On titling fics

[themostepotente]

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

Comments

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

Well damn, that's really depressing. :)

I'm horrid at titles. Absolutely horrific. I'd number fics if I could. When pushed, I've taken them from appropriate songs (but never the song title, I find that cheesy and it tends to indicate songfics, most of which are crap), from poetry, and I'm a fan of the one-word title a little too often. Ah, thesaurus, how I love thee. Very rarely will a fic gain a title without angst from me.

And I TRY to pick something original, but that's very difficult sometimes. Just like particular phrases in well-known fics, they're easily to steal if you're not thinking about it properly.

As for other people's titles... well, I'm mildly put off by "Untitled" as well - I figure if you can't even make the effort to title your work then the contents probably aren't great. Not always true, I know. I don't like song titles as fic titles, for the reason mentioned above. An intelligent sounding title is more likely to make me read it, as well - appropriate lines from poetry, a bit of Latin here and there.

But on the whole, I don't think it lends as much weight as the summary (something I'm also horrid at). I pick what to read by minor summary details all the time, which probably means that I'm missing out on some great stuff, but when you have limited time...

[anoddplace.livejournal.com]

I'm horrid at titles. Absolutely horrific.

That makes two of us. I don't know why, but I completely lack any ability for thinking up titles. I title all my school essays "Essay Response to Question 4" or whatever whenever I can get away with it. :D Sometimes I find great titles--in poetry, wherever--but then they never go with whatever fics are brewing in my brain, so what's the point? Sigh.

I'm with you on the song title thing. Bah. Never. Lines or phrases, certainly; poetry is excellent, foreign languages are, too. How I wish I had studied Latin instead of German.

One-word titles... can be very, very good, but can also end up being terribly juvenile, or else just corny. Even good ones, like Nym's "Shattered", suffer from confusion-- there are several fics by that name out there, and since I don't read HP/DM or whatever, finding the one specific "Shattered" that I want can be difficult. I don't care for ridiculously long titles, either (overly-long titles made in jest are another thing) as they come across as clumsy-- surely, the subconscious voice in my head whispers, if they have to name it "The When Two Hearts Meet and Bind Together", instead of something simple and short that conveys the same idea, the writing will be equally clumsy and insipid. I find this problem most often in romantically-focused stories, but then, I *read* more romantically-inclined stories, so it may be just as prevalent in humour or war-fic or what have you.

"Untitled" is fine for drabbles, ficlets, and rough drafts intended only for close-friend viewing; however, anyone publically distributing such a fic needs to think again-- I don't care if it's been through six betas, it's not finished yet if you can't even find a name to draw it all together. ((shrugs))

Mostly, though, I don't pay too much attention to titles, beyond any indications of writing quality they may contain (if it's called "When Your Alone", I'm out of here); I select by pairings, kinks/lack of, summaries. Which is why I hate the summary "I'm terrible at summaries just read it!" so very, very much. :D