then she gets you on her wavelength

[musesfool]

Talk to me about your story titles. Do you favor short and explanatory? Long and obscure? Something in between? It depends on the story?

Where do your titles come from? The story itself - a line or a recurring image or motif? Poetry? Lyrics? (yes, yes, I know there are people who find this approach uncreative and/or jarring. I say if it worked

Comments

[cathybites]

Do you ever wish you could just call your stories "Untitled #27" and be done with the whole process?

YES.

also, almost all of my titles come from songs, but I think - *hope* - I choose ones that aren't overdone. Every once in a rare while, I come up with something completely original. like. I think I've done that maybe three or four times in my entire fannish history.

[musesfool]

Every once in a rare while, I come up with something completely original. like. I think I've done that maybe three or four times in my entire fannish history.

Yeah, it almost never happens for me. I've mostly given up, unless it's a fandom with a very specific type of episode title? Like when I wrote Big Bang Theory fic for yuletide, I mimicked the show's format - I do the same thing with Middleman. But otherwise, not so much.

[spectralbovine]

Talk to me about your story titles. Do you favor short and explanatory? Long and obscure? Something in between? It depends on the story?
It definitely depends on the story. I like my titles to have double meanings, generally, which works better with short and explanatory titles, but I do love a good long and obscure title when it's appropriate.

Where do your titles come from? The story itself - a line or a recurring image or motif? Poetry? Lyrics? (yes, yes, I know there are people who find this approach uncreative and/or jarring. I say if it worked for Hemingway and Faulkner, it can work for me.)
I feel like I should use recurring images and motifs for titles, but my titles tend to be...whatever I think is clever. I do like phrases from poetry and lyrics and titles but haven't actually used them. Except as temps.

Do you start out with a title or does it show up somewhere along the way as you're writing, or do you do the frantic title scramble just before you post? If the latter, where do you look/how do you brainstorm? Or do you

[musesfool]

I like my titles to have double meanings

I do too! But I have rarely succeeded in that.

my titles tend to be...whatever I think is clever.

I can't fault this approach. If I come up with a clever title, I certainly run with it.

I...just don't write anything anymore. Because I spend all my time composing epic LJ posts, I guess.

aw. I almost put in a thing about titling LJ posts, as well, because so many people don't, and that makes me crazy when I'm looking for something, but I felt like I was already asking a metric fuckton of questions.

[spectralbovine]

I put a lot of thought into my LJ post titles, but when I can't think of something appropriate, I just stick in a song lyric I like recently. (Although I often use appropriate song lyrics for post titles.) Sometimes I can't start writing a post until I think of a title. Or I think of the title for the post as I am experiencing whatever I am going to be writing about. There are a lot of LJ post titles I'm really proud of, though, and I appreciate when other people appreciate them.

[musesfool]

I use a lyric from whatever song I'm listening to at the moment, which doesn't always match the content, but sometimes it syncs up perfectly.

[pandarus]

Hmm. I'm a bit crap with titles. They tend to be brief and descriptive/evocative, or else fragments of poetry that reflect and/or shape the themes of the story, I think, for the most part. Mind you, once I do have a title (assuming I'm still writing the piece) then it can influence the rest of the shape of the story, sometimes.

I don't think up the title first - it either comes organically whilst I'm writing, or else a the end. And I don't bother checking around to see if someone's already used it, or anything like that.

[musesfool]

once I do have a title (assuming I'm still writing the piece) then it can influence the rest of the shape of the story, sometimes.

I try to use the title to guide the story. It doesn't always work and sometimes I have to change it, but I feel much more secure having a title at the top of the page when I'm writing. It's really weird.

I don't bother checking around to see if someone's already used it, or anything like that.

I don't either, generally speaking, though sometimes I'll remember someone has - like, I really wanted to name one of the Dean's deal stories I wrote "In Jerusalem Next Year" but I know there's a fairly well-known story with that title already in SPN fandom, so I didn't. Otoh, if something is fairly common - I'm not going to hesitate to use a line from Shakespeare or the Bible or something because I'm sure many people have already used them.

[plumtastic]

Lately I've used lyrics a lot, or parts of them at least. Hell, I've used bits from "Impressed by Me" by Sahara Hotnights at least twice. (The song has such an particular energy that hits right along the wavelength for my combative pairings.)

And I have used Hollowmen/Wasteland for a BSG story, but used Children of the Revolution instead. :)

Nifty idea for a post, btw.

[musesfool]

Yeah, I've gone back to the same song for multiple titles - I think I have at least three stories whose titles came from "Tear It All Down" by Thea Gilmore. And there are still lines I'd like to use!

Nifty idea for a post, btw.

I'm procrastinating on writing something where I keep changing the title, so...it seemed fitting.

[musesfool]

An obscure title (usually some quote) automatically makes me think the content is a bit emotional-rollercoaster-y

That's really interesting. Huh. I wouldn't have thought of that.