luxken27 | The Art of Choosing a Title

Titling is a bitch. Seriously.

Best title, as far as I'm concerned, is Gone With the Wind. It just is.

I think I'm partial to "A Long Day's Journey Into Night," but I'm not exactly sure if that's my true favorite.

I like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, myself, but then I am rather fond of pretentious, oxymoronic titles on the whole :P

Titles. Now, you got to admit, with over 380 pieces on FF.net, and even more than that on dA, I've had a lot of practice with titling. I used to hate it, but now, I am pretty happy with most of my titles. After the End, Yesterday's Tomorrows, The Evil in Men's Hearts all pleased me as titles. The one important story (for my post manga sequence) I don't like is Future Legend. But I couldn't and still can't think of a more appropriate title for it, so I ran with it.

I'm at the point in numbers that I often have to look carefully to make sure I'm not trying to duplicate a previously used one, though, and that sometimes means I don't really title a work what I want to call it.

One of my favorite titles for a short piece is Accidently, One Summer Afternoon. There's something neat and evocative about it. I title my photographs over at dA, and my favorite title of any pic is probably "Fist of the Firegod," a photo of a pyrocumulus cloud over a wild fire, because it looked vaguely fist shaped to me...It would probably make a good title for a fantasy novel. LOL.

I have no theory or strategy...I look at the work, and slap a title that seems fitting on it. Am I good at it? Heck if I know, but I'm not worried about it for fanfic.

Edited 2010-02-21 03:19 (UTC)

I'm at the point in numbers that I often have to look carefully to make sure I'm not trying to duplicate a previously used one, though, and that sometimes means I don't really title a work what I want to call it.

Since I've picked up the habit of writing serials (which need each piece to have a title, as well as the overall serial title), I'm much in the same boat. And I have accidentally duplicated one, but I didn't notice until long after I'd posted it. Oh, well. I'll usually try to at least get close to a word I'd like to use and then maybe make a synonym run on it to find the perfect one :P

I have no theory or strategy...I look at the work, and slap a title that seems fitting on it.

This is pretty much what I do as well, but sometimes I'll have an idea in mind first that might help direct the way I want to write a piece (most recently, "A Most Favorable Arrangement," which meant I had to write it in a higher style of prose than I'd originally intended...)

What I'm stumping on more often now is trying to write a summary. I don't really do either (titling or summary) until after I've finished writing a piece, but more often than not I can't find a good way to summarize what I've written without it sounding horribly trite or cliche. Bah!

Now I have my own unique strategy at doing the summaries at ff.net. I make a statement, then one or two leading questions based on the content:

for example: InuYasha wants Kagome to join him in doing something she used to like. Why is she reluctant? And what does he remind her about?

One afternoon, bandits try to kidnap Kagome while she is collecting herbs. Something strange happens to her while InuYasha searches frantically for her. Who is this person who comes to her while she's unconscious?

One afternoon, Rin stumbles across something she wasn't meant to see. Why doesn't she leave? And who else was watching InuYasha and Kagome?

Comm summaries are a bit different, but I'm not very deep there:

Interesting how the same word can mean different things considering who's it's directed at.

Rin stumbles onto something she wasn't supposed to see...but is she the only voyeur?

Simple, but still mostly teasers. That's my system. I would summarize things differently if I needed a true summary, like for the last piece:

Rin accidently stumbles across InuYasha and Kagome who do not realize they are being watched while they share an intimate moment. Rin, panicked, runs off, but someone else who is watching does not pull away so quickly. (I wouldn't say more than that because I don't want my summary to spoil it.)

But I do prefer doing the teasers.

I don't like the question method, myself. I've used it in the past, but I guess I prefer a bit more declaration in my summaries, LOL. For the last oneshot I posted up, I just pulled some lines from the middle of the fic itself, but it seemed to work beautifully IMO =) I'm not usually so lucky.

