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So the other thing I wanted to talk about regarding tagging discourse, and I honestly don't want to talk about it again though I'm sure it will come up again and again. First, I want to say that people like this aren't fooling anyone. https://twitter.com/enfysblessed/status/1266213176590229504
I'll be blunt & say you'd have to be pretty thick to think that anyone is asking for EVERYTHING in a story to be tagged or expects authors to anticipate every single possible trigger or squick. It comes off as especially disingenuous when you say this shit to other authors.
So what's going on here is willful misunderstanding and a whole lot of straw manning. You don't have to listen to people who ask for tags or advocate for liberal tagging. But you can just say you'd rather not do it instead of pretending like you don't understand the issue
I think the biggest issue here is that when someone asks for a tag politely they aren't being mean or confrontational. They're asking for a small courtesy. It's always the author's choice what they tag. No one is saying otherwise and it's disingenuous to say that's the issue.
There's no need to be defensive. No need for a person's followers to dogpile someone who asks, to mock them or treat them like they're soft or stupid. And this is true whether they're asking for a trigger to be tagged or asking for a sad ending to be tagged.
And of course, if someone says no politely, then it's best to just say okay and then decide whether or not you feel it's worth it to read that person's fic anymore.
So, I'll explain my philosophy on liberal tagging and then I'll be done with it. I'm not going to engage with people who want to misunderstand me.
The first thing is, I would rather lose a reader upfront than lose them halfway through and have them decide not to give any of my fics a try again because I didn't tag an unhappy ending or a secondary pairing or a sex acts that are squicks.
I cannot even begin to emphasize how much liberal tagging can actually help you find and keep readers! I hate rough blowjobs. They don't trigger me but they definitely turn me off. Not a big deal in a longer story if I'm really into it, but I'd rather not read a PWP with them
Conversely, there are people who LOVE that shit. Like, they're probably out there actively looking for fics with rough blowjobs. And if you tag it? You may lose a reader or two who aren't into it but you're going to gain readers who can't get enough of it.
And honestly it's the same thing with almost any tag! For every reader who says "no, thanks" you're likely going to gain one who says "YES, PLEASE!" Even with an unhappy or bittersweet ending tag, bc some people eat it up and sometimes people are just in the mood to be devastated
"But what about spoilers?" you say. Well, first, my view on spoilers is that we're way too obsessed with them in this culture and it's not as big a deal as you think if it's not a mystery or some other genre that's dependent on surprise. Studies have shown that spoilers actually
don't tend to hamper people's ability to enjoy a story. Even stories that are dependent on a big plot twist, like The Sixth Sense, are infinitely rewatchable because they're good stories in the first place. Much like ESB, that story was lightning in a bottle and you can see
how creators fail when they try to capture that lightning again. Another thing about spoilers in tags? They aren't as spoilery as you think.
Is tagging pregnancy really going to spoil your story? Not necessarily, because the enjoyment should come in the character's reactions & how they handle things going forward. And you avoid triggering someone! It takes a few seconds to tag but a panic attack can ruin someone's day
Take a look at movie trailers from say, before 1995 or so sometime. They literally give away most of the plot, yet people still went to see movies in droves. Most Chinese dramas show a ton of spoilers in the opening and closing credits but without context, they aren't spoilers
A good story is about the journey to the end point, not the end point itself. We all knew that the Rogue One team was going to get the plans to Leia bc we've all seen ANH. But that story was rife with tension and I even found myself thinking 'Oh my god will they get the plans?"
Rogue One isn't about the plans it's about how individuals can change the course of a war, and of history. It's about the connections between all of those disparate characters, and about the love they found, about their dedication to the cause.
I promise that if you write a good story, it doesn't matter if your readers know it has a sad or bittersweet or happy ending. They care about the journey. And if your readers trust you, they will be willing to follow you down any number of paths.
I've literally had people tell me that they hate certain tropes but read them because I was the one writing it and I don't think that's all about my skill but about the relationship I have with my readers. And before anyone says it, no, building a relationship with your readers
isn't the same as catering to your audience's whims and desires. I still write what I want even if I think it's going to be controversial. I just don't throw in nasty surprises for the sake of surprising people and I have faith that even if some readers won't be interested,
others will be. As greyjedireylo pointed out the other day, fanfiction is different from traditional publishing. (And honestly most of us would appreciate trigger warnings for books and I include them in goodreads reviews) Your readers can't flip to the last page on a WIP
They can't ask their friends to spoil the ending for them or tell them what might trigger them. That's part of why we tag. It's not about stifling creativity it's about extending a small courtesy to people. Giving them more information to decide whether or not they want to read
That person above mocked me for saying I don't want to waste someone's time, but it's true. I don't want someone to read 100k words of a 160k WIP only to nope out over a common trigger or squick. I don't know what's so controversial about that but it's likely willful ignorance
As for this supposedly being a bigger deal in the Reylo fandom, so what? Is it really a bad thing that there are authors and readers who want people to be able to make informed decisions about what they read in a fandom with over 20k fics to choose from?
It's true that no one should feel compelled to tag what they don't want to tag, and I will gladly give people advice for how to avoid spoilers for the spoiler averse but also provide transparency. But it's also true that people shouldn't be afraid to ask for anything to be tagged
And it's true that no one should be made fun of for wanting liberal tags or for using them. This is not some conspiracy on the part of supposed BNAs to bring down the little guys.
TL:DR no one expects people to be psychic or tag every aspect of their work. The "BNAs" aren't out to get you.
Shit, one more thing I forgot! If people don't read the tags? That's obviously on them and if they yell at you they're assholes. But I guarantee there are more people who did read the tags and appreciate them.
