Comments | musesfool: i know it's everybody's sin

musesfool

i know it's everybody's sin

Jul 18, 2007 10:57

So I've been thinking about titles. SPN fandom has some truly godawful titles floating around. Sometimes I skim the newsletter, and I'm like, "WTF? No, seriously, WTF?" But I am certain - 100% even - that somewhere out there, someone else is reading the newsletter and going, "Awesome!" at those titles, and looking at mine and going, "Seriously? No ( Read more... )

writing: on titles & summaries

Comments 50

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musesfool July 18 2007, 15:45:56 UTC

I don't know that it's pretentiousness, but I do get what you mean about how it can sometimes feel like it's growing beyond your control. And heh. I am the lamest at answering feedback.

I always admire you writers, with your apt, eloquent titles

Thank you! I have really good sources. *g*

glossing July 18 2007, 15:39:55 UTC

I agree with all of this; I've been thinking *a lot* about titles lately, probably because I'm working on a single long project and I keep re-titling it. Also, in my corner of comicsdom, there's one pretty set method for titling. It works for others, but I've been finding it difficult to work with lately.

There are also any number of titles I would tell people to just... not use because they're *so* overused
While I know that such lists tend to cause angst, I want to make a list. You mentioned "Hallelujah" and I'd add anything from Cummings's poem that begins "somewhere i have never travelled". (I'm guilty of this! I titled a long dS fic "Gladly Beyond". *g*)

I think a title needs to work in concert with the story, to comment on it or tell you what it's about in some way.
Yes, oh, my, yes. As a reader *and* writer, I also need a title that's memorable. Not necessarily memoriz-able, as your "...into the desert, as thirsty as you are" title makes clear, but memorable. Recognizable later, I mean. Lately I've been choosing fairly ( ... )

musesfool July 18 2007, 15:50:54 UTC

Yeah, I'm weird in that usually, I just have the title to start and it always stays, but there are times when I can't decide, and I just keep changing it, and it makes me crazy. The worst is when I've had one picked out from the beginning and it no longer fits at the end, and I have to find a new one. Grar!

I'd add anything from Cummings's poem that begins "somewhere i have never travelled". (I'm guilty of this! I titled a long dS fic "Gladly Beyond". *

Bwah! I actually had a line in there about that, with that exact reference. And also about "A Handful of Dust" and "Through a Glass Darkly" and there was another one I've just blanked on. Though I've used my fair share of groaners and obvious titles, too.

I also need a title that's memorable. Not necessarily memoriz-able, as your "...into the desert, as thirsty as you are" title makes clear, but memorable. Recognizable later, I mean.

*nod nod*

I want to be able to look at it and go, "Yeah, I read that, and I remember it."

Lately I've been choosing fairly plainspoken, *bare* ( ... )

vee_fic July 18 2007, 16:32:11 UTC

May I add all phrases (including titles) from "The Second Coming" and "The Waste Land" to the list of forbidden fanfic titles? Because I am fricken tired of both of them. Also the last stanza of "The Hollow Men." (Though, strangely, never any earlier parts.)

Apocalyptic imagery is not a priori appropriate, people! And even when it is, overuse can blunt its power! If Stephen King has already done it, consider not doing that!!

Sigh.

musesfool July 18 2007, 16:48:42 UTC

The Second Coming! That was it. No more "The Centre Cannot Hold" or "What Rough Beast" or "Slouching Towards Bethlehem".

Though I am guilty of using lines from "The Hollow Men" more than once. *hides*

vee_fic July 18 2007, 18:31:31 UTC

"Headpieces filled with straw" -- OK
"A penny for the old guy" (despite nto being original to Eliot) -- OK
"Gesture without motion" -- OK
"Remember us -- if at all" -- OK

"Not with a bang but a whimper" -- busted down to cliche kindergarten

musesfool July 18 2007, 19:02:52 UTC

Heh. I've used "For Thine Is the Kingdom" and "Between the Emotion and the Response."

Thread 6

loneraven July 18 2007, 17:37:49 UTC

I like using lyrics and poetry for my titles - my favourite is "Love In Fire And In Blood", because it's from Neruda and is meant to mislead: it's a story all about the comedy, so I like that it has a self-consciously ridiculously overblown title, but it is a love story, in the end. But usually, my titles tend to appear in the story somewhere - which is something I find, increasingly, that I'm alone in doing.

Do you ever hit upon a title and just know that that's it, that's the title this story is meant to have? I've got a story in-progress right now called "Down And Upping", which is my favourite of all the titles I've ever come up with. It's a story about mental ups and downs, yes - but in the course of the story, the main character kills a swan, and it's all about down-feathers and swan-upping...

In conclusion, me = geek. :)

musesfool July 18 2007, 18:37:55 UTC

usually, my titles tend to appear in the story somewhere - which is something I find, increasingly, that I'm alone in doing.

I just have a really hard time picking something from a story to be a title. It just doesn't work for me.

Do you ever hit upon a title and just know that that's it, that's the title this story is meant to have?

Quite frequently, actually. *g*

the main character kills a swan, and it's all about down-feathers and swan-upping...

Is it a wereswan?

_tallian_ July 18 2007, 17:50:11 UTC

I've been picking up a lot of really good title ideas from literary criticism lately, but nothing to put them with. Start a list, I guess.

Sometimes I think that *lots* of reading should be required before a person is allowed to post/publish/whatever. That way, they know what's been done to death.

But then, the writer might be shamed into hiding something truly good.

musesfool July 18 2007, 18:43:29 UTC

Yes. Start a list and you'll be glad you did.

Sometimes I think that *lots* of reading should be required before a person is allowed to post/publish/whatever. That way, they know what's been done to death.

Well, I think good writers are voracious readers. And while I don't think people need to not post the thousandth iteration of "let's get you out of those wet clothes" - I mean, I've written those stories, and I'm always pretty okay with the idea that some tropes are just going to be used a lot - I do wish they'd think before slapping "A Secret Chord" or "A Handful of Dust" onto a story. Which doesn't mean I haven't thought about some of those overused titles myself, but I generally end up using something else instead.

_tallian_ July 18 2007, 19:24:44 UTC

Heh. I'll start that list when I get home! Thanks.

Which doesn't mean I haven't thought about some of those overused titles myself, but I generally end up using something else instead.

They are, after all, famous quotes for good reason: they strike a chord and people resonate. It's just a little hard to bring your precious baby to the public and have a lot of them groan "oh god, not that again".

Of course, some people can pull it off.

musesfool July 18 2007, 19:49:06 UTC

They are, after all, famous quotes for good reason: they strike a chord and people resonate.

Exactly.

But a little googling might not be amiss there if you're thinking you maybe had a great idea nobody ever had before.

Of course, some people can pull it off.

Maybe. I know a few really good writers who use these kinds of titles and it still makes me groan most of the time. I also know a few good writers whose titles are generic and uninteresting to me. I think it's possible that this is a matter of taste at bottom.