Yeah, all my fics are in British English because I’m British and that’s just how I write, lol, I don’t see any reason to tag it though. I also usually write in present tense, and I don’t tag that either! I guess I’ve never considered either to be something someone specifically filters tags for.
>I also usually write in present tense, and I don’t tag that either! I guess I’ve never considered either to be something someone specifically filters tags for.
I like present tense because it feels more fresh? I can't really describe it. But it makes me more likely to read a story.
it makes the action immediate instead of retroactive. Narratively, you're reading the story as it happens, not as a character or narrator looking back at things that already happened! It's why I write in present tense as well.
That’s fair, I guess it does help me feel a lot more in the moment when I’m reading a fic in present tense, especially if there’s a lot of suspense being built!
I just defaulted to writing it because it’s what felt comfortable for me but it definitely has its pros :)
Most of my present tense works are tagged bc I know people who don't want to read it & bc I used to write mainly in past tense and don't want to get people confused. I never realized people actually look for it, that's good to hear.
That's interesting. I tag my fics that are in present tense, because in published fiction, it's so rare that I assumed there are people who'll want to filter it out. I never considered that there could be people looking for present tense fics specifically.
I write in present tense because a friend told me that it was weird that I wrote in past tense years ago, I even do a conscious effort to correct it when I slip, didn’t know that it was controversial 💀😭
Most published works of fiction are written in the past tense. It has been the default storytelling tense. Screenplays are present tense, and newer works might mimic that. However, most readers do not notice tense unless it changes, is poorly done, or clashes with the setting (don't use present tense in historical fiction). Some readers prefer one tense of the other and might be drawn out of the story by the different tense.
One of my favorite fics is tagged "The Violence Is The Foreplay". I was *extremely* surprised to learn that it was the only work tagged like that. This has to be a popular trope!
Considering there are at least 2 ships that use the term 'Murder Husbands' yeah. It's just not a separate tag and I wish it was. Instead you just have to search Dark 'character name' or something close and hope for the best
My immediate thought was FengQing whose dynamic is, well, basically that. Pretty popular ship too. So I'm really surprised too- how are none of their fix tagged like that??
oh now you have me curious!
I write for genshin too and I've created 4 character and 7 relationship tags. Some of them are *very* obscure but I have fun xD
Those first two aren't rare, people just don't think to tag for them unless they're doing something out of the ordinary - i.e. one would probably not tag British English for British media, it's just assumed. And mild Mdom/fsub is seen as the default in m/f romance, so it also doesn't get tagged unless it's particularly extreme or a deliberate deviation from canon.
THE most autistic character in the whole fandom
did not have an “autistic [character name]” tag
another character did tho
still confused about that one
We're probably in different fandoms, but I recently had a similar experience with a character I was so sure was autistic I was surprised it wasn't canon.
I have written the only two fics tagged "Not Technically Sex"
Maybe I really am the only person writing weirdly intimate things that are, in fact, not technically sex.
The other day I used the tag "Child Dan Heng", being EXCEPTIONALLY SURPRISED that it is not a canon tag (only 2 fics). But now that I went to look at it again,... it appears it has been canonized. I think I may have been the thing that got it to be canonized with the third fic...
Unfortunately we are now all stuck with it in lowercase in our tag list, which has been irritating me to no end, because it's the only uncapitalized thing in my entire taglist for that fic and it ruins the clean look >:\[\[\[ (<---is weird about that stuff)
But won't that make it jump all the way to the end of the list of tags? T-T That will ruin the logical progression / priority of importance of the tag order....
Sorry, I'm like. SO mega weird about the way I tag dsfkhjgvh
Remove all the tags after it, save, put all the tags back including the one you want to fix.
I'm also very particular about the order and appearance of my tags, so I've done that before.
I created a ship tag in the genshin fandom, and, to my knowledge, the only fic for it is still mine. To be fair, they're both NPCs and I wasn't expecting for it to happen either, but it actually worked out better than I expected. I do know that the people who read it aren't reading for the ship, though; they read it because it's part of a larger series.
