but what are your thoughts on yaoi?

[ignited]

This would be the part where I talk about the difficulty of picking fic titles, only it's better to imagine me wringing and making clawing motions with my hands while going "ugh! ugh

Comments

[nu_breed]

I tend to use song titles, or lyrics. I always manage to find something that fits that way, whereas if I racked my brain for them without the assistance of ITunes? I don't think it'd happen.

That could just be extreme laziness of course. ;)

[ignited]

I'm the same way when it comes to titles. I used to end up searching through the lyrics program I have for song titles (and thus we will not go into how many Beatles-related ones I have used, wheee). Thank god for iTunes. Makes things SO much easier. :)

[ignited]

Oh, this is more than useful! I'm interested in how people pick them.

so my first thoughts are always running towards, "does what I am listening to fit what I am writing, and is there a line I can yoink from this particular piece of music?"

Exactly! I tend to do that as well -- though sometimes it comes out of frustration as to not being able to decide on anything. So somehow whatever I'm listening to should be fine enough as a title.

The fear of making them too pretentious is another thing to worry about, I agree. It's hard to find the balance there between making it look good and work for the story, but at the same time not making it too weirdy/prententious-like. And then not just totally going with something too simple/lame.

[ignited]

Sorry for the delay! Yeah, I do the same thing when it comes to working titles, which can be amusing to my beta when I send them off. Heh, first line titles! Yep. Oh Microsoft Word, you make things funny. (I am intrigued by the orange jumpsuits! SPN/AtS! :D GREAT crossover potential!)

Re: pretentious titles -- same here, yep. I don't really have a problem with finding people's titles pretentious either -- I just worry that others might find ones I make pretentious. There was a while when I just used one word titles because I did a lot of one-offs and got stuck into that pattern. But fics in my head usually go by "The one with Sam and Dean and New York City" or something like that rather than their fic title which comes into play waaay later. ;)

[wendy]

Jub-Jub fic with a side of pancakes

MMMMMMMMM.

[ignited]

Eee! ICON! ♥

There may be threats of syrup, but you didn't hear it from me. *coughs, goes back into pink and sparkly place of hiding*

[wendy]

Well. Now I'm thinking about Jared licking syrup off Jensen's stomach and...I'm pretty much done for the day!

[ignited]

*totally did not write that, heavens no*

It's coming. ;)

It is a VERY good thought. :D

[musesfool]

I tend to use lyrics or lines from poems. It works best for me, because I am otherwise utterly sucktastic at coming up with titles. the best titles work on numerous levels - they spark reader interest, they make sense either plot-wise or thematically (or both if you're lucky), and they're memorable, but not too memorable. Sometimes I just slap a lyric from whatever I'm listening to on if I'm stuck; sometimes I do the frantic title scramble at bartleby.com, searching for something that pings me as right for the story. Usually I start out with a title - often it shapes the story, though sometimes I have to scrap it when the story goes in a different direction, and that's often painful - and I have a whole list of titles I'd like to use at some point or another, but just don't have the story for them yet.

[ignited]

Interesting! I don't really read as much poetry as I ought to, so that's a whole big area there that I'm missing out on! I think I've had two or three stories that originated based off of titles -- and a few more one day I'd like to use, even if they might be for different fandoms than originally intended. That must be a pain to have to scrap the title when the story changes, but that's understandable. :\

[balefully]

OZDSginsoidnh TITLING FIC! *_*! Picking a title is my favourite part of writing fic. Seriously. I pick titles for a bunch of my friends' fics, too, because they hate it and I LIVE FOR IT. I ususally use famous quotes, poetry, or song lyrics based on a theme from the piece. :D! IT IS SO MUCH FUN.

[ignited]

I think it's the worse part, for me! Half the time the document files for my stories just read as what's the main hook of the story (i.e. SPN - Hospital Fic, SPN - Genderswap, etc.) because titles = happen much later. An hour to half-hour before posting. It's cool that it's fun for you though!

I pick titles for a bunch of my friends' fics, too, because they hate it and I LIVE FOR IT.

*snorts* I make regala_electra do the same thing. "Plz, beta, and um... I need a title? I LOVE YOU LIKE PIE!"

...because the pie comment will get me lots of places. *nods* True story.

[regala_electra]

and sometimes I give you titles like "THE ONE WHERE DEAN IS A FUCKING SNAKE."

Heh. Sorry about that one.