I guess I just find summarizing a bit trite, especially if you only have 256 characters. I've been trying to think of a way to summarize the Fleeting serial, a static summary to use after its finished since, at the moment, I'm updating with the installment summaries, and I've just drawn a blank. There's too much going on to find a decent way to limit it so much...so, hmm. We'll see.

What people want to know, I suspect, is: Who is the lead couple, if there is one, is it AU or Canon in setting, and to know a smidgeon about to expect: happy or sad, sexual situations, serious or funny.

The summary isn't a true summary; it's a place where you submit an invitation to have people come and look at your content...Rather than beat my head in, I went with something easy in the early days of my post manga stuff, and when I got positive feedback on it, I just kept it up for continuity. I do all these things on the fast fly without a lot of deep thought, so that's how I came to do it this way. It's easy for me, it signals the pertinent info, and I hope it teases people into looking. I just don't like to sweat blood over it and am lazy, so went with an easy solution.

But each of us have to figure out something that's comfy.

The summary isn't a true summary; it's a place where you submit an invitation to have people come and look at your content...

Well, exactly, and the hard part is coming up with something that does that, at least for me. Summaries are the first things people read of your fic, so its the first (or second, after the title) impression.

I have so-so luck, I'd suspect, unless I just hit on something genius out of left field *shrug* I'm hoping something snappy will come to me by the time I finish Fleeting, but if not, don't be surprised to see me open a "help me summarize this fic in 256 characters or less!" thread, LOL :P

I loved the article. The title is always the hardest part for me. In the beginning I have an idea for a title but by the end, it becomes something else. I think I'm getting better the more I write but there have been times where I'm last minute posting because a title just won't come to me.

Same; sometimes, if I can't find just the right one, I'll put one up and then run a thesaurus check looking for a more appropriate word, and usually I'll find what I was looking for in the first place, LOL.

I've done the same thing! LOL There are still some titles that others have loved but I really didn't feel was the right one for the story.

LOL. Oh, titles. I liked that article. I think I've probably done all of the different bad title examples at one time or another.

I break all the rules, too, but who cares. As long as its interesting enough to draw in readers, what does it matter? :P

As we discussed (yesterday?) - this is why I have my beta ;) I can toss out a few titles here and there (Bitter, Pack Law, Truth & Lies) but Eight-Fold Path was all her, as was CID and pretty much everything else xD

...
We're both still stumped on my news!fic, tho I think we're getting closer.

I guess it doesn't help how much I prefer one-word titles...

You have, like, the greatest beta ever. Those of us flying alone have only our own creative brains to pick :P

We're both still stumped on my news!fic, tho I think we're getting closer.

I still think it should have some allusion to shooting in it, LOL.

I guess it doesn't help how much I prefer one-word titles...

You can has thesaurus?

(This is why I hate having to have a chapter title for all my serial fics. Dude, its easier to just have nameless chapters! I swore when I started writing I'd never have pretentious chapter names for all my fics, and look at where I am now... *facepalm*)

My beta deserves a medal. Maybe a statue and a city named after her.

I still think it should have some allusion to shooting in it, LOL

LOL I'm actually leaning that way right now, especially with the way the one-shot begins the story.
*grins* The titles for my drabbles are all set - they're phrases from the news world and were easy to pick.

DAMN OVERALL TITLES *shakes fist*

You can has thesaurus?

*clutches her thesaurus* I luff my thesaurus and it luffs me back!

I swore when I started writing I'd never have pretentious chapter names for all my fics

*giggles* *pet pet* Is okay. When you gotta do it, ya gotta do it!

LOL I'm actually leaning that way right now, especially with the way the one-shot begins the story.

THE MINDMELD COMPELS YOU...YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!!

*giggles* *pet pet* Is okay. When you gotta do it, ya gotta do it!

If only I could write regular ol' chapter fics instead...*sigh* Though, even the one I'm currently working on has titles! *facepalm*

Seriously, self, WTF?! Talk about making it harder on yourself...

