[Discussion] Titles

How do you come up with titles? Is it the first thing that comes to you, or the last thing?

Because I still don't have a title for my fanfiction yet somehow and I'm sixth months into writing it.

I generally just toy around with a couple of ideas until one feels right and sticks. I generally aim to keep them short and memorable.

short and memorable is key for RP titles imo, indeed. For other literary works, I don't mind longer, more complicated titles :)

It totally depends. Some I pulled out from poems (my current FE3H wip I'm working on), some from songs. Others I based off a theme/straight out what it's about. Foul Play is an example of title based off a theme where it's about two dark-type trainers getting to know one another and it's natural to have the title from a dark-type move.

It's funny since my title "Shattered Crests" was made before I really had an idea for the plot. Thankfully, it's proven to be even more relevant to the story now that I have the story figured out, at least compared to the original one.

But for titles in general, I try to think of the core aspects of what the story is and try to wordify it in a simple or relevant manner. Not every title needs to be bombastic, but it should at least highlight some of the things you're going into with the story (even if the highlighting is subtle).

The titles are some of the hardest parts for me. I do a lot of two-word titles.

Entwined, Always
Sowing Seeds
The Party
Seventh Year
Haunted House

But I think that's because I just don't know how to make titles.

I detest titles. I usually wait until I find something good to call my project. Even my webfiction gets put under a temporary project title because I can never decide. I figure I can always rename it at some point.