May Writing Meme: Day 6

[luckychan]

Will be going to the Metro Comic Con tomorrow! Hope I can find more stuff to read (as if I didn't already have a large enough pile of books still waiting to be read), and maybe meet (fangirl?) over some authors I know.

6. How do you come up with names and story titles?

For names, I get them from either the people I know or random names I encounter in the news, in old yearbooks, and sometimes in folk tales. For example, the main character of "Alternate Futures", that old old story of mine, was actually named after an online friend (Allisana), because her name was really unusual and I found that it could be broken down to different nicknames, which was essential to the story. (It was about a girl meeting her other selves from parallel dimensions.) I choose names according to the image those names conjure for me, say, I'd call a soft-spoken diwata Mayumi, and the like.

As for story titles...I actually really suck at making them. :l I usually end up writing the entire story first then struggling with the title, and usually they end up being really dull, like "Sky Blue" or "Remembrance". This is something I really have to work on, so if you have any tips, I'd be really happy to hear them. :)

Comments

[jjhunter]

Popping over from the Latest Page--I've seen some beautiful titles gakked from favorite poems or song lyrics; tweaks or puns on aphorisms are also pretty common.

It's been fun reading the writing meme answers today--so many different ways people go about finding names/titles! I think of names as synecdoche for identity, so I tend to get a wee bit obsessive over finding just the right one for a particular story or poem, but mostly it's just a matter of practice. Pay attention to titles you like, and try to figure out the logic behind them--that's where I started.

Thanks for sharing!

[luckychan]

Thank you so much for the tips! I'll do that. :) I too tend to get obsessive over finding the right name for a character, sometimes so that I can't start writing a story if I can't find the right name, even if the plot is already pretty much finished in my head.

By the way, may I add you? :) I read your profile on the writer friending meme, and I liked the poetry you posted on your journal. I'm not very good at writing poetry, but I'd really like to learn more about it. ^_^

[jjhunter]

Sure! I've never written much about my actual poetry writing process, so I'm not sure I can be much help there, but I'm glad you've enjoyed what you've read so far and I look forward to getting to know you. :o)