Meme: Tell Me About Your Titles

[aragarna]

Ganked from elrhiarhodan. Just when I was working on a White Collar meme. I guess that one will have to wait a little. ;)



Came part and parcel with the idea for the story: I think the two best exemples are I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky and Miles to Go Before I Sleep.
In the first case, that was the title of a play shown in Paris and I was passing in front of its poster in the subway every day for several months. Not idea what the play was about, but as I was reading the inscription every day, I kept thinking it would make a very evocative fic title. Thus, every morning, I started thinking of what kind of story would fit that title. A new story was born.
The second one, I also thought it'd make a great fic title. I heard the excerpt of Frost's poem (full disclosure, it was in an episode of Elementary) and "promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep" somehow made me think of Peter and Neal's relationship. Then Neal got kidnapped, and as I felt the need to write a story of the rescue, I thought it'd be a great title, and I kinda wrote the story with the original idea of those 2 lines being Peter's mindset until he'd found Neal.


Panic stations! The fic is ready to post/I have to post this tomorrow and I don't have a title: LOL yep that does happen quite a lot with the Fatherhood Chronicles. A Hard Day's Night was labelled "untitledchronicle" until I had to post...

I have to call it something and it might as well be that: Double Axel. Even though it's an episode tag to Ice Breaker, I'm not sure the skate reference was necessary, but I was out of ideas. And hey, the episode itself is called Ice Breaker, after all...

LordKingBadTitle: Hmm I don't know. Are some of my titles sounding that terrible? I know that it happened more than once that a French title sounded awesome and perfect but then I wasn't sure of the translation. And even though the title isn't bad in itself Like I've Never Seen the Sky Before doesn't totally fit the story, because that's an adorably cheesy title that totally leaves out the Siegel angst. But sometimes you gotta make a title...

Loaners (suggested by my beta reader/my mum/some guy I accosted on the street/the cat): Being There was suggested by the awesome kanarek13 who happened to be the beta AND the prompter.

Title that makes me glee like an idiot: Hmmm I don't know. I'm not the kind to beat myself up about things, nor feel particularly full of my own genius so... So I like my stuff, but not to the point to glee like an idiot? I do like Alternate Reality, because it's fitting the story on a double level (it's the genre and Peter's dream).
Also, even though I'm not sure they sound as good in English as they would with the original French, I really like The Beat that My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté) and One Being Missing and the World Feels Empty (Un seul être vous manque et le monde est dépeuplé). Right, okay, definitely sounds better in French, but those were just the perfect titles.

Punny: Hee I do have one! Captured. Not a kidnapping story. Just Neal secretly taking a pic of Peter and El. ;)

One worders that don't suck: Wow apparently I don't make many of those. Three in total. I guess Reassigned is the best one. Clear cut, painfully explicit.

Best attempt to break AO3's character limit: I don't make very long titles either. I Was Looking at the Ceiling and I saw the Sky seems to be my longer title.

Working title alternatives and 'You can't call it that's: Hmmm "Chronicles2" and "Untitled_fic" or currently in the pipes "Crack3.0"....

What does it meeeaaan?: Heee Sarubobo. As Mozzie explains, it's a Japanese amulet for pregnant women.

Literary Allusions/Song titles:
The literature reference I'm particularly proud of (besides Miles to Go mentioned above): The Color of the Wheat Field. (It's a reference to The Little Prince, in case you didn't read the fic)

For the songs, it's generally that the song's atmosphere fits the story. Among my favorites:
Why Does my Heart
As Tears Go By
It's Hard to Explain/Something You don't Want to Hear.
They're generally moody and heartbreaking songs...

But the one thing that often inspires my titles is the show itself. Recognize the original references?
Gotham City's Finest Cop and Robber
Happy Endings
If Anything Were to Happen to You
Where the Pieces Fall
The First Fifteen Minutes
Always Here for You

Comments

[sheenianni.livejournal.com]

Nice :D Love the Captured punny :)

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

:D

[leesa_perrie]

Oh yeah, I've had (and got) a few fics with temporary titles and soooo know the 'oh noes, what do I call it' panic too!! :D

Captured is a good pun, unlike one of my The Sentinel fics called The Agony of De Feet. Um. Yeah. Painful, for the owner of 'de feet' and my poor, poor readers too!! :D

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

ahaha yeah, for some reasons, sometimes the title is easy/obvious and sometimes you got a fic idea and there's *nothing* that fits.
It's really often the case with the Fatherhood Chronicles, cause I'm like "oh let's write a scene where Peter and Little Neal go shopping" and then I write it, and then I'm "Okay, it's good to go. Wait - need a name!"

[treonb.livejournal.com]

It's really cool that you title in French.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

:-) It's just as a French, I have natural French references that come to my mind. But it always annoys me that most of the time the translation doesn't work as well because we say things differently.