#let me teach you how to be friends :')

[raayllum]

me wanting rayla to risk the world for callum by not killing him when he gets brainwashed, and for him to save her right back by taking the same risk if she's likewise put in danger

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I think of so many stupid shenanigans between Wriothesley and his daughters in the Addison Lee verse. They tell Wriothesley crazy shit all the time, their daddy-daughter secrets, and it drives Neuvillette nuts that Wriothesley won't snitch.

Sigewinne, whispering into his ear: Today at school I punched a boy because he was being mean. I waited until it was recess, and made sure that no one was watching, and I punched him. Everyone knows he is a liar, so noooo one believed him when he cried about it. And Sigewinne is aaaalways a superstar so Mr Vautrin didn't suspect a thing !

Wriothesley, mildly concerned: Uh huh.

Sigewinne: Papa would say Sigewinne has to be nice to everyone, but, Sigewinne thinks bullies need to get punched sometimes, b'cos, b'cos otherwise, they think everyone is just gonna let them be mean

Wriothesley: Y'know what. That's fair

[definitelynotnia]

im sorry i have to rant im so fucking pissed

my exams end on 19th and I have to get rid of some books and buy some books which are quite pricy online so I had planned on going to college street on 20th and selling my books and buying the new ones at a cheap price and i was frankly really excited about it because all I get is a one day break to relax bcz i have to start studying for entrances from 21st so all I have is 20th and i wanted to spend it at college street and then get some food and basically have like a solo date kind of thing.

and i was so so excited about it i told my boyfriend about it like 500 times bcz i kept forgetting i've already mentioned it and it was literally on my mind a lott so i kept bringing it up and ik it seems like not a big deal cz i can just sit at home and chill too but i literally do not get to go outside my house. like- the last time i went out was new years eve and after that the only time i've gone out is to school or to give my boards that is it. my mother has some weird like problem wiht me going out like even if i tell her that i just want to go to our terrace for 5 minutes just to get some fresh air she won't even allow that she'll be all suspicious and like sTaNd In ThE bAlCOnY aNd TaKe FrEsH aIr like she herself doesnt leave the house (and blames it on me and my brother ???? when have we ever stopped you bro, she said I HaVe To Be HeRe To KeEp An EyE like im 18 i dont need to be watched 24/7 stop blaming me for choices you put upon yourself) and i just feel so suffocated ALL THE TIME i feel so overstimulated and im so sick of rotting on my bed and i dont want to wait for some birthday party or friends meet up to be able to leave my goddamn house i just wanted to go and have a fun day and get me some books thats it.

anyway so initially the plan was that my mom would go along but something came up so she wanted to postpone it to 21st and i didn't want to bcz i'd already be missing 3 days bcz of my boyfriends birthday, holi and my brothers birthday (all of which are important and i dont want to miss which makes me the villain apparently bcz i should "adjust" and cancel my "parties" instead of trying to stick to my plan bcz that makes me too demanding and selfish apparently) so i suggested that ukw why dont u go do ur thing which came up and i'll go to college street by myself...which is when the solo date idea came which i had really wanted all along but didnt bring up bcz i knew she'd say no but now there's a valid reason for me to go alone so like, its a pretty easy fix i can just go alone but noooo. First of all,

I've been to college street multiple times before so its not like its an unknown area to me

im going by metro which is quite safe

im going when there is stark daylight and i will return home much much before it gets dark and im literally 18

she never lets me go anywhere alone, not even take ubers alone if i want to get back from somewhere my bf has to come drop me everytime and then go backwards to his house which is so so so stupid and i never get to go out alone unless accompanied by family or by a male friend, so obv when i said i'll go to college street alone she refused to let that happen and started screaming about how 'if its so important to go on 20th bcz u dont want to miss a day of studying then cancel ur 'parties' and study then' and i was like no its not about missing a day its just that there's a very easy and logical fix to this problem which is i go alone and its not inconveniencing anyone so why cant i just do that but she will not listen to that bcz im 'adamant' and 'everything has to be according to me' bcz i found a viable solution to the problem. so instead of letting me just go she was literally ready to pay much more money and buy the books online, like.....why cant i just go bro??? (and she keeps telling me im a waste of her money bcz i will amount to nothing in life and my education was a failed investment or wtv so like now why are u wasting more money??? im literally trying to save the money that u 'waste' on me so just let me ???)