You aren't alone. Most of my titles are one-word. It's amazing how much effort it takes to come up with that one word...

And yet, its even harder coming up with a phrase...I'm deliberately using pretentious phrases for Fragments installments, and I have to really be having a good day to come up with a decent one for that. Nope, let me stick to one word titles more often than not, thank you very much! :P

I forever discovering that my chapter titles are from one of Quirky's stories or a chapter title form ToHoTM.

Ahhh, behold the power of sublimation :D

Both

paynesgrey and Resmiranda were pretty prolific in their day, so its no surprise you happen to choose similar themes or titles (since you are the most prolific of our day, LOL).

I hate trying to figure out a title for a story, and I think it’s the hardest part of writing ( and I’ve come up with some lame titles ).

Well then, maybe the article's rules will come in handy for you?

I think everyone's had some lame duck titles in their day, I know I have :P

I hate titling my fics. Either I can't come up with anything, or I can't come up with anything that actually fits the story. It's a ridiculous cycle.

And you've started working on a serial...man oh man, I feel your pain!!

I tend to try to think of some theme for my serial chapter titles so I don't have to go around the universe and back every time I'm ready to post up the next installment.

Yeah, adding a serial to the mix was not the most brilliant decision I've ever made...

Titles... I have a love-hate relationship with them. I'm partial to poetic, lyrical titles myself, quoted from songs (I firmly believe all songs are poetry set to music) but good lines are kind of hard to find... Most of the time, I go with my gut. If it pops out, it pops out. <3

I'm embarrassed by roughly one-third of my titles, delighted with one-third, and just "meh" about the others. A lot of my embarrassment stems from the fact I thought the title was terrific, but in retrospect, it's either pretentious or it just plain sucks.

And then there's my "The Birth of a Fan." I knew it sucked, but just couldn't think of anything better. That's the title I hate the worst. Just, ugh.

I do, however, love coming up with pretentious chapter names (in the rare instances my stories are more than one-shots). I figure they're supposed to be pretentious then. :-P

I find titles to be a mixed-bag. Sometimes they leap out at you and there's simply no other choice. Sometimes, the title comes before the story content is focused on - and sometimes I can't even focus on creating a chapter or story in detail without having a title first, even if it's just a working title. Sometimes I can't come up with a title for love nor money, even with detail written down.

That's the most frustrating thing I find, however, is my muse's need for a title of some kind to be there before I can focus on writing the detail of the story or the chapter. I find that even more frustrating than having the story or chapter completed and still being stuck for a title.

That said, I tend like my titles to have meaning. It depends on the atmosphere I'm going for as to whether I go for an obvious connection or something more subtle, or cryptic, or abstract, etc.

The last story I wrote (my MiroSanta story), I ended up with a mixture of titles for the story and chapters. The story's title was based on the main thread the story was based on (the journey through life the two characters were on and the misfortunes they've experienced to get to Chapter 558) and when I learned about the symbolism of pillows made from twisted grass, it just seemed to fit - so that title was both literal and poetic.

Of the chapter titles, however, the third chapter gave me the biggest headache. The first two chapters had titles thatwere pased on poetic themes I'd noticed in waka, and were there almost from the first moment I began writing the story, but the third chapter's title was a headache - it was straight-forward and literal, but it was also poetic because of the poetic connotations of the tree, but I wasn't at all happy with it for a long time, probably because it was a blunt title by comparison with the others I'd been using.

I've been reading that article. It's definitely a useful read, but I think most of my titles classify as "bad". It's something to work on, I think (as is everything, but that's part of the fun). :)

Not easy choosing a title, but I do have 2 favs:

1: The Sound Of Music

(which happens to be one of my favorite movies)

2: Victor/Victoria

(my real name is Victoria)

Although I was never really fond of the movie ****sigh****

The Art of Choosing a Title

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