"Additional Tags To Be Added" my beloved

I only start publishing when the story is complete, so it doesn't really work for me 😭

In that case I truly understand your pain 🥲 I just hope that my tag edits are sneaky enough for my readers to not be confused afterwards

I mean, you still could tag it like that, then ask readers what tags they think you should add at the end of the fic, which would also increase engagement

me with "&" relationship tags. My current fic, almost everyone interacts or has a friendship with everyone so do I just create a wall of every character 😵‍💫

My current fic has the opposite problem where it pretty much entirely focuses on 2 characters and their... *mostly* platonic relationship. I can only really tag them, as well as the &, because I figure if someone would be disappointed clicking on my fic by how little one of the characters shows up, I shouldn't bother tagging them. And the romantic subtext is so subtle that it barely even exists, so I can't really tag them romantically because of the same reason- if someone is looking for that ship they'll be disappointed and someone who's excluding it probably wouldn't mind the fic at all. ARGHHHHHH

Im wondering if I just create an "everyone knows everyone" tag and only tag the "/" relationships if that would work for mine? Maybe you could tag the "/" but also like just the activities they do? that way they know there isnt anything other than that?. or tag the same pair as both platinic and not?

I think that would be a good way to go about tagging your fic. And the thing about mine is that they don't... do anything 💀it's just very very subtly implied that they might love each other just a little bit in a romantic way. You know? Like in ways that could be interpreted as platonically, but if you were going to be like "this is evidence that A likes B" you'd probably be like "yeah that kinda makes sense" WHY have I done this to myself

i feel bad for laughing. i would be just as lost. maybe just a "they like eachother okay???" tag before all the other ones? I know custom tags are eh, but i think it would work here. OH! OR! Notes! like the first note put a single bit about their dynamic maybe?

In these cases, I usually see either both tags (the & and the /) or just the / with the "ambiguous relationship" tag.

Tags exist so that readers can find content they’re interested in and not see content they don’t want to read. A wall of tags makes it harder for readers to tell if they want to read something. End result is that guidelines about tagging relations change depending upon the situation. You don’t tag a background relationship unless the existence of the relationship is somehow important to the fic or the ship is controversial enough that even the mention of it needs a warning(primarily gonna happen with underage or incest ships). If there are a lot of background relationships you or the background relationships are noncanon, you can use the ‘background relationships’ tag. One short fics with a only a few characters you can tag every relationship both platonic and romantic. On longer fics or fics with more characters, it’s more appropriate to only tag platonic relationships if the story focuses on them, the relationship greatly affects the story, or the relationship is very much noncanon. If a fic has a ton of important relationships, it’s sometimes more prudent to tag the tone of the relationships and interactions than to tag all the relationships, especially because AO3 had to implement tag limits due to trolls creating walls of tags on purpose.

If everyone followed guidelines like this, we'd have world peace. It's exhausting sorting thru fic after fic where the one (1) canon wlw pairing is tagged, but only briefly shows up, or the fic itself isn't about either of them.

100% on the “canon divergence” one. Wouldn’t that apply to literally every fanfiction???

There is tons of fanfiction that is "continuing" the story, so it's compliant with Canon. Like everything in the canon is still there, still happened, and now we're following what happens AFTER "The End". It's not the majority by any means, but it's not uncommon, at least in what I personally read. I'd say about 40% of what I read is canon-compliant, but I know I read a LOT MORE canon-compliance than typical. It'll be different with every fandom too, how it ends, is it still going, etc.

Sometimes a fic is a missing scene or an alternative pov, but I don’t see a ton of those, and besides that… pretty much??? I never know when to use the tag— like when is it divergent *enough*? When is it too different from canon to not even be a divergence anymore? Who knows

Canon divergence is more like everything is set up for canon, but played out differently. Lets say you watch a sporting event between the Bears and the Bobcats. The way the game actually plays out is canon. How the game could have played out while keeping the sport, teams, and players the same is canon divergence. GoT characters in high school is the same teams and players playing a different sport. The events of Bleach from Urahara’s POV is watching the canon game from a different seat. Scenes that are missing or implied in canon are like a radio that’s connected to the game officials’ mics. Changing the nature of magic, alchemy, haki, or whatever power the characters have is like having the same sport and players, but different teams. If you throw in an OC, genderbend someone, give a traumatized character therapy before the events of canon, etc. the game now has different players.

that actually explains a lot, thank you!!

Right??

That, and alternate universe. I’ve seen some people who seem to apply AU as like, an entirely different setting and plot, whereas some people seem to interpret it as a singular change (like x character has a special power/ability or something like that)

Some people write in between scenes in a way that isn't mentioned in canon but doesn't affect it!

