Socchan's Fic Title Trick
Jun. 28th, 2021 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppet(Cross-posted from Tumblr.)
For anyone who has trouble coming up with titles, here's the trick I use:
Start with an important element from the story. Then, think about things that are related to that element, especially phrases and puns. Keep going until you have something that feels at least a little right.
Examples:
Adrien eats some magic cheese and turns into an actual feline, but still has patrol with Ladybug? How about, uh, The Catification of Adrien Agreste, or Felis Domesticus (implying that Cat Noir is a domestic animal), or wait, what's that meme again? That's it! Love is Stored in the Cat!
A blanket scenario where Marinette needs to cuddle Cat Noir so he doesn't get sick from being too cold? Something with blankets, something with covers, hah, covers, he's trying to keep his identity secret, so he's under cover, but will also be under blankets, as in covers—that's it! Under Cover(s)!
Hmm, this one hinges on using a wishbone to make a wish, except it's a Lucky Charm; Splitsville, maybe? Since they're splitting the wishbone in half, and also splitting their identities (depending on interpretation)? Wait, I should look up whether that's even a thing in Europe, never mind France. Oh hey, looks like it probably is! And it was called something else back in the day? Well, it doesn't have quite the punch of Splitsville, I think, but I love it as an obscure detail too much not to go with it. Merrythought it is! (Note: I'm pretty sure a lot of people skipped out on this fic because I went with the obscure title rather than the one that had more punch, so think hard about how much presentation means to you.)
And so forth.
Dunno how well it works for original fiction, but it might be worth a shot.
For anyone who has trouble coming up with titles, here's the trick I use:
Start with an important element from the story. Then, think about things that are related to that element, especially phrases and puns. Keep going until you have something that feels at least a little right.
Examples:
Adrien eats some magic cheese and turns into an actual feline, but still has patrol with Ladybug? How about, uh, The Catification of Adrien Agreste, or Felis Domesticus (implying that Cat Noir is a domestic animal), or wait, what's that meme again? That's it! Love is Stored in the Cat!
A blanket scenario where Marinette needs to cuddle Cat Noir so he doesn't get sick from being too cold? Something with blankets, something with covers, hah, covers, he's trying to keep his identity secret, so he's under cover, but will also be under blankets, as in covers—that's it! Under Cover(s)!
Hmm, this one hinges on using a wishbone to make a wish, except it's a Lucky Charm; Splitsville, maybe? Since they're splitting the wishbone in half, and also splitting their identities (depending on interpretation)? Wait, I should look up whether that's even a thing in Europe, never mind France. Oh hey, looks like it probably is! And it was called something else back in the day? Well, it doesn't have quite the punch of Splitsville, I think, but I love it as an obscure detail too much not to go with it. Merrythought it is! (Note: I'm pretty sure a lot of people skipped out on this fic because I went with the obscure title rather than the one that had more punch, so think hard about how much presentation means to you.)
And so forth.
Dunno how well it works for original fiction, but it might be worth a shot.
