kerravonsen | Ficish meme (Reply)

Gacked from

Pick five, or ten, or more, of your fic titles. List them in your journal and explain how you came up with each one.

I'm not sure how interested people will be in this, but as I like titles, it should be some fun, though since I'm limiting it to fic (prose) then there's less interesting ones to pick from.

Butterfly Effect (1): A View From the Madhouse is of course two titles: the title of the series and the title of the story. "Butterfly Effect" comes from the well-known aphorism of Chaos theory: that the flapping of a butterfly's wings in South America can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. The point of this series was to introduce one new thing into the B7 universe and then follow the consequences of this event as it flows on into the other events of the B7 universe. "A View From the Madhouse" is because this story is from the point of view of a character who isn't exactly behaving sanely.

"Butterfly Effect (2): Out of the Dark" has a double meaning, because the alien villain of the piece has come out of the dark of death to bother Our Heros, and also in the second half of the story, Avon has to take Cally out of the dark of being trapped inside her own mind. I like double meanings.

Winning Is the Only Safety (1): First Death is another series title + story title. The series title I like very much because it fits both universes, Highlander and Blake's 7. It comes from a quote of Avon's, where he says to Vila that "In the end, winning is the only safety". It fits Highlander, because of their eternal Game, in which "In the end, there can be only one." The messages are the same: winning is the only safety. After that, the story title is very simple: "First Death" refers to the first death of an Immortal, in which his immortality becomes activated.

"Winning Is The Only Safety (2): Hide and Seek" is a fairly ordinary title, but I couldn't think of anything particularly interesting. It refers to the fact that in this story, various people are looking for various other people, and trying not to be found in turn.

One Moment comes from a quote from VR.5: "But you, more than anyone, should know how one moment can change your life. How it can haunt you forever." And the story is about one of those moments for Oliver.

Falling was the most consciously thematic fic I've written, and the theme was "falling"; not that anyone was actually physically falling, but the theme woven through it was really that Lisa, as a Tomorrow Person who rejected her talents, was like a crippled bird, falling not flying, but also that for her, the risk of bad consequences from her talents being discovered was like jumping off a cliff: falling, not flying. The sequel to this was meant to be called "Learning to Fly" but the plot may end up being so mutated I can't use that, though I would like to.

Paths Crossed is just a twist on the phrase "their paths crossed" (or possibly "wires crossed") because it's about two people whose paths cross and influence their further actions. Somebody wanted me to write a sequel to this, but as it was a one-off TS Lyric Wheel story I'd never had a sequel in mind.

True Dreams (1): Dreamshatter is of course, about dreams. This is a take on the "it was all a dream" cliche, in this case, making the 4th season of The Sentinel into a dream, and "Dreamshatter" refers to what happens when the dreamer wakes from the dream and finds that it isn't real. Why, then, you ask, did I call the series "True Dreams"? Well, there's false dreams and true dreams, aren't there? And there's dreams and dreams.

True Dreams: Resolutions is about the resolutions that Jim makes after the shock he's gone through shakes him up and makes him reassess his priorities.

Something in the Air is of course from the cliche. I just felt it was fitting for a drabble where Jim is focusing on scents and the indefinable sense of home.

Vibes is from the phrase "bad vibes" which is something so very Naomi to say, and thus fitting about a sort of obSenFic where I translated the bad vibes that were going on on a particular mailing list into a conversation between a concerned Naomi and Blair.

Verity of course means truth, but of course it has the same root as "verify", as in, checking that something is true, real or actual. And for a story like this, where even reality can't be depended upon, then Verity is what they desperately need. I just liked all the resonances.

Frayed is meant to refer to Xander feeling frazzled and useless, while at the same time connecting with the use of "pillow" in the story. (Edit: Oh, and I forgot, it's also supposed to be referring to "fray" as in "get into the fray") I'm not sure that it works.