Same Title, Different Fic

[tinturtle]

(Sally and Murphy, both Agent 6.2)
Know any pairs or groups of Pros fics that share the same title? I thought it might be fun to talk about some of them.

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I know I've noticed a few examples, but the one I can currently remember is a group of three fics all called Comfort and Joy:

- Comfort and Joy, a silly Christmas-themed drabble by The Hag (hagsrus)
- Comfort and Joy by PR Zed (przed), which is part of a series of the same name comprising Christmas fics with various moods
- Comfort and Joy by Meridian, which was among the desert island fics chosen at last year's Bistocon

It seems as though lines from well known songs are likely candidates to be shared titles, perhaps especially lines from Christmas carols, since there are many Christmas fics.

Famous quotations are also likely to become shared titles. I have occasion to notice that frequently since my Beloved Collection contains two fics with almost the same title:

- Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes by Verlaine, a tag for In the Public Interest
- Quis Costodiet by Sarah K (tears_of_nienna), a tag for Private Madness, Public Danger

("Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" means "who will watch the watchmen?".)

Comments

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

I know at least two stories with the title Coming Home. I'll go and search for the links in the evening when I'm back at my computer.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I just did a search on the ProsLib index, and found five with that title — and that's not counting what might be on A03 or not archived on ProsLib yet!

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

There are two titles called "smoke and mirrors" included in the BB, one from 2018 and i notice one has the same title in this years BB but that could change at some point as i presume it is not finalised yet.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Interesting question, and I feel like I've spotted a few of these recently too!

Scars
- by Deveroux Dane (1998)
- by Agt Spooky (2021)

Endgame
- by Tarot (c 1981-85)
- by TheArticulatedTurnip (2021)

Deck the Halls
- by Hestia
- by Lily Fulford

All Hallow's Eve
- by The Hag
- by Liriel

Through a Glass, Darkly
- by ET and Rob
- by The Hag
- by Draycevixen/Corvidology

Fancy That
- by Miriam Heddy
- by Draycevixen/Corvidology

Shadows
- by Grey
- by Ann Flegg
- by Anna Parrish



Hmmn, and none of those are the one I was particularly thinking of, which I remember being taken aback by a fairly distinctive title-copy when I saw it. Although of course I can't remember the title! Maybe it'll come to me... *g* I've spotted one or two in the UK Paper Circuit library too... Work first, then perhaps I'll get a chance to look them up again!

My own faux pas - I wrote "A Christmas Story" before realising that DVS had already written "The Christmas Story". I console myself that they're distinguished by their articles! *g*

Comfort and Joy has always stood out to me too, but that's because I always associate it with The Hag's longer Christmas story, Discovered in a Hatstand, where Doyle's nan sends him a bottle of Comfort and Joy homebrew that turns out to be pretty special. *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

When I have a potential title for a story, I do check around. I don't see any duplicate titles for mine that I could find. Cool! I know it's impossible to know every story out there in the long run.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I know, there's so much Pros fic out there in so many different places, that it's pretty much impossible to check everywhere — though I've been surprised by the titles of what I think of as some fairly well-known stories being duplicated. I suppose it depends how much people read Pros too - I think there's been a fair number of Pros writers who didn't actually read much Pros fic themselves, they were more in it just for their own writing.

Well done for not duplicating titles yourself — you've written alot of stories, too! *g* I had a slight mumble-grumble to myself when I saw that Istia had listed my A Christmas Story without including the article, which actually does distinguish it from the story by DVS. All because computers are too lazy to deal with "a" vs "the" so they need to be missed off in lists!! Mumble-grumble.... (*g*)

Just so happens...

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

https://istia.dreamwidth.org/556554.html

RE: Just so happens...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do wish we all the same Pros community still!

[tinturtle]

I've remembered another set, which I ran across recently even though the stories are not recent:

- Aftermath by Marjoram_Max (marjorammax), a nice episode tag for Fugitive
- Aftermath, a long story by gwyneth rhys that is on my list of things to read

Checking the Circuit Archive, I find that there is also:

- Aftermath, a short fic by Mahlia Belonn

And somewhere there may be a fourth story called Aftermath to match illustrations of Doyle and Bodie that were migrated to AO3 from another archive, seemingly without the text they belong to.

[tinturtle]

And now I've remembered what I think might be the first title duplication I noticed:

- No Greater Love by Joana Dey
- No Greater Love by Mac

Don't mix them up.

[tinturtle]

Incidentally, is there a gen version of Joana Dey's No Greater Love? I feel as if I've read such a thing.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well there's one thing I'm very unlikely to know... *g*

[tinturtle]

In MFU fandom, some authors will write both a slash version and a gen version of the same story.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

When I did my Pros story for Comic Relief (https://the-safehouse.livejournal.com/tag/comic%20relief%202009) (One Summer), I said I'd try to make a gen version for someone who requested it — but I just couldn't. The whole point of the story was the lads getting together, and taking that away would have reduced it sooo much that it didn't make sense. Plus I see them as together so intrinsically (from the eps), that when it came to it I didn't know where to start trying to actually keep them separate. It would have felt absolutely mechanical to me, to try and write it differently. I thought I'd be able to originally, but when it came down to it...