anyway i called my dad last night and told him and he was super ok with the idea he said its a good idea that i go alone and that he would speak to her but then today when i asked her if dad spoke to her she said yes, we'll go on 20th and i was like .....we? so apparently she CANCELLED her previously immovable thing for which she wanted me to cancel my 'parties', she cancelled that and agreed to go with me on 20th just so that i dont get to go alone- like ???????????????? what is ur problemmmm

so obv i was super annoyed and i went on a whole ass rant about how i literally struggle to even cross roads bcz i dont know shit about basic travelling bcz all my life ive been in a car and its a running joke with all my guy friends that i 'cannot navigate' and 'dont know any places' and obv??? if im never allowed to go anywhere then how tf will i know the places- the only places i know is bcz recently i've been paying a lot of attention and asking my dad stuff about what roads to take to reach certain places and when i go out with my friends i kind of try and learn a bit but thats it i've only ever gone alone completely alone to two places which is my beauty parlour thats 5 minutes away from my house and one bazaar one time that was 2 bus stops away, thats it. thats my extent of public travelling alone. and now im supposed to go to a whole new STATE for college and i cant even call myself an auto without struggling. and like- is this not a basic life skill??? like ok yeah its not rocket science and i will probably figure it out even if i start later in life but why not now? most of my guy friends literally go everywhere alone, why not me? and my dad agreed with all of this but my mom was just like "you'll be in the hostel only, no need to go out of the campus" like ARE YOU FOR REAL????????? and she's like "if u want to learn skills learn how to cook" like ok yes i will also learn how to cook for sure but i wont have a fucking kitchen in the hostel but somehow cooking is an urgent skill i should learn but going places by myself is unimportant bcz i should just never? leave? the? hostel?

anyway after much screaming and shouting my dad gave up and just cut the call bcz he doesnt want to get into an argument with my mother and my mother was being all suspicious like why do u hAvE tO gO aLoNe AlL oF a SuDdEn even though i literally explained why i want to do this alone but she doesnt think thats valid. so she refuses to let me go and i asked her for one reason why i shouldnt cz usuallt its always "no u have exam what if smthn happens" but now i literally dont even have exam so whats ur excuse now? streets will always be unsafe forever so "what if smthn happens" is not a reason to never let me go out without a man so just gimme one reason and she couldnt give me a single reason she just said "i said no, thats it".

and now she's gone off about how im useless and blah blah and "high maintainance" bcz i want books and "everyone else (some pishi's son) just studies online" and so the whole option of college street is apparently now cancelled and she's trying to set up a whole ass kindle account (half the books i need arent even available as ebooks) just because i wanted to go by myself.

[oatbugs]

if i had an allergic reaction again will my friend appear to hold my hand again if i get really drunk again will they carry me home if i'm too sick to get up will she call me at 5 AM to check up again if we've missed a flight and we're stuck in city we weren't meant to be in at 2AM will he tell me about philosophy again if i make bad decisions will she almost slap me in the face and hand me a cigarette again if i feel lost will she share shitty kebab and tell me about her life again will we get to play poker together again

[apoloniaspiegelgold]

All my life I've been told by all kinds of people that they can never really tell what I'm feeling or what's going through my mind because apparently I'm always just hiding everything behind a smile so that I've become rather unreadable. And then he just. Takes one look at me and goes 'Yeah. I know that face, oh here we go again, she's about to unleash her thoughts. She's gonna bash that theory I just showed her so hard. Where's my popcorn?' I hadn't even said anything yet and he was already laughing.

And to be honest. It's quite nice to be known, actually.

[braxiatel]

Tagging on AO3 - A how-to guide for new writers with a MCYT spin!

Intro

Recently, I have seen a lot of improperly tagged fics on AO3. I think it is a shame to see people posting their first fics putting so much good effort into tagging them while not knowing how to make the most of their tags. Thus I decided to write a how-to guide focusing on each of the fields on the ‘Post Work’ page on AO3, detailing what you might want to include in each of them and how certain things will likely be interpreted by your potential readers.

Disclaimer: all fandoms have slightly different tagging conventions. That means everyone, based on their own history of fandoms, will have slightly different ideas of what “proper” tagging is. I do not pretend to be an unbiased source of information, however, I have been reading and publishing fic on AO3 for the past decade, and I think I have a pretty firm grasp of tagging at this point, at least enough to help people who have no idea how to approach it get started.

Rating

[ID: A scroll down menu titled ‘ratings’ with the options ‘not rated’, ‘general audiences’, ‘teen and up audiences’, ‘mature’, and ‘explicit’. The title is marked with an asterisk to indicate this is a mandatory field.]

Rating tells readers what age groups you, the writer, consider your work to be appropriate for. It leans on cinema conventions (US American ones, specifically). 

Culturally what is and is not considered appropriate for certain age groups can differ, which makes rating difficult. My best advice is to do your best and be kind when informing others you believe they’ve missed the mark. By using AO3 we are all agreeing to the risk that an author did not have the skills or the perspective to tag appropriately; Tags don’t get vetted by a panel, so risking inaccurately or inaddequately tagged fic is part of the deal. That said, here are my thoughts on how best to approach rating your fic:

I wish I could give you clear-cut lines on rating, but the truth of the matter is there are overlaps and grey areas between each category. Use your best judgement, and remember that if in doubt about rating always go for the higher of the two or the Not Rated category. Historically rating has been heavily based around depictions of sexuality and violence, so those are what I will mainly be discussing in these descriptions of the different ratings.

General audiences means everyone, children and adults alike. In general, think of what level of violence and romance you expect to see in cartoons – fics rated General Audiences can contain subtle romance, non-lethal violence, and injuries discussed but not depicted. If you think your fic might be rated for general audiences I recommend asking yourself ‘would I read this story to a 7-year-old?’ If you can think of something that may not be appropriate for that 7-year-old to read, bump up the rating.