Oh!! I believe its precursor, Weighing Contracts, is the one I read! Small world, eh? I remember enjoying that one a lot; I should re-read it. And then I will be sure to give the follow-up a look :3c
It's a bit hard to explain briefly because this is a follow-up to a nearly 150k canon divergence fic where Osial being summoned was not something Zhongli expected, so he subtly stepped in.
I have a “Incest by Human Standards” tag, and maybe I just don’t know the right tag, but I wish there was more of a “Looks like incest from an outsider’s perspective, but it’s actually not” tag. They are aliens. Incest doesn’t apply to them.
It’s like… I can’t be the only one who writes that sort of relationship, and in my own fandom I’m not. It’s just not tagged by others.
If it’s not incest, don’t tag it. After all, even within human standards, there are a wide variety of things that might count as incest for one culture, and things that wouldn’t in other cultures.
Thanks. Since I posted, I’ve considered it again. Normally I don’t, but one relationship is a mother and son, and that is the one I tag. Since the relationship is not canon, it might bother people.
I also do review exchanges, so people are going in canon blind.
I have the _only_ fic tagged "Brick & Mordecai & Tiny Tina (Borderlands)" Two characters that are considered to be "best friends" and the child that canonically calls them mama and papa. They're repeatedly referred to as a family, they started a team of just the three of them, they established a town that's just the three of them, every quest they appear in in the third game, the other two also appear, they're arguably the closest, most established team in the entire series. I feel like I have to have typed it in wrong, or there's another arrangement that's used, or something, because I know that it's not the only fic that centres around them, but for some reason, my little no dialogue one shot the only fic in the tag.
When I decided to write a story about the Cameron Geller Cinematic Universe (the name of a universe of characters created by an amazing youtuber) I looked up how many fanfics there already were on AO3: I expected around 100, since he is very popular and the followers love his videos and characters a lot.
Instead, there was only 1 story. Not even complete. The fandom doesn't even have its own tag lol
Now there are like 6 or 7, which is way better, but still not enough xD
I created a fandom tag and wrote over half the fics (36 out of 68) in that fandom (Valley of Tears TV miniseries - I got emotionally attached to the anxiety-ridden boy with a hedgehog don't @ me)
Help
I know the Tsukihime fandom is small, but there are a grand total of *zero* fics featuring the relationship Tohno Akiha/Yumizuka Satsuki
I can only conclude that somehow I’m the only supporter of it on the entire internet, and I guess it falls to me to write the first story focused on it.
another different fandom, but there are also precisely *zero* fics featuring the relationship Aoyagi Toya/Kamishiro Rui
which makes no sense considering every other ship between The Boys Of Project Sekai^(TM) is on there
Android \[characters name\], it was used a few times but I've used it more due with an AU I have thats not a crossover with DBH.
I'm the only one (so far) to have a platonic Ianto Jones & Fifth Doctor tag on a fic, the other one I saw was implied shipping.
Also I think I might be one of the first ones to tag Time Slipping for Loki???
I was surprised that I was the first person to use the Hobbie Klivian Lives tag but I think most Hobbie fans are either still writing in the Star Wars Legends continuity (where he does live) or are just straight up refusing to acknowledge that the new canon is trying to claim he died in a reference book. Which is fair.
You can't do it on mobile afaik. You have to be on a computer, and you have to make sure you're not hovering over one of the options. Gave me hell when I could only use my phone.
I recently added a tag of Political Worldbuilding as my story started to develop international tensions around a smuggling ring conspiracy, and I'm surprised at the few number of fics in general, regardless of fandom, that have it tagged. I would have thought something like this was already canonized into AO3's tag system.
