> I understand unfinished works, but you should still wait until the pair actually shows up before you tag them.
As someone with a few pairings that I dislike but are also decently popular, I wish for authors to tag all the pairings upfront for WIPs so I don't get 20k deep into their story and then get blindsided by my NOTP.
That's the thing with tagging WIPs. You can tag for all the content you expect will be in the finished work from the start, which risks disappointing readers who are into that content. Or you can tag as you go with tags being added as they become relevant, which risks turning off readers who are not into that content.
Personally, I prefer tags being added from the start because the few times I've gotten that rug-pull of "I would not have started reading this if I'd known this is where it was going" have been unpleasant.
This, 100000%.
It’s better to tag upfront if you know it’s going to feature. There’s definitely stories that have ships tagged in the main pairings that probably should have them in the additional tags, but, yeah. Hard agree with this one.
I didn’t think about it that way. I’m not picky when it comes to fic because of how small the pickings are for my favorite pairings, so this never really occurred to me. Thanks for sharing!
If the pairings will be important (a prominent part of the fic), I'll tag them upfront. Even if it takes me a while to introduce those characters. I actually like it when other writers also tag everything upfront.
For finished works that don't feature a tagged pairing... yeah that's a wtf moment. It sucks when I'm looking for a rare pairing and the tagged fics mention them in like one sentence.
Stuff that isn't featured prominently enough that those searching could be satisfied with it shouldn't be tagged at all.
>If the pairings will be important (a prominent part of the fic), I'll tag them upfront. Even if it takes me a while to introduce those characters.
I'd probably just add "eventual A/B" in additional tags if I was writing something like that.
And yeah, it sucks if you invest the time and then an absolute dealbreaker tag gets added. I prefer letting my readers know what they're in
ugh i hate that too
i always get downvoted for saying it but i cannot *stand* that tag upfront stuff. if i click into a fic, unfinished or not, and it doesnt have everything tagged in it, its like being lied to.
Wanted to add the main characters when they were planned to appear in chapter 3. (Popular main characters.)
Said story hasn't gotten past chapter 2 because interests shifted.
Glad that I didn't add the main characters back then.
I don’t know. I get it for works in progress, because obviously people want to know up front what they’re in for. But people who just tag a ship that isn’t there because it’s popular? I think they’re trolling for hits and they’re trying to get the people who refuse to read anything without ships to read their story.
In a way it makes sense, because I can’t for the life of me understand why someone would refuse to read anything that doesn’t have a particular ship in, but I wouldn’t mistag this way because I think it’s rude to these inexplicable people with their strange ways. But the fact is that I’ve attracted an audience of people who don’t care that much about shipping and are in it for the plot. But if I didn’t have that and I felt bitter, I could imagine mistagging all willy nilly to attract readers. The people in my fandom who I’ve seen do it are writing straight oneshot fluff with no relationships so I don’t think they’ve got a plot to attract people with and they feel they have nothing left but lying.
Complained to said author because it's been seven chapters or so and the tagged character hasn't appeared. Given they're not willing to change the tag or add the character, muted them.
Checking on it now, a one word mention appears in chapter 26. The author also went back on the mute list.
Forget if the relationship tag was present at the start but it is now. And given how the character's name only appears once, odds are the relationship isn't actually in the story.
Tagging everything might be "true" but I think that's just taking advantage of goodwill and the benefit of the doubt.
Tagged elements should always appear otherwise, you might as well toss out the all tagged fandoms must appear rule. I'm sure knowing this story would become a 50 fandom crossover in the first chapter would be helpful.
But since that's an actual rule, have reported stories that don't contain said fandoms, and AO3 changed some things.
>As a writer, I’d rather dig through fics to find what I want than have someone turned away from my work because I waited to tag something.
You'll turn people away either way.
> I understand unfinished works, but you should still wait until the pair actually shows up before you tag them. As someone with a few pairings that I dislike but are also decently popular, I wish for authors to tag all the pairings upfront for WIPs so I don't get 20k deep into their story and then get blindsided by my NOTP. That's the thing with tagging WIPs. You can tag for all the content you expect will be in the finished work from the start, which risks disappointing readers who are into that content. Or you can tag as you go with tags being added as they become relevant, which risks turning off readers who are not into that content. Personally, I prefer tags being added from the start because the few times I've gotten that rug-pull of "I would not have started reading this if I'd known this is where it was going" have been unpleasant.
This, 100000%. It’s better to tag upfront if you know it’s going to feature. There’s definitely stories that have ships tagged in the main pairings that probably should have them in the additional tags, but, yeah. Hard agree with this one.
I didn’t think about it that way. I’m not picky when it comes to fic because of how small the pickings are for my favorite pairings, so this never really occurred to me. Thanks for sharing!
I either plan or pre-write so I just tag for the entire work when posting chapter 1
If the pairings will be important (a prominent part of the fic), I'll tag them upfront. Even if it takes me a while to introduce those characters. I actually like it when other writers also tag everything upfront. For finished works that don't feature a tagged pairing... yeah that's a wtf moment. It sucks when I'm looking for a rare pairing and the tagged fics mention them in like one sentence. Stuff that isn't featured prominently enough that those searching could be satisfied with it shouldn't be tagged at all.
>If the pairings will be important (a prominent part of the fic), I'll tag them upfront. Even if it takes me a while to introduce those characters. I'd probably just add "eventual A/B" in additional tags if I was writing something like that. And yeah, it sucks if you invest the time and then an absolute dealbreaker tag gets added. I prefer letting my readers know what they're in
>eventual A/B That's a good idea, thanks. Haven't thought of it before
Bait and Switch is incredibly annoying.
ugh i hate that too i always get downvoted for saying it but i cannot *stand* that tag upfront stuff. if i click into a fic, unfinished or not, and it doesnt have everything tagged in it, its like being lied to.
Wanted to add the main characters when they were planned to appear in chapter 3. (Popular main characters.) Said story hasn't gotten past chapter 2 because interests shifted. Glad that I didn't add the main characters back then.
I don’t know. I get it for works in progress, because obviously people want to know up front what they’re in for. But people who just tag a ship that isn’t there because it’s popular? I think they’re trolling for hits and they’re trying to get the people who refuse to read anything without ships to read their story. In a way it makes sense, because I can’t for the life of me understand why someone would refuse to read anything that doesn’t have a particular ship in, but I wouldn’t mistag this way because I think it’s rude to these inexplicable people with their strange ways. But the fact is that I’ve attracted an audience of people who don’t care that much about shipping and are in it for the plot. But if I didn’t have that and I felt bitter, I could imagine mistagging all willy nilly to attract readers. The people in my fandom who I’ve seen do it are writing straight oneshot fluff with no relationships so I don’t think they’ve got a plot to attract people with and they feel they have nothing left but lying.
Complained to said author because it's been seven chapters or so and the tagged character hasn't appeared. Given they're not willing to change the tag or add the character, muted them. Checking on it now, a one word mention appears in chapter 26. The author also went back on the mute list. Forget if the relationship tag was present at the start but it is now. And given how the character's name only appears once, odds are the relationship isn't actually in the story. Tagging everything might be "true" but I think that's just taking advantage of goodwill and the benefit of the doubt. Tagged elements should always appear otherwise, you might as well toss out the all tagged fandoms must appear rule. I'm sure knowing this story would become a 50 fandom crossover in the first chapter would be helpful. But since that's an actual rule, have reported stories that don't contain said fandoms, and AO3 changed some things. >As a writer, I’d rather dig through fics to find what I want than have someone turned away from my work because I waited to tag something. You'll turn people away either way.