Question Meme: Fic Titles
Jun. 27th, 2020 02:09 pmFirst snagged from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adriennefae, then seen in several journals in my feed before I got to doing this.
Look at the most recent 20 fanwork titles on your AO3 account.
A lot of these titles are old, because in April, May and June I posted on AO3 the rest of those stories I wrote more than ten years ago. I'd rather list more of my recently-written fics, but these are the most recent posts on my AO3 account.
( the titles as links to the fics )
1. How many are you happy with? Fifteen or sixteen. I'm easily as happy with the title as I'm with the fic. After completing a fic, I look for the title in the story text and pick somehow the best phrase I can find. I try to choose such a combination of words which sounds and/or looks good, and has the possibility of different interpretations, and refers to an essential – preferably more than one essential – aspect or detail in the story. I hope it refers both to the plot and to the theme, if not unambiguously – or very well – to either. :) When sometimes I struggle to find such a phrase in the text, I fear the fic can't possibly be good. Surprisingly, I'm still happy with most of the titles of my old fic, too, perhaps because I haven't changed my almost exclusive way of choosing titles since 2005.
2. How many are... not great? In my view, four or five. Two or three of these are titles I gave to single 100-drabbles or sequences of drabbles only when recently posting them on AO3. These pieces were written in 2005 – 20010 for a series I titled back then Sketches for a Portrait, and most of them had no other titles. Now that I made the (not great?) decision not to post them all together as one work, I had to come up with titles. And my favourite method has never worked with drabbles. Out of my old longer short stories, Anywhere and Back Again has a title that's not from the story text, and this one I like less than I used to. Look for Laughter is a recent fic, and I've chosen the title in my usual way, and to me it conveys what the fic is about, but I feel the words and their combination can look like they refer to something more humorous.
3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute? Five, I think. Three of those (five) drabble (sequence) titles, and two recent short story titles, which I chose only after the beta: The Darkness of This Shore and Sharing Breaths. Perhaps I just can't remember how late I chose titles fifteen years ago, because I found it the normal thing to do. I do remember that when posting His Face Shines in the Gloom of My Parents’ House, I asked my Livejournal friends if they could suggest a shorter title.
( seven more questions and answers )
adriennefae, then seen in several journals in my feed before I got to doing this.Look at the most recent 20 fanwork titles on your AO3 account.
A lot of these titles are old, because in April, May and June I posted on AO3 the rest of those stories I wrote more than ten years ago. I'd rather list more of my recently-written fics, but these are the most recent posts on my AO3 account.
( the titles as links to the fics )
1. How many are you happy with? Fifteen or sixteen. I'm easily as happy with the title as I'm with the fic. After completing a fic, I look for the title in the story text and pick somehow the best phrase I can find. I try to choose such a combination of words which sounds and/or looks good, and has the possibility of different interpretations, and refers to an essential – preferably more than one essential – aspect or detail in the story. I hope it refers both to the plot and to the theme, if not unambiguously – or very well – to either. :) When sometimes I struggle to find such a phrase in the text, I fear the fic can't possibly be good. Surprisingly, I'm still happy with most of the titles of my old fic, too, perhaps because I haven't changed my almost exclusive way of choosing titles since 2005.
2. How many are... not great? In my view, four or five. Two or three of these are titles I gave to single 100-drabbles or sequences of drabbles only when recently posting them on AO3. These pieces were written in 2005 – 20010 for a series I titled back then Sketches for a Portrait, and most of them had no other titles. Now that I made the (not great?) decision not to post them all together as one work, I had to come up with titles. And my favourite method has never worked with drabbles. Out of my old longer short stories, Anywhere and Back Again has a title that's not from the story text, and this one I like less than I used to. Look for Laughter is a recent fic, and I've chosen the title in my usual way, and to me it conveys what the fic is about, but I feel the words and their combination can look like they refer to something more humorous.
3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute? Five, I think. Three of those (five) drabble (sequence) titles, and two recent short story titles, which I chose only after the beta: The Darkness of This Shore and Sharing Breaths. Perhaps I just can't remember how late I chose titles fifteen years ago, because I found it the normal thing to do. I do remember that when posting His Face Shines in the Gloom of My Parents’ House, I asked my Livejournal friends if they could suggest a shorter title.
( seven more questions and answers )