Teen and up means 13+. As with above, imagine giving the fic to a 13-year-old. Would it be appropriate for them, or does it depict things they may not be old enough to understand yet? Works rated Teen and up can contain depictions of dating, romance, kissing, and hints towards sexual activity (think of your typical ‘they retired to the bedroom followed by a fade to black’ scene). In terms of violence things rated teen can contain fight scenes and injuries depicted with some detail (think blood stained clothes or mentions of broken limbs, but no gore or detailed descriptions). You may also expect to see consumption of alcohol (but not alcoholism or drug use) or fics focusing on ‘darker’ themes such as character death or major illness. 

Mature means 18+, however I think it is worth mentioning as over the years I have seen people saying they are understanding Mature to mean anything as young as 16+. Officially AO3 lists Mature as adults only, but be aware that you will likely have people in their late teens beleiving they are part of your target audience as well. I think we all know kids can and will lie about their ages and that it is impossible to avoid them reading material not meant for them entirely, but given how typical this misconception seems to be I recommend caution with this one rating in particular. Typically you will find non-explicit sex scenes, non-graphic violence, and in general themes that require a certain level of critical thinking and mental robustness to parse in fics rated Mature. For a sex scene this may mean describing what sexual acts are being performed in what positions, without getting into details about the appearence of genitals or how specifically the acts are being performed. For violence this can mean talking about specifics of a fight and what injuries a character has sustained, talks of blood, shallow burns, loss of limbs, or how your characters plan to stich up their injuries in the field, but not detailed descriptions of injuries. You may see depictions of ‘dark’ themes such as addiction, terrorism, abuse, etc.

Explicit is also 18+. Here you will find graphic sex scenes and gore, and ‘dark’ themes pervading the work in such a way that it cannot easily be skipped. I think intent matters a great deal in determining the difference between Mature and Explicit. If you want to shock your readers with the gory kill your serial killer character just committed, if your sex scene is intended as pornographic and/or is highly descriptive, or your character is going through excruciating mental torture, that would be Explicit. The more detail you add, the closer you get to an Explicit rating. If in doubt ask a friend or beta reader, ideally one with more experience rating fics than you. 

Not rated is the default rating and could mean anything between the other four ratings. There are a number of reasons you as an author might want to use this – perhaps you are uncertain how to rate your fic, or perhaps you do not want to spoil the content at all. The important thing to note is that when it comes to filtering by rating all fics in the Not Rated tag will get filtered alongside fics rated Explicit. That does not mean that the fic is necessarily Explicit, just that it could be and you must assume only readers who are old enough to read something that could potentially be Explicit will access it. 

Archive warnings

[ID: A list of potential archive warnings. The warnings are ‘choose not to use archive warnings’, ‘graphic depictions of violence’, ‘major character death’, ‘no archive warnings apply’, ‘rape/non-con’, and ‘underage’. The title ‘archive warnings’ is marked with an asterisk to indicate this is a mandatory field.] 

I think some of these are self-explanatory - graphic depictions of violence and major character death - whereas others do require a little more explaning.

Rape/non-con. I am singling this one out simply to explain what non-con actually means. It is an older fandom term and is short for non-consensual, i.e. an explicit lack of consent. It is simply an older fandom-specific term that is synonymouswtih rape.

Underage. Underage refers to fic in which one or more characters who have not yet turned 18 are described as having been in or depicted in sexual situations. Please note that it does not exclusively refer to fic in which one character is a minor and one is an adult – a fic depicting two characters who are both minors in a sexual situation should also be tagged as underage. According to AO3 guidelines fics that vaguely imply sexual acts involving one or more underage characters do not need to be tagged in the Underage category.

No major archive warnings apply. None of the listed warnings are true for this work. 

Choose not to use archive warnings. One or more of the warnings could be true for the work, but the author is activelly choosing not to tag it. You may want to choose this one if you are unsure if a situation counts as graphic violence, if the character being killed off is a major character, if the character is actually underage, or if it is indeed non-con. It can also be used when you do not want to spoil the content of your fic for your readers. 

Fandom

[ID: free text input bar titled ‘fandoms’. Underneath it says ‘if this is the first work for a fandom it may not show up in the fandoms page for a day or two’. The title is marked with an asterisk to indicate this is a mandatory field.] 

This is where you tell your readers what fandom or fandoms your fanfiction is based on. You can enter multiple fandoms if your work is a crossover. 

All free-form tags, including fandom tags, can be written in non-Latin characters. However, the fandom will be archived according to a Romanised transliteration. 

If you are looking to tag a fandom that is not already on the archive simply type its full name into the fandom field, making sure you have spelled it correctly, and it will be added to the archive by a volunteer as soon as possible. 

A note on MCYT fic specifically: given the nature of the medium it can be hard to determine where to draw the lines between which SMPs your work does and does not belong to. However, tagging every SMP a character will likely be seen as spam.

