A Meditation on Titles

[mark_asphodel]

I was going to try to post Part III of this series tonight, but a) I'm strapped for time, b) Tellius is complicated and it's mostly foreign territory to me and c) this post by Raphi reminded me I was really keen on what queenlua  was on about.

'Fic titles are one of those things I get kind of weird over.  

If a title doesn't gel with the story concept, the story doesn't feel real.  Usually the whole concept arrives in one mental package, and if it doesn't, the story stands a lower chance of ever seeing the light of day.  I rarely give working titles to things, because if I don't have a title in mind from the get-go, I feel I don't know what I'm working toward.  Titles like "Sleep of the Just" and "A Dark-Adapted Eye" are the kind I like best; they came together with the 'fic concept in my head, and the 'fic itself was written with the realization of the title as a goal.  Same goes for "Starchild" and "A Knight In Reverse."      

I use song lyrics fairly often; Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Shearwater, Bob Dylan, and Gary Numan have all been plundered, and often the phrase was stuck in my head long before I started typing.  Sometimes the inspiration is more literary and obscure; "Dark Sun of Desire" comes from a phrase in Ciascuno il suo, an Italian novella I adored in college.  "By Any Other Name" is of course taking a swipe at Shakespeare, "between the motion and the act" is derived from Eliot, and "In That Dawn to Be Alive" comes from a relevant piece by Wordsworth.  And of course there's media influence; "Troublesome Insects" came from the fan-translated title of one episode in the Black Rose Saga of Utena, whereas "Grains of Light" came from a line in a semi-coherent Chilean arthouse documentary.  And "These Useless Feelings" and "The Time Remaining" were derived from fan-translated lines in the source material (FE3, FE12).

Sometimes the title is a single-word theme, applicable to the story in a couple of ways-- "Anthology" and "Asylum" come to mind for that category, as do "Forsaken" and "Will."  And "Focus."  And sometimes, as in "Life Is A Bowl of Cherries" and "The Generic Lords' Club," the title just is and the story really could't be called anything else.  Even if the latter did have the working title "Members Only."   

And then there's something like "Teardrop on a Fire," which went through so many drafts and title changes that idontknowwhatthefuckever, man.  Same goes for "Fear," the current title of an fe_fest piece I've been thrashing over for... months.  You know something's getting problematic when I reach for the John Cale albums for inspiration.
 

Comments

[samuraiter]

Or do it my way and just pull a title out of thin air, slap it on the story, and go on.

[amielleon]

I'm with Mark on this one. The title is part of the story. It's the first and lingering impression your reader has of your work. It's like the menu screen of a game or the head of a perfume. I feel the same way about summaries, too, which is like the box design. The presentation is probably the most consistent area in which you can affect what the reader brings into the story.

[queenlua]

I've definitely cribbed random bits from old poems for titles of origfic stuff before, though sometimes I end up just coming up with titles that don't fit that particular story but would make a great title for a story, someday. (I have a whole list of them sitting on my computer.)

[writerawakened]

sometimes I end up just coming up with titles that don't fit that particular story but would make a great title for a story, someday.

Oh boy. Been there. XD

[mark_asphodel]

though sometimes I end up just coming up with titles that don't fit that particular story but would make a great title for a story, someday.

Yeah. I've sat on some "perfect titles" for years. Might be a project in itself-- titles and summaries for non-existent stories. Very Lem.

[writerawakened]

Usually the whole concept arrives in one mental package, and if it doesn't, the story stands a lower chance of ever seeing the light of day.

Agreed, wholeheartedly. My least favorite titles have been the ones I had to think about or insert into an untitled fic after the fact.

[mark_asphodel]

Yeah, something just never feels right under those conditions.