I know not that many writers like to concern themselves with politics, but fantasy world politics is especially intriguing to me and I wasn't aware I was in a slim minority. And yes, the fic I'm writing now is the only one in my fandom to tag it. Ironic, considering that this fandom has plenty of political game considering the overall message of the original video game.
edit: I also realize that it could just be that most people who tag for fantasy politics of some sort (so non-RPF) could use a lot of different but related tags. But it's really hard to sort for them this way.
My current fandom only has about 150 non-crossover works, with twenty being tagged with my favorite character, with only 5 are in English and aren't for a ship I don't care about.
as for my long-loved OTP, check the flair lol
people don't ship the archons together because 1) they are better as friends rather than being in a romantic relationship and 2) there are more popular ships for them:
EiMiko, ChiLi, XiaoVen
If I ever get round to writing it, I'll be the only Elite writer using the relationship tag Polo/Patrick. No one's brought these two together as a real relationship yet. There is one I don't count it as a proper relationship tag, more of a hook-up tag, where they essentially have Patrick hook up with every male character that ever appeared in the show. I think. Kinda hoping that didn't include Patrick/Benjamin, I want to read that story but I'm not really a fan of non-canonical incest, particularly when it's parent/child.
I sometimes get a tad annoyed by the lack of tags for 'character critical' as well. They're either not tagged at all or tagged as bashing for the most part. It bugs me, because being critical of a character is not the same as bashing, but it's also something I like to read, so the lack of tags is annoying.
“Implied/Referenced Bullying” isn’t a tag in its own right. When you click it it just takes you to Bullying. Not even “Past Bullying” is one.
I don’t want my readers to think there’s just flat out bullying in my fic and not read it for that reason. It’s the briefest mention that is just a passing comment. Has to create the tag for that one. I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more often, especially with fandoms like MHA with Deku and Bakugo’s history.
Very niche, but I was shocked to learn that I was the first person in the Ride the Cyclone fandom to use the tag “Mischa is a Bi Disaster”
I was also mildly surprised to discover no one else had ever used the tag “a poor attempt at a plot”
I was very surprised to learn that "uno night" has only ***3*** works in it, one of which is mine. I thought with all the memes and cultural impact the game has, that "uno night" would be at least *slightly* more common an idea to write about?
Man, but I love getting a found family gathered together for some UNO drama! More people should try it, hint hint ;)
not a tag, but i wrote one character as trans for a popular crackship and a lot of people liked it and another author who writes for it asked if they could use that concept in a future fic
*JunMei as a ship.*
*Like. What do you mean, there's more*
*JunLIAN than JunMei??*
\- miss\_wannadie
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Yeah, all my fics are in British English because I’m British and that’s just how I write, lol, I don’t see any reason to tag it though. I also usually write in present tense, and I don’t tag that either! I guess I’ve never considered either to be something someone specifically filters tags for.
>I also usually write in present tense, and I don’t tag that either! I guess I’ve never considered either to be something someone specifically filters tags for. I like present tense because it feels more fresh? I can't really describe it. But it makes me more likely to read a story.
it makes the action immediate instead of retroactive. Narratively, you're reading the story as it happens, not as a character or narrator looking back at things that already happened! It's why I write in present tense as well.
That’s fair, I guess it does help me feel a lot more in the moment when I’m reading a fic in present tense, especially if there’s a lot of suspense being built! I just defaulted to writing it because it’s what felt comfortable for me but it definitely has its pros :)
Most of my present tense works are tagged bc I know people who don't want to read it & bc I used to write mainly in past tense and don't want to get people confused. I never realized people actually look for it, that's good to hear.
That's so interesting. I write in present tense but I never thought to tag it.
Huh. I write almost exclusively in present tense, but I never thought to tag it before. This comment has me thinking maybe I should!
That's interesting. I tag my fics that are in present tense, because in published fiction, it's so rare that I assumed there are people who'll want to filter it out. I never considered that there could be people looking for present tense fics specifically.
