How do you choose a thread title?

Titles can be difficult for me. I hate making them flat such as 'walking in the park' because my character is walking in a park. Like a good book, movie, or poem I want it to be something that engages.

So I'm asking; how do you choose a title?

 

I prefer to keep them a little bit flat & descriptive, myself. Though I do tend to lean a bit towards hyperbole. Just not too much. I hate threads when I can't tell anything about the thread without say... Knowing an entire song or poem.

 

Throw my music playlist of shuffle and hope something comes up that fits the thread :P

Or google quotes that have something to do with what I've written.

 

Most of the time, the thread title comes to me either in a creative way of describing what the thread/post is about, a related song lyrics, or some other poetic form that can rhyme or not. For example, say I'm roleplaying about a new birth to the family. I'd use something like "Fragile 'N Precious Things (Needs Special Handling)" or "Family Ties & Destinies Collide". (I've actually used those two titles in my roleplay.)

 

Very cool, guys!

I reach for as many things as I can. Usually the plot helps me decide on a title. For instance, I have a character who was purchased at a bachelor auction, but he was only given the name 'hensley'. He assumes it's a man that purchased him and is freaking out internally about how to act. He's a good person, and the last thing he wants to do is offend anyone. Then it turns out to be his crush. Her last name is Hensley. This twist reminded me of the movie 'Victor Victoria' Where Julie Andrews plays a woman who pretends to be a man who portrays a woman on stage.

I also have alot of music that inspires characters. When a scene happens that relates to the music I usually use it as a song title.

And when all else fails I put cool words together. Sometimes they just fit.

 

Agreed. I prefer to get the topic of the thread across rather than an eye-catching quote or funky text.

 

Usually it's either a reference to a song, a book, a quote... or something more mundane, but still related to the topic. Some of my recent ones?

"Let justice forge its path! " - a court martial

"The last jig" - the mutineers' execution (the last jig is the hempen jig, the one where the provost pays the fiddlers)

"Dancing swords and missed words" - several people meeting far away from their homeland, from a dance. (So the swords are part of the dance for which they meet, and the missed words were their mother tongue).

"Can this be called courting?" (indeed, had ever anyone else thought about courting a prostitute, instead of buying her favours?)

"Truth lies in a drunken man's mouth" - I tried to translate a proverb with this; and it's about a concerned friend taking home a drunken one before a scandal might ensue...

On a site I had a sort of a series too - all three threads having in common songs and guitars:

"Serenade for a dead pirate"
"Serenade for a redhaired beauty"
"Serenade for a cheated husband... or two"

 

That's awesome, Elena! I may start playing with proverbs. I like poetry and famous sayings.

If all else fails I suppose I could start posting fortune cookies. Somehow I doubt the people roleplaying with me would take me seriously after that.

Great fortune is in your future, the sun is your lucky star.

Kat! This is a thread about my character's dog getting hit by a car. What are you thinking?!

Okay... maybe I'd use a little more sense than that.

 

All the titles, be them from music, proverbs or whatever, are related to the contents.

 

I should hope so lol. I was mostly just making a joke. I think it's a fabulous idea. Using things that directly connect to the theme of your site is absolutely perfect! If I did it that way i'd probably use titles from agatha christie novels.

 

I try to pick titles that I could image the character saying. Like, if it were the episode title in the forum's series, and the character narrated the opening, including the thread title. It has to match them. XD

Teenage hipster type starting a journal for therapy. "One of Those Therapeutic Diary Things"
Jersey-type bartender who is confronted by a demon about the origins of her newfound immortality. "So A Demon Walks Into a Bar..."

 

always song lyrics, unless we come up with something amazing beforehand - one of my threads was once called [weesnaw] because we'd been talking about spongebob. if it's not a serious thread, i will undoubtedly try to slip an innuendo into the title - "those trousers make me wanna..." for a thread that was solely focused on uniform for no reason other than 'because it's funny'. or with one of my friends, we often use our typos to make 'ype' and 'it's nevomos apparently' (that's what happens when spelling 'venomous' is impossible)

 

I just look at random song names and think of something :)

 

Mine is almost always lyrics, honestly! Like, a song I think fits the situation somehow :)

 

Honestly, I typically use country song titles or lyrics...

 

I'm going to have to jump onto the "find a snippet from a song" bandwagon. I just love choosing titles, but so long as I have just a little bit of music to inspire me. If its a particularly descriptive song, just a word from it can spark my muse to play around with titles.

I usually like titles that relate to the role play in one way or another. Something thats unique and interesting that draws you in and makes you want to delve in and have a look at the content! I'm not usually one to go for bland or simple titles, but hey. The content is far more important than the title is.

 

I try to think of something ironic, witty, or maybe even a song title.

 

I normally try to think of something that's mildly poetic and sums up the whole circumstance of the story.

 

I am a pun addict, so if I can find something within the initial post that I can pun off of I will definitely seize the day on that for my title.