Another meme

Story title meme, gacked from lizbee

At last count I've written around 70 stories, so I'm not going to go through them all (hey, I heard that sigh of relief!) But I still have a number of titles I'm particularly pleased with, or have special meaning for me.


Where The Stars Are Scattered Thinly, And The Cold Of Space Seeps in An unwieldly, self-important title, but this was my first fanfic so that's appropriate *g*. But seriously, this is a quote from Isaac Asimov's "Foundation And Empire" which I always loved and I am still happy I used it. There's a certain haunting loneliness that fits what I was attempting in this story.

Where The Ocean Meets The Sky The setting of this story is at the beach, where the horizon really does look like an actual place where the sky and water meet. But of course, they don't--and never will. Very appropriate for the theme of this J/C story.

Memories Of Cookies This title of a Neelix story came from an email exchange with m.c. moose. I mentioned in passing that all the baking I'd done just the day before had been devoured by the resident ravenous hordes (i.e. my children) and all that was left to show for my efforts were 'the memories of cookies.' She responded, "that sounds like the name of a story," so I said I would do it, just because. It was pretty obvious that Neelix would figure prominently in something with that title though it actually took me more than a year to make good on my threat, er, promise.

Harry Kim And The Goblet Of Coffee Everything about this story, including the title, just fell into place so neatly and completely I didn't so much write it as I did transcribe the rapid dictation of my muse. I really like this title, although because of it I have slipped up and referred to the actual 4th Harry Potter book as 'Goblet of Coffee', earning me strange looks from my kids. Fortunately, they know my fondness for coffee and so just chalked it up to their mother having an odd moment.

Stranger Than Fiction One of those 'truth is stranger than fiction' stories, taking the well-used premise of having the actors show up on the actual starship and having to cope with their characters' problems. This was before I'd heard of RPF stories; I wouldn't write something like this today. But the title still works.

Keep The Home Fires Burning My 'Mark after Voyager' story, so I thought this line from the WWI song was particularly appropriate. This is still my favorite story, and title, of anything I've written because the emotional resonance is so strong.

Before The Ice Age Another of those titles that just works on so many levels. This was a throwaway line in an email conversation with one of my earliest on-line friends ('so what were you doing before the last ice age i.e. got into fanfic') and if you know what happened to Justin Tighe in "Mosaic"--and Janeway as a result--it works out beautifully.

Glory Days It was not my intention to write a songfic (or an entire series of stories whose titles were all taken from songs) but I *was* consciously echoing many of the sentiments of the song in this story, with Tom and Harry looking back to their 'glory days' on Voyager. (Obviously the person who plagiarized this story on ff.net thought so too as she didn't even bother to change the title).

Blue Skies My answer to what I was afraid "Natural Law" was going to be about (a remake of "Resolutions" with Seven in the Janeway role), I used this phrase repeatedly throughout the story, and it was particularly evocative (for me at least) each time. I especially liked, 'the broad blue skies of an alien world'; reminds me of several things in RL I was experiencing at the time.

Homeward Bound My 'Voyager gets home' series, so the title is very appropriate. I 'heard' the Simon & Garfunkel song (which I did later filk) the whole time I was writing. And within the series, the two titles I like the most are Semper Fi for the Maquis trial installment--from the Marines' motto which means 'always faithful' because that basically sums up Chakotay's motivations throughout the story. Janeway's court martial is entitled The Best Years Of My Life , from her speech in her own defense at the conclusion of her trial, "I gave this organization the best years of my life." (A close second in my favorites among my fic).

Payment Due series Every title in this series has a double (humorous) meaning, and together they form a sort of 'buyer beware/seller disclaimer' theme. My favorites among them are No Deposit No Return and Void Where Prohibited . In each case, the phrase can be taken quite literally.

Almost all of my drabbles contain puns as their punchlines; the story titles are part and parcel with the rest, such as A Moving Experience.

Among the VVS7.5 stories (not talking about collaborations because the titles are not always my suggestion), one of my favorite titles was Ragnarok , which details the final climactic battles of our Borg arc. 'Ragnarok' refers to the final battle between good and evil in Norse mythology which makes it very appropriate. It wasn't until after the story was posted, however, that I remembered (prompted by a query from a reader) that the exact title was used in a pro VOY novel. And it was one of the novels I'd actually read (due to the quirks of our local public library, I've read a lot more TOS and TNG novels than any of the other series). In my own defense I will say that the book was so incredibly awful (with some of the absolute worst characterizations I've *ever* read in pro or fanfic) that I blocked it out and so didn't remember in time. Although if I had, I would have (regretfully) opted for another title for my Borg Battle story.

Another VVS7.5 title of mine that I like is Sinners And Saints . It comes from an admiral's caustic observation about Janeway's actions at one point in the story, and was prompted originally by an ongoing 'discussion' I have had with a particular reader who feels I am a little too forgiving of Janeway (he went so far as to tell me I practically canonized her as a saint in my "Homeward Bound" series).

And then there are the other titles I wish I hadn't used, like Aftermath . Even though it's appropriate for its subject matter (Janeway after the events of Tau Ceti Prime), there are approximately ten gazillion stories out there with that title.

Other titles I've used that are also well-traveled include Ties That Bind (though I liked the cleverness of the play on 'ties' for the J/Tu relationship as well as Janeway's tourniquet) and One True Thing , my Kes story (and one of my earliest examples of 'rebuttal fic.')


Titles are very important to me. When I'm writing a story, I need to have at least a working title for it before I can even begin; the title rarely changes in mid progress, because by then it's become so entwined with the themes and goals of the fic that I can't separate the two of them very well. If I do rename, it's usually because the thrust of the story has been altered from its original purpose, and I need to express that.

All the stories mentioned here can be found at my site.