#i’m sending u all virtual flowers 🌸 🌷🌻🌼🌹

[foolishlovers]

i think you deleted the post where u were asking about how to title fics but i was 3/4th the way through before i realized so im sending an ask. idk if you still want this, but i gotta dump this SOMEWHERE, so now you're stuck with multiple examples of how to title a fic from my own personal experiences. this gives me an excuse to ramble about them a bit. im sorry

okay but really here's the tldr before i start; i only go for lyrics when i really like the song/line and it fits with a central idea, but ultimately? i bullshit it--but with intricate methods. let us begin...

example 1) rolling with a theme

let me start with one of my favorite fics im writing to get me going. the title: do you remember hanging up the stars. this process was honestly very tedious, but im gonna try and put it in a simple format.

so rolling with a theme. this fic is a canon divergence au, where hell is slightly more competent and kicks crowley out of his flat and replaces him with shax like a month after the appcalypse. so pretty quickly! therefore, this throws crowley very off-kilter, thus resulting in aziraphale picking up the very obvious hints and deciding to Make crowley move in with him instead of Talking about it. its a longfic, and i knew from the start that i wanted this title to be grand And related. so, i made a list of the themes that would be explored.

- crowley and his relationship with the stars

- trust in multiple facets (humans and their competence, their trust in each other now that theyre unemployed and recovering, etc)

- non-verbal communication, despite its flaws, can be one of the best ways to show love

- romance manifesting in different forms but are all valid

so i have that list, and i pick the one that's the most important--for this, i chose the stars. then i diffused THAT--what about the stars makes it interesting? what makes crowley long for them so much? i chose distance--crowley, in the show, has a very dettached attitude towards his angelic self. he doesnt hold that self to any higher importance, because why should he? and yeah, he's valid in this, but he also ends up putting off his stars to that angel, not him. he thinks that because he took such pride, such responsibility for them Before, he shouldn't care now, that he should deny this part of hid past and make himself more miserable because of it. but he does want to take pride, he loved AND loves them so fucking much, and he's just hurting himself more the process. i want him to realize that his mark on the world shouldn't be a burden, shouldnt just be a silly little assignment from before the fall. that heaven wants him to forget, that hell wants him to be disgusted by it, that he's doing what they want. that, if fact, it would piss everyone off if he actually owned up to it. i want aziraphale to help him realize it. i want aziraphale to encourage him. so that's where the title comes in: "he looked at you like you were hanging the stars", but Tweaked. taking a kind of common line and twisting it so it fits This. so. wow i went on tangent. im sorry. the rest will be a lot shorter and actualy helpful 😭 the point is that you could treat the title as a summary but even SHORTER. goes with what sounds right, and also don’t think about it too much. OKAY MOVING ON

example 2) rolling with a theme (song lyric edition)

okay next example. title: hold me like you’re scared to. it’s a lyric from the song ‘use me like you do’ by noah floersch. it’s a titanic ‘au’ (don’t judge me please 🥹) about aziraphale and crowley on the boat and getting through millennium of fear of being together while also on a detective noir like adventure. themes are easier to see here: the fear of being caught. afraid of showing your love. and I’d already happened to have a song I really liked, but I could really just listen to any song at any one point and be very inspired. you can also study lyrics from places you really like, if you REALLY want it to be a lyric :)

example 3) resonating with a Word

is there a word that’s repeated a lot in the fic? a word that has Meaning? a single concept summarized in a word that’s important here? that’s a title. you have a good title. example title: please. it’s very centered on begging, and the mc has like heavyyyyy memory problems and is trying to grasp the little wisps they have that are slowly slipping away. like stated before, you don’t have to think about it too hard. wanna make the summary the definition of that word? double whammy!

example 4) canon line/something from the fic

this is for very specific things but let’s say you’ve got like. A really good catchphrase in the fic you came up with. or the fic centers around a diverged canon scene. just pluck it and use it! example title: burn fast, burn bright. one of the reoccurring phrases is the metaphor ‘the candle that burns twice and bright burns half as long’. I just condensed it for the title. :)

and here's a couple tips on what Not to do:

- don’t make it too long. 1 because it’s harder to search, 2 because it’s harder to remember, and 3 bc it would honestly be a handful. it’s a preference, but considerable.

- make sure it relates to the fic in Some way, in literally any capacity. in the same ballpark, don’t

- make sure you like it. you’re going to be refering to the fic with that name for the rest of time.

so yes. I hope this is like. a starting point, at least. if you made this far, you endured the fic rambling (I presume) and for that I thank you. good luck with all your wips, and wish you ultimate good fortune, as well as luck on your tumblr secret santa au. :33

i don’t even know what to say!! thank you, thank you, thank you!! it is so so very kind of you to write all of this, to explain all of this to me, i’m so grateful for all your thoughts and ideas and i’ll keep all of this in mind when i’ll (hopefully??) pick the title for me tumblr secret santa au today!!