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[pocketfullof]

There was a discussion on someone else's journal about fic titles, and how she always waits 'til the last minute to name her fics, and I was thinking about how *different* that is for me

Comments

[pocketfullof]

I LOVE terrible puns. No, seriously, I adore them.

I also love the title The One with.... It's clever and memorable, I think. (And it reminds me of Friends.)

[prmalscream]

I generally never have a title until the end. I don't write unless it slaps me upside the head. I can't force writing, it has to come to me. I'll just be sitting around and all the sudden the story is writing itself in my head and if I don't start typing or writing it right then, I lose it. So the bulk of what I write is in one shot, which is why nothing I write now days is over 2000 words. And THEN I pick a title. I'm backward from most people I think.

[pocketfullof]

I think most people do let the story pick the title - and it probably makes more sense to do that. I think it probably makes for a title that fits better.

[causeways]

I've made a post like this before, so maybe it was mine you're thinking of? I know I said in there that I waited 'til the last minute to pick a title for fics, but lately that really hasn't been true. (Lately I also haven't been posting anything, shh.) Everything I've got in progress right now already has a title, with the exception of one totally bizarre non-SPN fic that no one is going to read anyway. It's very weird for me! I'm just so used to referring to things as "the Dean dates fic" or "dealbreaking" that I keep forgetting I've already titled these fics.

[pocketfullof]

I sometimes have more than one title for a fic while I'm working on it, or have title thoughts brewing, but for some strange reason I need to think of a fic by its title rather than by its plot - so I have to have something there already.

The fic I'm working on right now started off as a title, and now I'm trying to develop the fic around it.

[ignited]

Usually stories have temporary Friends-ish titles in my head right up until I post them: like "The One Where Dean Turns Into A Snake Monster" or "The Indiana Jones One Where Dean Is A Professor" -- it isn't until later on that I realize I can't actually call them that and then I must post.

I have weird titling patterns! For a while I used to do one word titles with like... weird words (which is code for, I used a thesaurus because I was in a rush, yay?). Back in HP, I had longer titles and they came more easily to mind.

I don't mind using lyrics as titles, mostly because I have this like... random, scattered way of picking them. Half the time it's songs I've never heard of, then I'll download them based off lyrics I searched for and I'll end up using a snippet out of it. For instance, when I did "Life's A Kick In This Town", I was looking for L.A. based songs and found that song and... it fit, surprisingly (rather than let's say... me looking up a Halloween themed song and getting "Monster Mash" as a suggestion! *g*)

[pocketfullof]

I have no problems using lyrics for titles either - actually, I kind of enjoy it! I think they can resonate, and if they're the right lyrics, they fit so perfectly!

[wendy]

As a reader, does the title ever turn you off from or on to a fic?

Honestly, I pay ZERO attention to titles. It has no impact on whether I read a story and I won't remember it after I finish a story (while I will remember author, plot, etc.)

[pocketfullof]

Hmmm. I don't really pay much attention to titles if the fic has been recc'd, but if it's just a passing fic on a com, I TOTALLY judge a fic by its title.