This article starts long ago, back in the year of our Lord 2018. I wasn’t new to fanfic writing then—I’d been writing and posting fics since 2016—but 2018 was the year I entered the Danganronpa fandom. And since it was a new fandom, I decided that my Halloween fic for that year would be for Danganronpa. It ended up being my fifth Danganronpa fic overall, and the second that wasn’t for a ship week.
Writing the fic itself was fine, and it ended up being 19,772 words, with one of my friends playfully threatening me to end it there or else. It performed about as well on my fanfiction.net account as it did my Archive of Our Own account when I backposted it there a year later; not necessarily one of my most-read works, but was surprisingly up there.
The part that I struggled with the most, as can be said for the majority of my fics, was coming up with a title.
The thing was, back in 2018, sweet little 16-year-old me had the unique opportunity to bug the ever-loving crap out of my then-14-year-old sister, who I trusted more with helping me come up with a title than I did my 12-year-old sister. Julia, if you’re reading this (and I kind of hope you’re not), this one’s for you.
She helped me come up with 23 titles for this Halloween fic, the basic run-down of which was it seeming like various kinds of monsters were taking over the characters’ school, ending with a final two and those two confessing their feelings to each other for fear of imminent death, only to reveal at the end it was an incredibly elaborate prank to get them together. The title I ended up going with was What Brings Us Together, which is not anywhere near anything Julia helped me come up with. But I still look fondly at the titles she did, basically spouting nonsense until I either got bored of asking her or figured out a title myself.
And this, everyone, is where the fun begins, as I rate those titles years later.
(Also—I kept these in the order we had them on the document with the same punctuation and everything, so please excuse that!)
That annoying holiday that isn’t even a holiday in a story about unreal creatures so really this is all a lie – 3/5
Okay, Halloween is definitely a holiday. I think we can all agree on that. I’ve used long titles only twice before—How About We All Just Live Together!? and Pinning My Girlfriends Against the Wall to See How They React (Not Clickbait!!)—so this title is long by my standards, anyway. Still rating it kind of high because it’s funny, though.
The FBI is gonna come soon – 2/5
This didn’t even take place in America, so no chance the FBI would show up. False advertising, but funny. This would make a good title for an NCIS fic, which I’ve never written but know exists.
Bloody murder(and murderer) – 3/5
There was some (fake) blood in this, because I used it as an excuse for something in the fic, I literally just went back to check. There isn’t really a “murderer” either, since the “enemy” is a bunch of the students turning into various monsters. Otherwise, it might’ve been an alright title.
Unreal – 5/5
Feels like this would be the title if this fic were instead a Disney Channel Original Movie. Not bad. Probably the only one I’ll rate that well.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO – 2/5
Google Docs wants me to correct this to have 22 Os instead of 23. I also hate it when titles are in all-caps, so…
Bump in the night – 4/5
This would’ve been a good idea, but this fic takes place during the day. There’s just A Lot happening at once is all.
In the closet – 2/5
Ironic because this is a fic about two girls confessing their feelings for each other, but if I remember what I wrote right, there isn’t even a closet.
Under the bed – 2/5
There aren’t any beds, either.
Lemon water won’t keep this away – 4/5
I think this is referring to the monster repellant all kids used to use—you know, just water and lemon juice (or even just water) in a spray bottle your parents labeled “monster spray” or something similar that you’d spritz around your room to keep monsters out. Pretty creative title, but also long.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH – 3/5
Another case of Docs wanting me to change the number of Hs. Funnier than the one above, but still not something I’d ever use as a fic title.
Kissing monsters – 2/5
Surprisingly, no monsters are kissed. Nor do any of the monsters kiss each other. Missed opportunity, if you ask me.
This is all.a lie – 2/5
Funny, especially given a character’s catchphrase of “It’s a lie!” but he’s just a side character in this and the title gives away the ending.
Survive – 1/5
Way too on-the-nose for me.
Don’t die – 1/5
Knowing me, I said “Really, Julia?” at the last one and she shot this right back at me.
What doesn’t kill you kills you harder – 3/5
Okay, this one still makes me laugh. Although there are “deaths” in this fic, the focus is still on the two main characters, and neither of them die, so I can’t rate this that highly. It never had a chance.
The pretty ones die first(so i’ll be fine) – 4/5
Hilarious, and I think I used a variance of this in the fic as a joke between two side characters. And actually, looking back, one of the main characters would probably say this, corroborated by one of my best friends who is as much of an expert on this character as I am. It captures her inferiority complex and that she’s a hopeless romantic who fears actual affection (shoutout to Alyn for that wording!!).
Better than pixar(but then again, everything is) – 4/5
I think I added the parenthesis section there, and I’m still right. Loses a point because this story and franchise has nothing to do with Disney or Pixar whatsoever. I appreciate the faith Julia had in my writing, though.
CRAP A—- (death) – 3/5
As with many of these titles, while it’s funny, it’s not something I would ever feasibly use. I’m still gonna rate this one kind of high, though, because it does bring a smile to my face.
Don’t need discretion, because this is discreet – 1/5
I have no idea what she was going for here. It’s like putting lima beans in a goddamn salad. (Pardon the inside joke, but I had to take the opportunity.)
Off the book ax murder(just kidding, it’s not that exciting) – 4/5
I’d argue that this is incorrect, since I thought it was quite exciting, even without an ax murderer. Still, this title makes me smile every time I read it.
Pitchforks and torches and angry mobs – 3/5
Again, none of these exist in the fic. Somehow. Unless you want to count some fake werewolves as an angry mob… Actually, now that I think about it, we were solidly still in our Monster High phases enough that we watched the Halloween special every year, so this might’ve been inspired by that. I’m rating it higher because of that, we love a callback.
I didn’t do it(seriously i didn’t do it) – 1/5
Neither of the main characters is really “doing” anything other than trying to survive, so again, this one doesn’t make much sense.
Mwahaha – 2/5
While this did accurately portray how I felt while I was writing, I don’t think it’s fit for a title. It’s like the written-out equivalent of >:3, an emoticon that is very near and dear to me. I’ve been told I make that face in real life when discussing fandom things with friends (second shoutout to Alyn for dealing with me, love you!).
What do you think? Do you have a favorite out of these?
Julia and I did this kind of brainstorming one other time, with a fic that I never ended up actually writing, and there was a lot more back-and-forth between us then. I might write an article about those titles someday!