Ask yourself what canon or canons the work is leaning into. Does your Hermitcraft fic feature DSMP lore crucial to understanding the world-building or appearances by DSMP characters, or is there just a couple of throwaway lines that are only there as fun references for people who are also DSMP fans? Does a character in your Empires fic reference events from the Life series as part of a character’s backstory, or is it about one of the Empires characters ending up stuck in one of the Life games? 

It is about scale and amount, and tagging every SMP a character has been in has the chance to disappoint readers looking for depictions of a character as shown in a particular SMP and will make them less likely to read your work in the future. 

Categories

Categories refers exclusively to what types of relationships are depicted in your work.

If one relationship is the main focus of the fic this is the one you should tag for in the categories section. If multiple relationships share focus you should tag all of them. 

The archive offers the following options for tagging categories:

[ID: A list of potential categories. They are ‘F/F’, ‘F/M’, Gen, ‘M/M’, ‘Multi’, and ‘Other’.]

F/F, F/M, and M/M. F is short for female, M is short for male. Thus, F/F is a relationship between women, F/M is a relationship between men and women, and M/M is a relationship between men. These tags include binary trans people or non-binary trans people who are depicted as aligned with one of the binary genders. Anyone who has told you that you have to misgender trans characters was either misinformed or lying. 

Multi. Multi can refer to either multiple romantic/sexual pairings being the focus of the stories OR romantic/sexual relationships between 3+ characters. Both are valid interpretations of this tag, as it has different historical use in different fandoms. 

Other. Other refers to a number of things including: romantic/sexual relationships where one or more characters are not male or female or aligned with either of these, relationships that do not fit into the traditional romantic/sexual - platonic binary, relationships involving 3+ characters, romantic/sexual relationships where one or more parties involved are too far removed from human standards of gender to be categorised this way, or anything else you do not believe fits in any of the other categories. 

Gen. Gen is short for ‘general’ and refers exclusively to fanfictions that do not focus on romantic/sexual relationships, regardless of rating. A fic rated for general audiences that focuses on romance should not be tagged as Gen.

A fic can fit into several categories (e.g. a fic focusing on two romantic relationships, one between a man and a woman and one between two men, should be tagged as F/M, M/M, and multi). 

Different fandoms have different standards for polyships - some prefer to tag ‘multi’, some ‘other’, some ‘multi’ and ‘other, and others ‘multi’ and/or ‘other’ and whatever F/F - F/M - M/M tag comes closest. It is up to the individual author to decide what is most appropriate for that particular ship/more common in their fandom. Personally, I would tag my M/M/M polyship as M/M, Multi, and Other. 

Relationships

[ID: free text input bar titled ‘relationships’.]

Relationships in this instance refers to all kinds of relationships, not just romantic/sexual ones. 

Romantic and sexual relationships should be tagged with a / between names, e.g. ‘[person A]/[person B]’, and platonic (familial, collegial, friendship, etc.) relationships should be tagged with a ‘&’ between names, e.g. ‘[Person A]&[Person B]’. This is an important distinction as AO3 separates the two into two different tags. You should tag what is the end goal for your fic - thus a friends to lovers fic should only be tagged with the ‘/’ version of a tag and not the ‘&’ version. 

For relationships that do not fit into a neat romantic/sexual or platonic binary conventions differ from fandom to fandom. Personally, I prefer to tag both and specify in the ‘additional tags’ field that the relationship is ambiguous, queerplatonic, etc. Relationships that are written as either platonic or romantic but could theoretically be read as romantic/platonic as they do not outright state that the characters

aren’t/are

in a realtionship should only be tagged as either ‘/’ or ‘&’, whichever is appropriate.

All free-form tags, including relationship tags, can be written in non-Latin characters. However, the fandom will be archived according to a Romanised transliteration.

A note on the order of character names in relationship tags on fic containing sex scenes: historically certain fandoms have taken the order of the 2+ names of a ship to denote which character would top and which would bottom in sex scenes, with the top being written first and the bottom second. This is not widely used anymore, but be aware that some readers may interpret your tag this way.

For the most part the only tags you should be writing in this field are the relationships depicted in the fic, but there are a few common exceptions I have seen in multiple fandoms

‘No romantic relationship(s)’. No romantic relationships are depicted in this fic. It is theoritically made redundant by the existence of the Gen category, but to be honest I think enough people mistag non-Gen fic as Gen that this tag can potentially still be useful for readers trying to find fics that do not depict romance.

‘Minor or background relationship(s)’. This tag can be used to separate the tag(s) of the relationship(s) that are the focus of the fic and those that are not. e.g. ‘[Person A/Person B/Person C/Person D], Minor or background relationship(s), [Person B/Person E], [Person F & Person G].’

You may also see people list relationships as ‘background [person A]/[person B]’ or ‘[person A]/[person B]/[person C] (minor)’ or similar to denote the same. Personally, I prefer not to use this method as it can potentially create additional work for AO3’s volunteers. 

