Fanfic Trope of the Day: Titles

[seriousfic]

There are three types of titles, all used by different sections of fandom.

BNFs use either Latin sayings that no one understands ("Ipso Facto Homo Sapiens-tay, a Harry/Draco story") or pretentious phrases that sound like they came from Robert Frost's junk drawer ("The weathered giant rests mightily atop the flaming hilltop, a four thousand word buttsecks epic!"). This is especially egregious in certain fandoms

*Or "This movie is about pirates defying supernatural curses, the nature of freedom (as confusingly represented by the metaphor of thieves, murderers, and rapists), and a technopunk megacorporation that is for some reason in Regency England." "Where does it take place?" "The Caribbean." "Pirates of the Caribbean!" "But wait, it's also about a ship called the Black Pearl, which is cursed..."


: "Gee, what should we call a series of war movies set in space, among the stars? Hey, how about Star Wars!" "Now let's write some fic about Obi-Wan and Anakin humping. Errr... 'All The Stars Gaze Down In The Splendor of Crimson Passion'!"

Comedians use puns, because they want potential readers to know that their humor-level is stuck at a sixth-grade level (see: crackfic).

The rest of us just use lame titles that may vaguely point in the direction of what the story's about, but are mostly just lame. I'm sorry, it's true. We suck. Well, I'm pretty awesome.

Corollary: Anytime you do come up with a good title that describes your story, isn't too pretentious, offers another layer of meaning to the plot, and perhaps cures AIDS, the story itself will be something you're not at all proud of. D'oh!

Comments

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

I think my titles are a mix of things, some pretentious, some vague, some cracky... Only every once in a while do I hit on an awesome title.

Oh, and sixth-grade humor rocks! ;D

[rocaw.livejournal.com]

This is true.

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

I suck at titles. I always wait until the thing is written before I even attempt a title and 99.9% of the time it's lame. The only ones I'm at all proud of are plays on words like that most of the stories in one series deal with the concept of time.

But, mostly lame. I think that's a universal problem.

[museofspeed.livejournal.com]

Mine often have nothing to do with the story at all. Or are very, very vaguely related. See: Alfred Never Looks Under the Bed or A Dissertation on the Propterties of Soap.

Or they're stupid and obvious. I hate titles. Usually I beg my beta to come up for one for me, and we go back and forth until something seems to work.

[glemsydoodles.livejournal.com]

I like to punch the people who use incorrect Latin in the face, but unfortunately the internets are not conducive to this. So I carefully engrave a curse using hendecasyllabic meter into a slab of lead, which I then drop into a well...someday, someday the fanfic gods will hear me.

Also, let it be noted that your conclusion is not always true in reverse.