Fanfic Title Poll

[minoanmiss]

Please help me decide!

Poll #25424

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 24

View Respondents

Is it Allowed to repeat a title one has used before for a new story in a different fandom?

View Answers

No
7 (30.4%)

Yes
16 (69.6%)

What if the title was used for a story with one of the Big Four Warnings, and the new story will not have those warnings?

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No, because you used the title already.
6 (25.0%)

No, because you might cause confusion between the, um, spicy story and the new sweet one.
6 (25.0%)

Still yes.
12 (50.0%)

Is it allowed to use a title someone else used in the same fandom?

View Answers

No.
7 (29.2%)

Yes.
17 (70.8%)

Comments

[musesfool]

I have occasionally wanted to use a title I’ve already used because it seems like it fits the new story better but I would feel the need to change the old title which would mean still having to come up with a new title so it might as well go with the new story. I also wouldn’t want to mess up any of my previous links to the story.

I see so far I’m the only one who said yes to using a title someone else has already used in a fandom. Unless the other story is the Story That Ate Fandom, at which point I’d say no (for a variety of reasons), I don’t see why not. I’m not going to know every instance of a particular title having been used and I don’t bother to google it. (Otoh I think titles cribbed from “Hallelujah” should continue to be on a moratorium for at least another five years .)

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, Hallelujah moratorium makes me go "hallelujah!"

[musesfool]

👍🏻

[stranger]

Everything is allowed; it's your story and it's your other story. If each of those stories commands that *this* is its title, then it is, and is. The Muse has spoken.

Recommended, however, if the Muse can deal with it, are subtitles or slight variants, so people can find all of your beautiful, unique creations. Also, to avoid unduly confuse AO3's software. If AO3 has that licked (since they do have instances of the same title from different authors), it would be a kindness to make sure the tags and summary (and maybe a note about the inflexibility of Muses) indicate the kind of story that follows the title on a given page.

[kshandra]

If Aaron Sorkin can use "What Kind of Day Has It Been" as an episode title in FOUR DIFFERENT SERIES, I think you're good.

[jesse_the_k]

Holy shirtballs.

[contrarywise]

Are you allowed to reuse a title, even someone else's title? Yes.

Should you? It depends...

Disambiguation isn't just for Wikipedia pages. And unfortunately, sometimes even a perfect, truly kick-ass title just isn't worth the consequences.

[libitina]

It's confusing and awkward to reuse titles, but expecting everyone to conflict check is unreasonable. And many titles are quotes from very well known poetry or songs, and those are obviously going to have several repeats.

But if you are set on a name, and the only thing holding you back from posting is duplicating someone else's title... it's not so big a thing. Feel free to go ahead.

[alexseanchai]

re reusing one's own titles: of course it's allowed, and of course the applicable rating or warnings for either story doesn't change that, the question is whether it's a good idea. which I think it is generally not, but that's much more a personal-preference sort of opinion, if that makes sense. people who don't have a problem with specifying, every time they mention Trisha Yearwood's "It's Alright", whether they mean the song off her album Everybody Knows or the very different song off her album Jasper County, seem unlikely to have a problem with using the same title in a new fandom.

reusing someone else's title in the same fandom is definitely allowed, and the larger the fandom and/or the more…hm, familiar? the title phrasing/concept/reference, the likelier it gets that people will use the same title without realizing the overlap. see also, the whole reason hall_no came to be. the smaller the fandom gets, the more I think reusing a title should be avoided, but I wouldn't want to require that.

[mific]

The only minor downside is that when you get your kudos listing email, you won't know which story of yours it is without clicking through to check. :)

[sabotabby]

You're not getting paid; everything is permitted. :)

But also some titles are extremely common. I generally do a search to make sure that there aren't a zillion titles for a fic (which has only happened once that I can recall, and there weren't enough) just for searchability reasons, but I don't think it's a big deal to reuse. There are published novels with the same name!

[potofsoup]

I didn't fill out the poll because I feel like it depends on several factors.

- if the title has been used in the same fandom and is very much associated with this other person's fic, maybe not. On the other hand, if it's a common sort of phrasing in the fandom, or if it's not generally associated with this other person's fic, then yes.

- if the title is distinctive and very memorable, then you might not want to have 2 fics with the same name, since it means that people are more prone to searching and clicking without reading the tags. If it's something less immediately memorable, then people are more prone to reading the tags/summary before clicking, and you reduce the likelihood of someone getting spiciness when they don't expect it.

- at the end of the day, though -- title things what you want. Everyone has titling habits and favorite tropes, so it's not surprising that some of those repeat. (One author I follow, I can never remember *any* of their titles, so I just search for summary keywords. And I've gotten kudos notifs where I'm like 'wait, which fic is that?')

[kore]

I get a little squinty at the word "allowed," but I personally wouldn't re-use a story title of my own just because the potential exists for confusion, unless you change the original title, blah blah. Story titles are like character names, it's hard for me to imagine switching one to another.

Using "someone else's" title OTOH is fine -- there's no copyrighting titles, a lot of people on AO3 tend to go for the same kinds of title sources (Hallelujah, of course, but Taylor Swift, Richard Siken, Florence and the Machine, Mumford & Sons, need we go on....), and I forget how many fics on AO3 are called "Aftermath" but it's a lot. OTOH, I personally would not call a Stucky fic of mine, say, "Not Easily Conquered" or even "Five Minute Window," because those are super-famous in the fandom and it would be confusing and also pretty crappy. But, to use my own example, I'm sure there are tons of Star Wars sequel fics titled with variations on "not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love," so sometimes canon quotes are a little different.

-- Also, I hadn't thought how identical titles might affect AO3 searches, but that's a good point.