A note on tagging background relationships and background characters: Some writers prefer not to tag them to avoid cluttering tags of characters or relationships that only make minor appearences. Personally, I strongly believe that relationship tags and character tags are content warnings of equal importance to anything you might find in the ‘additional tags’ section, and if a character or relationship has any bearing on the story whatsoever they should be tagged.

A note on MCYT fic specifically: Please see note in the ‘Characters’ section explaining synonymous tags to learn why you do not need to use the content creator’s names in order for your fic to show up in searches. 

Characters

[ID: free text input bar titled ‘characters’.]

This is where you list the characters depicted in your story.

For the most part, the only tags you should be writing in this field are the characters in the fic, but there are a few common exceptions I have seen in multiple fandoms

‘No characters’. Used when no characters are depicted in the fic. 

‘Minor character(s)’. This tag can be added between the tags for the main character(s) of the fic and any other characters depicted. 

Some people may also write this is ‘background [person A]’ or ‘[person A] (minor)’ or similar. Personally, I prefer not to use this method as it can potentially create additional work for AO3’s volunteers.

A note on tagging background relationships and background characters: Some writers prefer not to tag them to avoid cluttering tags of characters or relationships that only make minor appearences. Personally, I strongly believe that relationship tags and character tags are content warnings of equal importance to anything you might find in the ‘additional tags’ section, and if a character or relationship has any bearing on the story whatsoever they should be tagged.

All free-form tags, including character tags, can be written in non-Latin characters. However, the fandom will be archived according to a Romanised transliteration.

A note on MCYT fic specifically:

A common complaint I see is “I wish AO3 didn’t make us use the content creators’ names when talking about the characters”. I feel you, I don’t like to mention them either, but I have good news: you don’t have to! 

AO3 is coded in such a way that one tag can have multiple names, and while we can’t avoid the ‘official’ name of the tag showing up in searches, you can use one of its alternate names on your own fic. 

I will walk you through how to do this in such a way that your fic will still show up in the relationship and/or character tag when people search for it. I have picked an example tag to show this. 

First, you want to find the tag you are planning on using and click on it.

[ID: A list of AO3 tags. A cursor is hovering over the tag ‘Oliver Brotherhood/Charles | Grian/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar’].

It will take you to a page that looks like this.

[ID: The AO3 page for the tag ‘Oliver Brotherhood/Charles | Grian/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar’].

At this point you want to find where it says ‘[# of works] Works in [Tag you want to use]’ at the top of the page and click on that.

[ID: The AO3 page for the tag ‘Oliver Brotherhood/Charles | Grian/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar’. A cursor is hovering over the large font size name of the ship at the very top of the page.] 

Which will take you to a page that lists all of the details about that ship, including what type of tag it is, what tags it is linked to in other tag categories, and lastly what other tags are registered as having the same meaning as this tag. It looks like this:

[ID: The details page for the tag ‘Oliver Brotherhood/Charles | Grian/Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar’. It lists its parent tags as the character and fandom tags it belongs to, as well as all of the possible synonyms for that relationship. Some examples include ‘MumboJumbo/Grian/GoodTimesWithScar’, ‘mumbo/scar/grian’, and ‘pre-Mumscarian’.] 

If you manually input any of the tags listed in the ‘tags with the same meaning’ section your fic will automatically show up in searches for that ship. 

Alternatively, you can manually input a tag that is not listed. This tag will not show up in searches until a volunteer has had the time to categorise your inputted tag as synonymous with the tag containing the name(s) of the content creator(s). If you do this for a relationship, try to avoid portmanteau ship names, duo names, and other ship nicknames, as the person categorising tags might not have the same familiarity with the source material or the culture of the fandom as you do. Instead write it following the ‘[person A]/[person B]’ format. 

Additional Tags

[ID: free text input bar titled ‘Additional Tags’.]

Finally we have additional tags. 

This is a catch-all category for any tags that do not fit into any of the other categories. The tags you find here will usually fit into one or more of the following categories: 

Genre. Some examples include conventional genres such as romance, fantasy, and meta critique, but also fanfiction specific genres such as fix-it, fluff, and angst. 

Tropes/Themes. Some examples include lovers-to-enemies, alternate universes, alpha/beta/omega, polyamory, canon-divergence, and found family. 

Format. Some examples include ficlet, multi-chapter, drabble, POV second person, and unreliable narrator. 

Common triggers. If there is anything in your fic you want to warn your readers about that is not included in the archive warnings, this is where you do it. Some examples include dub-con (dubious consent), loss of limbs, eating disorders, alcoholism, and references to past abuse.

Bear in mind that anything can be a trigger, even everyday situations or things typically commonly associated with positive emotions. It is impossible to tag every trigger, however, we can try our best to tag common ones. 

Comments or additions to tags from other categories. Some examples include mentioning that a ship is written as queerplatonic, that a character is depicted as having ADHD, and that a particular character is bottoming in your sex scene(s). 

This is not a comprehensive list, but should encompass most of the tags you would be looking to use in the Additional Tags category. 