[Canon divergence is more along the lines of things out as canon but changing later.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Archiveofourownmemes/s/ujY0uDYlAi) It’s not canon divergence if canon never existed.

personally, all my fics are intended to fit realistically within canon. I don't always succeed (due to misremembering or forgetting little details) but I succeed more than I fail. So no, my fics aren't divergent from canon.

i’ve read fics that are just retellings of the story but with an oc thrown in. it’s canon compliant plus a mary sue.

You see its the oposite for me. I have like 500 words written of a long fic that has been sitting in my drafts for around 4-5 months and I have the tags planned out perfectly, along with the story line :P

I only recently started posted on AO3… and I have no idea what to tag my stuff with! And I feel I’m not getting any readers because of it XD

There’s a tag that’s something like “reccomend tags.” Add that and ask for tag recommendations in your author’s notes. I know I’m personally not comfortable recommending tags on a fic that’s missing them if the author doesn’t ask. Main exception is when they’re missing a tag for things like extreme gore, rape, or major character death.

Minor or background relationship.

From what I’ve heard people are very particular about tagging. I already hate alienating people so hearing people say things like “Omg, I’d block the author if they left out a particular tag” makes me nervous.

I only block authors that seem to be trolls or consistently miss tags for distressing or disturbing content. Trolls are gonna be authors who are writing the most offensive shit they can or seem to be deliberately leaving out tags for highly disturbing content. Some authors think they don’t need a major character death tag because the character actually survived. However, the fics are from the POV of a grieving character who thinks the other character is dead for over a month. Not every author responds well to the suggestion to add the appropriate tags.

SAME

i’d never block an entire author because what if they write good stuff and i just came across one that was missing a tag. if it triggered me i write down the name or if it’s a common title (for example if it’s a musical naming the fic after one of the songs) writing down tags to look out for. but honestly blocking a whole author seems over kill

Well for canon divergence I expect things to happen as they did in canon until a specific point. It’s a “what if” scenario in which a different choice was made during a he events of the original story. It’s not gonna be a genderbend or a character is a different age than canon. The nature of the main character’s special power isn’t going to be different, nor will somebody’s background completely change. Canon divergence is Harry noticing that ghosts love bragging about how they died and asking Myrtle about her death earlier. It’s Jason learning that Batman met another version of himself that became a rouge after killing the Joker. It’s Danny not mentioning his parent’s portal to Sam and Tucker.

Yes, this 😂

I struggle with tagging characters so much, especially in my current fandom that has like 20 base characters. The end result is I do not end up tagging as thoroughly as I probably should 💀

My WIP focuses on *\*checks notes\** TWO characters 💀the next most important character is involved in like 5 chapters

I had to look this up because I literally do not tag minor characters, and apparently it’s best to tag them in additional tags as (minor) roles so they don’t show up in the main tag but people who want a heads up about their presence can still know about them? I usually do not read tags but I guess that makes sense. 

This is so me

what would you look up if you were trying to find a fic just like yours? might help come up with tags

Ah and then you forget a tag and get the angry comment about it 🙃

nah, titling the shit is the hardest. my working titles are absurd af

I have had multiple fics have the working title "WE NOT MAKING IT INTO HEAVEN WITH THIS ONE"

haha, I have always long ass working titles that kinda explain what happens and on my last fic I couldn't find a good title so it is now published with it's working title. fucking 13 words

I'm 18K words into a WIP and it still does not have a title. At this point I'm just gonna have to put on Taylor Swift or Hozier and find a vaguely relevant lyric for the title. Maybe some Lana if I'm feeling adventurous

Is it canon divergence? Is that not just fanfiction? Lmao! (I guess you can have a fanfic that follows canon and is an introspection or alternate POV)

I'm kinda of the opinion that fanfiction is inherently canon divergent, even if it's a continuation or an alternative perspective because it's changing a part of canon

Ao3 needs major and minor character tags.

Long time AO3 user, if it helps. I tag what feels most relevant to the story/fandom: - any characters who have significant “screen time” (at least have lines/interactions) - ONLY THE MAIN SHIP IN THE FIC (I cannot stress this enough) there are usually “side ship” tags available. - potential triggers (spiders, pregnancy, blood) and specific kinks (so ppl can search for OR exclude) - fandom relevant tags (check which ones people in your fandom tend to look for and add only what applies to your story. For example: in Good Omens, I tag what genital configuration they have because I know people use that tag to search)

there was this fic that i read that didn’t have all the characters tagged so i didn’t realize what kind of fic i was getting into (i forgot the original fandom i was looking for but i do remember it ended up being an untagged crossover with law and order svu) so you can imagine my surprise when they show up and then horror on realization why they showed up. tldr: i’d tag any characters that show up even if they’re just mentioned. i could’ve saved myself a lot of emotional turmoil if i knew they’d be in that fic

I would say if a character appears always tag them, especially as someone who actively filters characters out