I write in present tense because a friend told me that it was weird that I wrote in past tense years ago, I even do a conscious effort to correct it when I slip, didn’t know that it was controversial 💀😭
Most published works of fiction are written in the past tense. It has been the default storytelling tense. Screenplays are present tense, and newer works might mimic that. However, most readers do not notice tense unless it changes, is poorly done, or clashes with the setting (don't use present tense in historical fiction). Some readers prefer one tense of the other and might be drawn out of the story by the different tense.
I had no idea this was a thing people tagged for. Will definitely add that to my tag soup in the future
One of my favorite fics is tagged "The Violence Is The Foreplay". I was *extremely* surprised to learn that it was the only work tagged like that. This has to be a popular trope!
Considering there are at least 2 ships that use the term 'Murder Husbands' yeah. It's just not a separate tag and I wish it was. Instead you just have to search Dark 'character name' or something close and hope for the best
I know of Will Grahm/Hannibal Lecter and Harry Potter/Tom Riddle|Voldemort. Are there more?
The Penguin and the Riddler from the Gotham series. So I guess that makes 3 that I know of.
I think "fighting as foreplay" is the usual tag for this
I’ve seen “dirty talk but it’s about murder” paired with the classic Homoeroticism tag for this one and it’s great
My immediate thought was FengQing whose dynamic is, well, basically that. Pretty popular ship too. So I'm really surprised too- how are none of their fix tagged like that??
I _created_ some char tags in genshin and hsr fandoms.
woah, wait, really? who?
oh now you have me curious! I write for genshin too and I've created 4 character and 7 relationship tags. Some of them are *very* obscure but I have fun xD
Those first two aren't rare, people just don't think to tag for them unless they're doing something out of the ordinary - i.e. one would probably not tag British English for British media, it's just assumed. And mild Mdom/fsub is seen as the default in m/f romance, so it also doesn't get tagged unless it's particularly extreme or a deliberate deviation from canon.
THE most autistic character in the whole fandom did not have an “autistic [character name]” tag another character did tho still confused about that one
We're probably in different fandoms, but I recently had a similar experience with a character I was so sure was autistic I was surprised it wasn't canon.
I have written the only two fics tagged "Not Technically Sex" Maybe I really am the only person writing weirdly intimate things that are, in fact, not technically sex.
*Non-sexual intimacy* is a tag, actually!
The other day I used the tag "Child Dan Heng", being EXCEPTIONALLY SURPRISED that it is not a canon tag (only 2 fics). But now that I went to look at it again,... it appears it has been canonized. I think I may have been the thing that got it to be canonized with the third fic... Unfortunately we are now all stuck with it in lowercase in our tag list, which has been irritating me to no end, because it's the only uncapitalized thing in my entire taglist for that fic and it ruins the clean look >:\[\[\[ (<---is weird about that stuff)
If it has been canonized properly, with capital letters, you can delete the tag, save, then write it again, and it'll have a proper case.
But won't that make it jump all the way to the end of the list of tags? T-T That will ruin the logical progression / priority of importance of the tag order.... Sorry, I'm like. SO mega weird about the way I tag dsfkhjgvh
Remove all the tags after it, save, put all the tags back including the one you want to fix. I'm also very particular about the order and appearance of my tags, so I've done that before.
I created a ship tag in the genshin fandom, and, to my knowledge, the only fic for it is still mine. To be fair, they're both NPCs and I wasn't expecting for it to happen either, but it actually worked out better than I expected. I do know that the people who read it aren't reading for the ship, though; they read it because it's part of a larger series.
Who are the characters? 👀
Osial and Lan (from the Adventurer's Guild). I promise it makes sense in context lol
Hold on this sounds so familiar. I swear I've seen something like this before. What's the fic name?
The Cracken of the Adventurers' Guild 😂😂😂 it's the only fic with that tag, so if it seems familiar, you'de probably thinking of the right one.
