fic titles meme

[fiachairecht]

As seen everywhere; skipping fics that are either unrevealed or still anon because of exchanges; skipping a handful of fanmixes because [vague handwave] I feel weird about fanmixes on AO3.

Look at the most recent 20 fanwork titles on your AO3 account.

1. How many are you happy with?
2. How many are... not great?
3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?
4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?
5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?
6. How many are other quotes?
7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?
8. Which best reflects the theme of the story/fanwork?
9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork?
10. Which is your favourite?

Read the tags if you click through, most of these have some combination of sex, gore, and unhealthy relationships.

1. i'd rather stay, i'd rather let us drown, killing eve, eve/villanelle
2. one hundred candles burning, chilling adventures of sabrina, lilith/zelda
3. you know you need me, critical role, keyleth/raishan
4. severed crossed fingers, killing eve, carolyn/elena
5. lovers of the evidence, killing eve, carolyn/elena
6. blood red sandman, elder scrolls online, naryu & veya
7. a piece of me in your eyes, overwatch, ana/amelie
8. city glacier, law & order, claire/jack
9. but fuck all your plans i'm bored, succession, rava/shiv
10. raw sugar, law & order: special victims unit, alex/abbie
11. give me that thing that i love (i'll turn the lights out), devil wears prada, andy/miranda
12. don't be scared, killing eve, anna/villanelle
13. she's so close to your heart, critical role, cassandra/delilah
14. just before a light, the closer, brenda/sharon
15. the shining of you, the raven cycle, blue &/ persephone
16. the heights of my creation, nikita, amanda/nikita
17. with a strange ambition for oblivion, dare me, beth/colette
18. say hello, melancholia, star wars: knights of the old republic f!exile/kreia
19. ice gray skin (between me and you), dare me, beth/colette
20. sorrow sinking with a smile, critical role, vex & velora

1. How many are you happy with?
Most of them, tbh. I wail about titles because they need to Feel Right but that usually means I like what I settle on.

2. How many are... not great?
I don't Love love you know you need me or raw sugar — unsurprisingly, those are the two drabbles, which I find notoriously difficult to title. They're both from songs I strongly associate with the pairing, IAMX's 'Stalker' for Keyleth/Raishan, and Metric's 'Raw Sugar' for Alex/Abbie, but whether they're perfect for the fics ... hm. I had other titles I liked equally well for one hundred candles burning and I do think I could have carried the candle imagery through the fic better, so maybe one of those could've worked better.

3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?
I had trustful hands as a working title for city glacier for a very long time, changed it to ... oh, gods, something else, maybe from a Loreen song for a while? I was never happy with either of them, but Katatonia released City Burials right around the time waybackexchange fics were due, and since Katatonia is always reliable for L&O fic titles/moods, I spent the requisite few days dead on the floor about the album and settled on city glacier pretty close to reveals. I think raw sugar was also a very last-minute thing, but everything about that fic was last-minute, in true WDLF3 fashion.

4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?
[Waves hands vaguely] I'd known that she's so close to your heart and just before a light would make good titles for fics for their respective ships for ages - in the latter case, uh, 'BTSK' has been on my Brenda/Sharon playlist since it came out, I have always been like this, so you could say I've had that title just Waiting for a fic for seven years and hey I did not want to think about how long ago 2013 was this meme is rude.

5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?
19/20 — the only non-song title is ice grey skin (between me and you). That one was for writingrainbow's Robot round, and I needed to use an AI-generated colour (ice grey, in this case).

6. How many are other quotes?
None, here. I've definitely used poetry quotes before, but my writing is in general too tied to playlists for many non-song quote titles.

7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?
Almost certainly but fuck all your plans i'm bored, which is a fairly straightforward 'Shiv is bored, therefore fucks (up) both Rava and Rava's plans for the day' story. For a close second, a piece of me in your eyes, where Amelie is blinded in an explosion and both she and Ana spend a good deal of time Dwelling(tm) on Amelie shooting Ana in the eye.

8. Which best reflects the theme of the story/fanwork?
Hungry self-destructive Beth Cassidy and her quest for not-being is absolutely the centre of with a strange ambition for oblivion, and a strange ambition for oblivion is 100% the centre of Beth Cassidy in show or book canon, so.

9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/POV of the fanwork?
Probably sorrow sinking with a smile — Vex dies in her sister's arms feeling like they've somewhat reconciled even though Velora's, yknow, destroying the world. It is, perhaps, almost Too obvious.

10. Which is your favourite?
Ohh picking favourites is hard. Shit. I like blood red sandman a lot, just because it makes me think about Veya hurtling through Oblivion yell-singing along to Lordi, which is a great image. I love severed crossed fingers for similar reasons, it is a good literal and metaphorical image for the ideas I was trying to play with. And with a strange ambition for oblivion is probably the most personally #relatable of all of them, so, that's up there too.