Try to keep your trigger warnings together as much as possible, as readers might otherwise miss tags listed separate from the rest of the triggers. If you are unsure how to do this for multi-chapter fic, consider adding the ‘tags may change’ or  the ‘other additional tags to be added’ tags to your fic, and then continue to add tags as you publish new chapters. This will tell your readers to re-familiarise themselves with the tags on your fic with each new update. 

One tag you may see used often is ‘dead dove - do not eat’. This tag does not necessarily imply dark themes, it is simply a convenient shorthand for ‘I have told you what to expect from this fanfiction. If you choose to read it and dislike what you find you cannot claim that you were not warned’. 

A very common mistake I see is people using AO3 tags like they are tumblr tags. It isn’t bad per se, but it does make filtering harder. Volunteers called tag wranglers routinely go through uncategorised freeform fandom, character, relationship, and additional tags to sort them into the proper categories. While I cannot tell you what to do, I would urge you to bear in mind that AO3 is an organisation run entirely on voluntary work, and it is very easy for you to make their lives easier. Some examples of how to do this include using the ‘ambigious relationship’ tag instead of some variation of ‘could be read ad /p or /r’, trying to avoid typos in your tags, or keeping your notes on why you wrote this particular fic in the author’s notes. 

The one exception to this, as far as I have seen, is to add additional information to the tags you include. An example would be using the established tag for a potential trigger and then adding how it appears in another tag. This way people looking to filter that trigger can still filter it, and people who are hesitant about it can read what you have to say about it. I have included a few examples of this from real life fics I found browsing AO3 just now.

[ID: The Watchers - Freeform, they’re not like the Watchers from Evo though]

Establishes that a particular faction of characters are depicted, but divorced from the original source material.

[ID: Audio series 04: Gallifrey o4 (Gallifrey), set between reborn and disassembled] 

Establishes that the fic takes place during the fourth season of the source material, then specifies exactly which episodes it is set between.

[ID: Genocide, and general wartime atrocities] 

Establishes a common trigger is present, and that you can also expect depictions of similar themes that might not be as easy to define.

[ID: no major character death, but death all the same]

Establishes that while the archive warning for major character death has not been used, death is still depicted in this fic.

[ID: POV first person, might switch it up though] 

Establishes what type of narrator to expect, as well as the fact that this may change over the course of the multi-chapter fic. 

One final note 

My #1 advice for anyone, regardless of what category they may be tagging in, is this: Always bear in mind that you are tagging both for the people looking for a fanfiction like yours and for the people looking to avoid a fanfiction like yours. It is a description to attract readers only as much as it is a warning for readers looking to avoid certain tropes/themes/characters/etc. 

I hope this helped. Happy writing! <3

[brutalmasks]

ahh... just thinking about how one of the first things that bunny mask did whenever she was liberated from her cave was search for her quote unquote ' creator, ' as she would put it. and whenever bunny found no one to speak of that fulfilled that role for her, the emptiness that she felt inside was immeasurable, for lack of better words. because although she is able to make friends with people quite quickly depending on the other person and i could very much imagine her becoming a parental figure to a child; it just makes her feel a little bit like maybe she wasn't worthy of being given one and like she's got a void inside of her heart that she just can't fill. because in bunny mask's mind, whenever you aren't able to fall back on friends for whatever the reason may be, that is where your parent/s step in and the fact that she doesn't seem to have any... means that she's got to hold onto them twice as hard. because if they leave her, then bunny mask thinks that she'll be without any sort of support system, including even tyler because he was her friend first before they were on-and-off again lovers.

and the last thing that bunny mask wants to be is alone. though she is exactly the type of being to put on a brave face in front of people, no matter what she may be going through, bunny mask honestly was so starved for interaction after all of those centuries that she spent in the cave below the fosters home that these bonds that she's made with people since then — they mean a hell of a lot to her and she sort of subconsciously is exceedingly loyal to them out of fear that they may decide one day that they don't like her anymore, as there isn't something that she can give them that they can't find somewhere else; if that makes any sense. i guess basically what i'm trying to say is that, under the surface, bunny mask is somewhat insecure in her relationships and if she doesn't offer them something valuable like loyalty then she thinks they might not want to stick around with her. so, in a way, bunny mask is always thinking of ways that she can make her friends life better not only because she wants to but to ensure that they are getting something in return for their investment in her as a friend.

which, i realize is a kind of sad way to have to view friendship, but bunny mask had already been a loyal being before this mindset had taken effect in her mind, i guess you could say. i mean bunny will literally defend those who she loves with such a fervor that if one of her friends had done something bad that her first impulse would be to deny that they had and then, if/when it had been confirmed, she would literally just deflate like a balloon because bunny mask may or may not have a tendency to sometimes put those she likes on a pedestal; so whenever the illusion of them being able to 'do no wrong' in her eyes is finally broken... bunny wouldn't even be mad at them for a little while. depending on the severity of what they'd done, she'd either just become disappointed in them, or completely disheartened by it and would still not want to believe it to a certain degree. but bunny mask certainly wouldn't do this forever as she is aware that other beings can be morally dubious and/or capable of doing evil things, of course. it's just that, even when she platonically loves someone, she loves them with all of her heart often times and so it seems to effect her heavily if it is particularly criminal or wrong.