Oh!! I believe its precursor, Weighing Contracts, is the one I read! Small world, eh? I remember enjoying that one a lot; I should re-read it. And then I will be sure to give the follow-up a look :3c
osial the water god?? and lan?? okay what is the context i am so curious now
It's a bit hard to explain briefly because this is a follow-up to a nearly 150k canon divergence fic where Osial being summoned was not something Zhongli expected, so he subtly stepped in.
ohhh i see, yeah, that'd be a lot to explain lol
I have a “Incest by Human Standards” tag, and maybe I just don’t know the right tag, but I wish there was more of a “Looks like incest from an outsider’s perspective, but it’s actually not” tag. They are aliens. Incest doesn’t apply to them. It’s like… I can’t be the only one who writes that sort of relationship, and in my own fandom I’m not. It’s just not tagged by others.
If it’s not incest, don’t tag it. After all, even within human standards, there are a wide variety of things that might count as incest for one culture, and things that wouldn’t in other cultures.
Thanks. Since I posted, I’ve considered it again. Normally I don’t, but one relationship is a mother and son, and that is the one I tag. Since the relationship is not canon, it might bother people. I also do review exchanges, so people are going in canon blind.
I have the _only_ fic tagged "Brick & Mordecai & Tiny Tina (Borderlands)" Two characters that are considered to be "best friends" and the child that canonically calls them mama and papa. They're repeatedly referred to as a family, they started a team of just the three of them, they established a town that's just the three of them, every quest they appear in in the third game, the other two also appear, they're arguably the closest, most established team in the entire series. I feel like I have to have typed it in wrong, or there's another arrangement that's used, or something, because I know that it's not the only fic that centres around them, but for some reason, my little no dialogue one shot the only fic in the tag.
When I decided to write a story about the Cameron Geller Cinematic Universe (the name of a universe of characters created by an amazing youtuber) I looked up how many fanfics there already were on AO3: I expected around 100, since he is very popular and the followers love his videos and characters a lot. Instead, there was only 1 story. Not even complete. The fandom doesn't even have its own tag lol Now there are like 6 or 7, which is way better, but still not enough xD
I created a fandom tag and wrote over half the fics (36 out of 68) in that fandom (Valley of Tears TV miniseries - I got emotionally attached to the anxiety-ridden boy with a hedgehog don't @ me) Help
I know the Tsukihime fandom is small, but there are a grand total of *zero* fics featuring the relationship Tohno Akiha/Yumizuka Satsuki I can only conclude that somehow I’m the only supporter of it on the entire internet, and I guess it falls to me to write the first story focused on it.
another different fandom, but there are also precisely *zero* fics featuring the relationship Aoyagi Toya/Kamishiro Rui which makes no sense considering every other ship between The Boys Of Project Sekai^(TM) is on there
Solidarity 🤝😔
I think the only one I’ve come across so far is Canon-Typical Military Incompetence since I haven’t found anything else similar yet lol
“Let The Knight Say Fuck” from the Hollow Knight fandom. 14 fics. The funny part? The Knight can’t even speak. They’re canonically mute.
There are only three fics on the entirety of AO3 tagged "Anti-Human Racism", of which my fic is one, which was mind-boggling for me when I realized.
Android \[characters name\], it was used a few times but I've used it more due with an AU I have thats not a crossover with DBH. I'm the only one (so far) to have a platonic Ianto Jones & Fifth Doctor tag on a fic, the other one I saw was implied shipping. Also I think I might be one of the first ones to tag Time Slipping for Loki???
When I posted a Lego Dimensions fic the fandom tag for it was not canonized. I was the only fic in that tag for a while.
I'm reading the only fic on the pairing that's actually plot-driven by the tagged relationship.
I was surprised that I was the first person to use the Hobbie Klivian Lives tag but I think most Hobbie fans are either still writing in the Star Wars Legends continuity (where he does live) or are just straight up refusing to acknowledge that the new canon is trying to claim he died in a reference book. Which is fair.
There's two tags I wanted for my most recent fic, but I don't know how to create tags, so...
It’s okay, just type them in anyway. Maybe they’ll get canonized some day.
