boring titles. Yeah, a lot of it depends on whether the title comes first or the story; if I have a finished story and no title, I tend to just slap something on it that sounds about right. Of the ones I've written recently, I think my favourite is 67 Characters In Search Of A Memory, which sounds like the mother of all ensemble fics even though there are really just 4 characters in it.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

When I go with lyrics or quotes, I prefer the ones where I don't expect people to get them, too, because that way they don't have associations tied to them?

so the title either underlines the point or subverts it.

Yeah, that's always cool when you can make it be part of the fic as opposed to just a label.

67 Characters In Search Of A Memory

That is a great title. I like it lots.

[ruuger]

Like beer_good_foamy, I too prefer titles that somehow comment/complement the story, like for example "Summers", which has a double meaning in that it's a selection of stories set during the summers between seasons, and that all the stories are about Buffy even thouigh she's not actually in them.

I often use poetry fragments, like "All the Difference", "Miles to Go", and "World Enough", or lines from whatever song I was listening when I wrote the fic, and sometimes, if I can't find enything suitable, I just make up something that sounds like a quote poetry fragment, such as "And in the End, a Beginning", and "These Furious Ghosts in Their Shrouds Stained with Blood".

Another favourite is misusing quotes from the fandom itself. I have a The Mentalist story in the works called "Love and Affection", which comes from a line the main character said about how the best way to seduce someone is to offer them love and affection - while my story is a kind of a non-con/mindfuck thing about him being converted by his worst enemy. I have few others like that as well, where I've taken a quote that the reader is sure to recognise, and used it as a title for a story that completely changes its meaning.

In all, I spend way too much time browsing wikiquote and various poetry sites, trying to find good titles. The hardest are titles for The Mentalist fics, because the show always has something red in each episode title, and so I feel like I have to do the same.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I have few others like that as well, where I've taken a quote that the reader is sure to recognise, and used it as a title for a story that completely changes its meaning.

I like that a lot!

In all, I spend way too much time browsing wikiquote and various poetry sites, trying to find good titles.

Oh, me, too. So much time.

[snickfic]

Ugh, I mostly hate titles. Except when I have the perfect one. Success story: I am determined to write at least two more fics in my werebear 'verse, solely because I have silly yet oh so thematically appropriate titles. ("Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear" and "The Teddy Bears' Picnic.")

Sometimes I don't have a title, and I get lucky; I still think "i would rather start a family than finish one" is the perfect quote for my Jo/Sam+Dean babyfic, and I found that one by poking around Wikipedia.

But a lot of time when I have no title, I end up with something bland ("Respite") or just plain weird ("Two Suckers in an Icebox").

Basically: titles are magic. Sometimes the magic comes to you, and sometimes it doesn't.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I mostly hate titles. Except when I have the perfect one.

Yes, this sums it up exactly.

I am determined to write at least two more fics in my werebear 'verse, solely because I have silly yet oh so thematically appropriate titles. ("Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear" and "The Teddy Bears' Picnic.")

This is why you're my favorite. :D

"Seraph" is one of my favorites because it's a single word, but it's a distinctive single word--nothing bland about it. I love that title lots.

I think you are correct about the magic.

[snickfic]

Aw, I am glad you like Seraph! To this day I am ambivalent. I pulled it out of a line in the middle of the fic (which, fortunately, I had already written when I posted the first chapter), but I never quite decided if I liked it. But if it works for other people, that's about all I can ask. :)

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

I had a post on titles awhile back! I realized I like short, simple ones, and I like ones that comment on the fic or add another layer. But mostly, I like ones that strike me as funny. I could name quite a few stories using Philip Larkin poems, I think, but I've only got the one (This Be the Verse). Otherwise, I cite, like, Twin Peaks, Flight of the Conchords, Science, classic sci-fi ... anything, really.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I looove Phillip Larkin, so if you went with more titles by him, I would heartily approve!

[silverusagi]

Ugh, titles are the bane of my existence, unless I just get the perfect one. Though for short cracky ficlets, I don't think too hard or care too much about the titles, just as long as it's something that fits the fic. But with longer things, it will bug me until I find a good title. I've never used song lyrics, though, even though I know that's a fairly popular title finding activity. Probably because when it comes down to it, I don't have a wide variety of artists that I listen to. Though I do tend to like one word titles.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ugh, titles are the bane of my existence, unless I just get the perfect one

I think this is the consensus. If you get the perfect one, it's fantastic. Otherwise it sucks.

Though for short cracky ficlets, I don't think too hard or care too much about the titles, just as long as it's something that fits the fic. But with longer things, it will bug me until I find a good title.

Yeah, that's how I feel, too.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Yes! Titles!

I like poetry and obscure lyrics myself. But sometimes it's hard.

The two fics I'm working on now are titled "things we never talk about" (tentatively) and "Lost in Translation" (more solidly). Neither of which are quotes! But my most recent fic "saying it out loud is hard (and words are futile devices)" is straight from Sufjan Stevens's song "Futile Devices."

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I like all of those titles! And I tend to really like your summaries, too--I think you have a knack for writing the right ones/picking the right line from the fic.

[pennydrdful.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! I love choosing titles! I used to find it extremely challenging, as well. But then I fell in love with Raymond Carver's work, and completely stole his idea on choosing titles.
He always pulls his title from a phrase in the work itself. You don't have to use a whole sentence, you can even just take a few words, and by pulling them out of the sentence it can add a whole new level of depth to those words, I think.

For example, I did it both in The Line Between and in What He Wanted.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I wish I had your love for it! Mostly I moan and groan over it! But your way definitely works!

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

I actually dislike titles-quotes. It seems like I'm the only one, so I got used to it when other people take song lyrics or things like that, but I try to never do it myself. It's a habit, I guess. My first fandom never used quotes as titles.

But I like taking a phrase from the story itself to serve as a title. It solves my eternal title problem, and it highlights said phrase within the text as a key phrase. It's a win-win :).

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

See, I'm the opposite--most of the time I feel like the phrase from the story feels too obvious, so I prefer quotes. But that's usually just when it comes to my own writing--I have no problem with it when other people do it!

[youcallitwinter.livejournal.com]

God, titles are the actual worst. Honestly, it seems like I spend less time writing fic and more time trying to figure titles D: in general I love long titles, and I can love titles separately from the fic, even if it turns out it has nothing to do with the actual fic as long as it's pretty. Song lyrics and poem quotes are always the best, like still the sea is salt etc. But really, I find it ridiculously hard to find titles and I'm sure the ones I finally pick only make sense to me in how they actually relate to the fic :s