and don't get me wrong, bunny mask would still go after someone even if they were a friend of hers once upon a time if they had committed a crime / some kind of heinous act because that is what she is convinced her purpose is on this earth. bunny will just be simultaneously heartbroken at them AND then become angry later that they had done such a thing. whichhh could be quite bad news for the now ex-friend or whoever they might've been to her NGL because an angry bunny mask is bad enough BUT a heartbroken and angry bunny mask? you better start running, because she would be liable to turn you into a shish-kabob or something JSJSJ 💀 nahhh, i'm only halfway being serious here LOL but honestly, if there is any way that you can avoid attracting bunny's ire, then i would totally suggest it because uhhh. breaking her heart does tend to make her more aggressive when she's 'hunting' someone

[candyriku]

finally getting a chance to work on chapter 15 today :-)

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

I realized today that if you put Dipper Pines, Janner Wigiby* and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III in a room together with Ford’s journals, Pembrick’s Creaturepedia and a book about dragons they’d probably never leave.

Meanwhile, Mabel, Kalmar and Camicazi are outside committing war crimes and Leeli’s trying to teach Fishlegs to play a whistleharp.

*last name misspelled on purpose because there are new fans lurking about. thanks Peet.

[littlestpetship]

claraaaa ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ she is literally my child now.!!!! i will sing her lullabies to sleep and i'd let her sleep in if she wants and id make her pancakes/waffles that are shaped like animals andd i would draw little faces on them with chocolate syrup. i would buy her shoes and if she ever fell and got scratched up i would give her a hello kitty or spongebob bandaid... :,(( shes my daughter now ok? ok

[subconsciousmysteries]

idk what to do about the 4s man. They're either really whiny manipulators and groomers (4 -> 2) or they are bona fide psychopaths (4 -> 1 false security) or they are an ungodly combination of both.

In fiction I've seen good examples of 4s but in reality I struggle not to blame them for all the world's problems. There are reasons.

[howldean]

.

[piratadelamor]

self isolation as a form of self preservation is going to end up killing me someday

[poppurini]

Hi-ya! Sorry in advance for suddenly barging into your personal blog, (I haven't the foggiest notion how tumblr works, help me- ) (Truth is, I am socially awkward worrywart when it comes to socials, so i can't help but give a tinker's damn of how i sound like through speech-so-I SWEAR I AM NOT SOME KINDA CREEP OR SICKO LURKING INTO YOUR ACCOUNT JAKSJQK) Ok after this unuseful twaddle -shooting from the hip-the reason I wrote to you..sooo...I made a tiny eensy-weensy doodle of Lilia (sorry to break it to you- it's not some majestic drawing unfortunately) and...I thought I would show you as a token of appreciation for being the biggest Lilia simp I've ever known🫡 and also I LOVE YOUR CONTENT💋 *faint distinct sound of crowd cheering in the background* ANYHOW here's my homage to you :> (i know its not much but hope you'll like it, im not tryna be an arse-kisser help please)

PLEASE DON’T EVER APOLOGISE FOR SENDING IN ASKS I’M LITERALLY ABOUT TO PASS OUT RIGHT NOW ????????

AUGURHEURHEUSHEIAHEUER DYK THE MOMENT I GOT THIS ASK I WAS JUMPING AROUND IN MY ROOM GIGGLING AND TWIRLING MY HAIR STFU THIS IS SO SWEET I’M GONNA CRY 🥹🤍

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!! i love receiving interactions sm and to have u share me a doodle of lilia bcos my world literally revolves around him IS OFD SF FUNTNY TO ME BUT ALSOS SO SI CUTE ????? LIKE YES I AM THE BIGGEST LILIA KISSER EVER 🎪🎪🤹🤹🎢🎢🎠🎠

aLSO YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOUR LILIA DOODLE’S LITERALLY SO CUTE I SMILE LIKE AN IDIOT WHENEVER I GO INTO MY INBOX BECAUSE HE’S THERE POSING LIKE THE MOST UNSERIOUS PERSON THAT HE IS (AND I LOVE HIM FOR THAT) i’m gonna give u the biggest hug ever TAKE COVER

[carcinized]

i have srsly had irl queer people make fun of me for being queer + liking sports and tell me that is like, not gay or something. like ok just say youre chronically online. womens soccer is the queerest thing i have ever been a part of hands down. also youre an awful person

[lestatlioncunt]

OC SPEECH MANNERISMS.

i was tagged by @indorilnerevarine​ @nuclearstorms​ @liurnia​ @morvaris​ and @swordcoasts​ thank you so much beloveds, ily!!!

tagging: i feel like this already made the rounds so i’m tagging whoever wants to do this <3

BASICS

NO. OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES >> 1 / 2 / 3+ (english, french, spanish, sign language + can understand a bit of italian since she can speak spanish)

TONE OF VOICE >> high / average / deep

ACCENT >> yes / no

DEMEANOR >> confident / shy / approachable / hostile / other (polite, stoic)

