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themostepotente) wrote2004-07-17 02:41 pm
themostepotente) wrote2004-07-17 02:41 pm
On titling fics
I'm hard pressed to admit -- sometimes the title of a fic is the deciding factor on whether or not I read it.
Titles can be very eye catching, and sometimes I need that stimulus (can I call it this?) to attract my attention.
Witty, clever, thought provoking -- anything really. I just need to make that connection.
To me, there is nothing worse than a poorly titled fic. Does anyone else share these sentiments?
Do poor titles affect your judgement? Does the word 'Untitled' tend to turn you off?
How do you go about choosing an appropriate title for your fic? Song titles, catchy phrases?
What about sharing story titles with a well-known author? So many fics out there. It has to happen more often than not.
Share your thoughts, please :-)
--P
Titles can be very eye catching, and sometimes I need that stimulus (can I call it this?) to attract my attention.
Witty, clever, thought provoking -- anything really. I just need to make that connection.
To me, there is nothing worse than a poorly titled fic. Does anyone else share these sentiments?
Do poor titles affect your judgement? Does the word 'Untitled' tend to turn you off?
How do you go about choosing an appropriate title for your fic? Song titles, catchy phrases?
What about sharing story titles with a well-known author? So many fics out there. It has to happen more often than not.
Share your thoughts, please :-)
--P
no subject
I agree that a title definitely has something to do with whether or not I read a fic or not. A good title can be very compelling, but probably isn't the most important factor in whether I read a story or not. A favorite author, a trusted rec or a loved pairing (as most of my favorites are very rarely written) has a lot more to do with whether I read than the title. But a particularly intriguing title can draw me in.
Untitled... it does a couple of things for me. It can indicate that a story is shorter, which I like, so if other things intrigue me, I may check out the fic. For a longer fic, though, it seems wrong to not title it. It makes it confusing to reference it if it doesn't have a title. So as much as I want to avoid titling stuff, if it's more than a ficlet I'm posting in my LJ and leaving there, I'll force myself to come up with something.
I seem to have patterns with my titles... "Something AND Something" is a format I've used more than once. Expectations and Responsibilities, Trust and Nothing... I seem to have two ficlets entitled "Mine" and recall wanting to title soemthing that recently before realizing three fics with the same name (even if one exists nowhere but my LJ archives) was really not acceptable. One-word titles are another big one for me. Or four-word titles that somehow refer to the topic of the story. "That Little Slytherin Boy," "What's Supposed to Be," "Nothing Like the Daydreams," "Another Sort of Evil." Usually when I use those, it comes from skimming the story and latching onto a concept or idea that recurs a couple of times.