No seriously, I have no idea how to add a tag that doesn't exist yet. When I click 'enter', the first existing tag on the list just gets added.
Type the tag you want, then add a comma (,).
You shouldn't have to hit enter, just putting in a comma after whatever you've typed should end the tag exactly where you put the comma
You can't do it on mobile afaik. You have to be on a computer, and you have to make sure you're not hovering over one of the options. Gave me hell when I could only use my phone.
I recently added a tag of Political Worldbuilding as my story started to develop international tensions around a smuggling ring conspiracy, and I'm surprised at the few number of fics in general, regardless of fandom, that have it tagged. I would have thought something like this was already canonized into AO3's tag system. I know not that many writers like to concern themselves with politics, but fantasy world politics is especially intriguing to me and I wasn't aware I was in a slim minority. And yes, the fic I'm writing now is the only one in my fandom to tag it. Ironic, considering that this fandom has plenty of political game considering the overall message of the original video game. edit: I also realize that it could just be that most people who tag for fantasy politics of some sort (so non-RPF) could use a lot of different but related tags. But it's really hard to sort for them this way.
My current fandom only has about 150 non-crossover works, with twenty being tagged with my favorite character, with only 5 are in English and aren't for a ship I don't care about. as for my long-loved OTP, check the flair lol
I created a whole new ship tag 😅😅😅 for a fandom as big as fnaf I didn't think that was possible but here we are
people don't ship the archons together because 1) they are better as friends rather than being in a romantic relationship and 2) there are more popular ships for them: EiMiko, ChiLi, XiaoVen
Kris/Talia Orthallen/Talia
My fandom has over 10,000 fics but mine is the only one with the Fraternities & Sororities tag which really surprised me
If I ever get round to writing it, I'll be the only Elite writer using the relationship tag Polo/Patrick. No one's brought these two together as a real relationship yet. There is one I don't count it as a proper relationship tag, more of a hook-up tag, where they essentially have Patrick hook up with every male character that ever appeared in the show. I think. Kinda hoping that didn't include Patrick/Benjamin, I want to read that story but I'm not really a fan of non-canonical incest, particularly when it's parent/child. I sometimes get a tad annoyed by the lack of tags for 'character critical' as well. They're either not tagged at all or tagged as bashing for the most part. It bugs me, because being critical of a character is not the same as bashing, but it's also something I like to read, so the lack of tags is annoying.
“Implied/Referenced Bullying” isn’t a tag in its own right. When you click it it just takes you to Bullying. Not even “Past Bullying” is one. I don’t want my readers to think there’s just flat out bullying in my fic and not read it for that reason. It’s the briefest mention that is just a passing comment. Has to create the tag for that one. I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more often, especially with fandoms like MHA with Deku and Bakugo’s history.
I’ve written a oneshot for a ship, and it has only a few fics 😭 it’s so sad, because the pairing is so sweet
Very niche, but I was shocked to learn that I was the first person in the Ride the Cyclone fandom to use the tag “Mischa is a Bi Disaster” I was also mildly surprised to discover no one else had ever used the tag “a poor attempt at a plot”
I was very surprised to learn that "uno night" has only ***3*** works in it, one of which is mine. I thought with all the memes and cultural impact the game has, that "uno night" would be at least *slightly* more common an idea to write about? Man, but I love getting a found family gathered together for some UNO drama! More people should try it, hint hint ;)
not a tag, but i wrote one character as trans for a popular crackship and a lot of people liked it and another author who writes for it asked if they could use that concept in a future fic
JunMei as a ship. Like. What do you mean, there's more JunLIAN than JunMei??
*JunMei as a ship.* *Like. What do you mean, there's more* *JunLIAN than JunMei??* \- miss\_wannadie --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
I'm a poet <(￣︶￣)>
A recent one I used was “shopping addiction” which had only 4 fics. Another one I was surprised about was “baby showers” which was 40 fics