POSTURE >> slumped / straight / stiff / relaxed

HABITS

head tilting / swaying / fidgeting / stuttering / gesturing / arm crossing / strokes chin / er, um, or other interjections / plays with hair or clothing / hands at hips / inconsistent eye contact / maintains eye contact / frequent pausing / stands close / stands at a distance

COMPLEXITY

VOCABULARY >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️⚪️

EMOTION >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️

SENTENCE STRUCTURE >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️⚪️

PROFANITY

FREQUENCY >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️

CREATIVITY (in regards to profanity) >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️⚪️

BOLD THAT APPLY

arse / ass / asshole / bastard / bitch / bloody / bugger / bollocks / chicken shit / crap / cunt / dick / frick / fuck / horseshit / motherfucker / piss / prick / pussy / screw / shit / shitass / son of a bitch / twat / wanker

THIS OR THAT

straightforward or cryptic? / finding the right word or using the first word that comes to mind? / masculinity, neutrality, or femininity? / formalities or with abrasiveness? / praise or equivocation? / frankness or lies? / excessive or minimal hand gestures? / name-calling or magnanimity? / friendly or blunt?

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

DO PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TIME HEARING OR UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHARACTER? almost always / frequently / rarely / never

DOES YOUR CHARACTER’S POINT COME ACROSS EASILY WHEN THEY SPEAK? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER INITIATE CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER BE THE ONE TO END CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER USE ‘WHOM’ IN A SENTENCE? yes / no / only ironically

YOUR CHARACTER WANTS TO MAKE A COUNTERPOINT. WHAT WORD DO THEY USE? but / though / although / however / perhaps / maybe

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER END CONVERSATIONS? walk away / ask if that’s everything / say that’s everything / give a proper goodbye / tell their company they're done here / remain quiet / they don’t

WHAT SOCIAL CLASS WOULD OTHERS ASSUME YOUR CHARACTER BELONGS TO, HEARING THEM SPEAK? upper / middle / lower

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THE WAY YOUR CHARACTER SPEAK STAND OUT TO OTHERS? accent / vocabulary / tone / level / politeness / brusqueness / it doesn’t

BASICS

NO. OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES >> 1 / 2 / 3+ (italian as mother tongue, english + can understand spanish and even say a few lines)

TONE OF VOICE >> high / average / deep

ACCENT >> yes / no

DEMEANOR >> confident / shy / approachable / hostile / other (polite, stoic) + way too smug for his own good

POSTURE >> slumped / straight / stiff / relaxed

HABITS

head tilting / swaying / fidgeting / stuttering / gesturing / arm crossing / strokes chin / er, um, or other interjections / plays with hair or clothing / hands at hips / inconsistent eye contact / maintains eye contact / frequent pausing / stands close / stands at a distance

COMPLEXITY

VOCABULARY >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️

EMOTION >> ⚫️⚫️⚪️⚪️⚪️

SENTENCE STRUCTURE >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️⚪️

PROFANITY

FREQUENCY >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️

CREATIVITY (in regards to profanity) >> ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️

BOLD THAT APPLY

arse / ass / asshole / bastard / bitch / bloody / bugger / bollocks / chicken shit / crap / cunt / dick / frick / fuck / horseshit / motherfucker / piss / prick / pussy / screw / shit / shitass / son of a bitch / twat / wanker

THIS OR THAT

straightforward or cryptic? / finding the right word (just to say something wrong to piss off someone lmao) or using the first word that comes to mind? / masculinity, neutrality, or femininity? / formalities or with abrasiveness? / praise or equivocation? / frankness or lies? / excessive or minimal hand gestures? / name-calling or magnanimity? / friendly or blunt?

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

DO PEOPLE HAVE A HARD TIME HEARING OR UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHARACTER? almost always / frequently (sometimes he expresses himself with italian sayings translated in english that...ofc don’t make much sense to anyone that doesn’t know about them) / rarely / never

DOES YOUR CHARACTER’S POINT COME ACROSS EASILY WHEN THEY SPEAK? almost always / frequently (but with same problem as above sometimes) / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER INITIATE CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER BE THE ONE TO END CONVERSATIONS? almost always / frequently / sometimes / rarely / never

WOULD YOUR CHARACTER USE ‘WHOM’ IN A SENTENCE? yes / no / only ironically

YOUR CHARACTER WANTS TO MAKE A COUNTERPOINT. WHAT WORD DO THEY USE? but / though / although / however / perhaps / maybe

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER END CONVERSATIONS? walk away / ask if that’s everything / say that’s everything / give a proper goodbye / tell their company they're done here / remain quiet / they don’t

WHAT SOCIAL CLASS WOULD OTHERS ASSUME YOUR CHARACTER BELONGS TO, HEARING THEM SPEAK? upper / middle / lower

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THE WAY YOUR CHARACTER SPEAK STAND OUT TO OTHERS? accent / vocabulary / tone / level / politeness / brusqueness / it doesn’t + rudeness sometimes