Oh God. I remember the definition trend. I think I saw fics that used that to stunningly good effect... like, two of them. Out of dozens.
RE song lyrics: I'm firmly in the camp that as long as the lyric is unknown enough that the vast majority of your audience won't immediately start humming a tune- ie, you're using it as a line of poetry and less as a song lyric- it's fine. But I know some people react with violent hate. If you have really good music recall, that really makes a lot of sense (but do you still hate even if you didn't know it was a lyric, and only find out later?)
I think that song lyrics, poetry, the definition thing, and various other things can all be used for good or evil. Sometimes, they're a handy way of alluding to what's to come (or helping to define the overall tone), other times, they feel pretentious, or like part of the author's "notes to self" that got left in and are rather detached from the story.
There's no title that will put me off of a story that's been specifically rec'd, however, in common browsing, the one thing that'll make my eyes glaze over faster than anything is "(blank) is just another word for (apparently non-synonymous other word)". I mean, song lyrics? It's not like I google titles before I start reading something, and chances are, I'm not going to recognize the title anyway (because I listen to vastly different things than ficcers, I guess, that, and my hearing ain't so good).
Huh. My first reaction is that I've never seen that anywhere other than "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," which is one of the five greatest pieces of fanfic of all time, in any fandom (and if you like SGA and have avoided it for that, you should read).
Then I started thinking and realized I've seen it EVERYWHERE. Now I will be all hypersensitized and twitchy, damn it! *shakes fist*
Hmm, the journalism/headlines thing actually makes a lot of sense. Headlines are supposed to provide a lot of very concentrated, workmanlike information very quickly, whereas coming from literature and not journalism, I've always thought titles were there to allude and nudge and add richness and shape a reader's interpretation of the work in subtle ways, but not to actually provide any information. And those two things call for entirely different thought processes (and maybe using a title to serve the purposes of a headline is actually a good thing, or has its uses, especially in the high-volume world of fanfic?)
Oy. Titles. Sometimes they come easily, other times I sit crosslegged on a street corner with my hat outstretched.
I looked back over some of my stuff and noticed that among the song lyrics and straight-forward titles and literary quotes, there are some that sprang from a line of dialogue or one specific moment in a story, rather than an overall theme or tone.
Re the old ad campaign- really? That's cool. See, that's exactly the kind of thing I sort of adore (though it works better for a short story- wouldn't really carry a novella), provided there's an author's note to clue me in. (Without the AN, it just looks like a perfectly serviceable straightforward one to me. Which is not a problem.)
I will have to put that one on my to-read list now!
Well, then again I am also an Author's Note ho. I don't think the author has any authority to dictate interpretation, but I like data points.
You think that not diving into the minutinae of Middle Earth geography and calendar and history means you're just using it for escapism, which I think is funny- because that's exactly how I use it for escapism. Nothing like a fantasy novel with a really good MAP to study at endless length to tell me I'm well into escapism headspace. *chuckle*
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RE song lyrics: I'm firmly in the camp that as long as the lyric is unknown enough that the vast majority of your audience won't immediately start humming a tune- ie, you're using it as a line of poetry and less as a song lyric- it's fine. But I know some people react with violent hate. If you have really good music recall, that really makes a lot of sense (but do you still hate even if you didn't know it was a lyric, and only find out later?)
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*chuckles* Okay. Yes. Point.
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There's no title that will put me off of a story that's been specifically rec'd, however, in common browsing, the one thing that'll make my eyes glaze over faster than anything is "(blank) is just another word for (apparently non-synonymous other word)". I mean, song lyrics? It's not like I google titles before I start reading something, and chances are, I'm not going to recognize the title anyway (because I listen to vastly different things than ficcers, I guess, that, and my hearing ain't so good).
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Then I started thinking and realized I've seen it EVERYWHERE. Now I will be all hypersensitized and twitchy, damn it! *shakes fist*
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Interesting
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I looked back over some of my stuff and noticed that among the song lyrics and straight-forward titles and literary quotes, there are some that sprang from a line of dialogue or one specific moment in a story, rather than an overall theme or tone.
and I might like (semi-)puns a little bit
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200 words, all pure fluff. :-)
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I will have to put that one on my to-read list now!
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You think that not diving into the minutinae of Middle Earth geography and calendar and history means you're just using it for escapism, which I think is funny- because that's exactly how I use it for escapism. Nothing like a fantasy novel with a really good MAP to study at endless length to tell me I'm well into escapism headspace. *chuckle*
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