Since I do all of this manually anyway, feel free to request a variation of the tag. The actual categories on the site keep it all together in "Grimdark", but I don't mind changing things up a bit. [Grimdark] is good for gory, murder, , ect, but if your only issue is a [Dark] atmosphere, let me know in the categories section of your story submission.
This also goes for shipping. If Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are "interested" each other, but not "all over" each other, a [Light-Shipping] works perfectly fine.
Hopefully that clears everything up!
52 comments:
yay tags
ReplyDeleteHey, I was going to say "yay tags". lol Umm... tags, yay!? Sure, that works. I luv me sum tags.
ReplyDeleteTaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagz
ReplyDeleteGrimlight? How does that work?
ReplyDelete@MetalGearSamus
ReplyDeletePresumably it's a dark story with an eventual happy end.
if this doesn't quite work the way you expect it to, i have a suggestion where there is a tag to indicate whether one of the mane characters dies, E.G: Mane 6, The princesses, Trixie, CMC ect..
ReplyDeleteI just now noticed that it's "Grimdark" and not "Gridmark". I've been racking my brain trying to figure out where the term Gridmark came from. I don't read them anyway but I still can't believe I didnt' notice.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteMaybe its just me, but isn't that sort of a large spoiler?
@MetalGearSamus
ReplyDeleteGallows humor and lots of it.
I feel really stupid. For 3 months now i've thought that it was "gridmark".
ReplyDeleteWhy is "death" automatically grimdark? I mean, couldn't death simply be "sad" if it isn't graphic?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteOhhh, good call. Black humor, like Eight Heads In A Duffel Bag or something.
@lesserpoet
ReplyDeleteIt isn't automatic grimdark. Bittersweet starts with death....
So let me see if I have this right...
ReplyDelete"Grimdark" means gory stuff and probably some death...
"Grimdark-War" means war comes to Equestria
"Dark" Simply means that it's a creepy and/or chilling atmosphere but there's no death.
"Grimlight" means that it's going to be a little bit grim or creepy at times, but is overall easily handled and ends happily.
That about right?
@10z20
ReplyDeleteYes i suppose it would be, but i would personally like to know if i'm about to read something that i would prefer not to, as I tend to keep away from GrimDarks,
Death just doesn't belong in Equestria, to solve this I suppose you could have a Bar that says 'Show Extra Tags', keeping spoilers hidden away from the reader, and them being able to choose.
@lesserpoet
ReplyDeleteThe important distinction is how death is handled. Death isn't automatically [GrimDark], and there are plenty of [Sad] stories that are [Sad] mostly because of character death.
Murder, on the other hand, is automatically [GrimDark] for obvious reasons.
@Anonymous 4:45
ReplyDeleteOoh! I like that idea! Think we can do something like that?
Trixie Image...
ReplyDelete...automatic one-star
>Ponders
ReplyDelete[Grim-Shipping] ?
Grimdark as fuck means Cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteGrimshipping is a good point, I don't like shipping fics when everyone's rotten and abusive…
ReplyDelete@Bosstone GET BACK TO WORK! I need Stargate Equestria: Incursion NOW!!! you know, if that´s ok..
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. I love that fic btw.
FlutterDash BAD EXAMPLE!
ReplyDeleteshoulda used AppleDash. FlutterDash sucks D=<
To the moon with you for that comment!
ReplyDeleteI believe yes, Grimdark is way too broad.
ReplyDeleteFor example, when I finished reading The Eternal Night I was quite puzzled why it has a Grimdark tag.
Yes there is some violence and even death in it, but in such a light manner it could easily be a Disney movie.
So yes I would support splitting up Grimdark.
I like the GrimLight tag idea, simply coz it makes me giggle how it sounds. :)
[GrimDark]: if it is a dark atmosphered story with very expressive blood, violence, death, etc.
[GrimLight]: When the elements of GrimDark are present, but in Disney style?
[Dark]: the story is played in a dark atmosphere, focusing more on distrubing thoughts and emotions rather than violence.
As for shipping,hmmm.
You could probably make a [Romance] tag for stories that only involve ponies showing affection for each other, and keep the [Shipping] tag for fanfics where ponies get a bit more "active".
My two cents. Tag names could change but I positively support the idea of creating sub-tags (is that a word?).
As for Cupcakes-level stories...we don't post those here, so no need for extra tag.
You hear me Seth? YOU DON'T POST THOSE!
If I catch you posting something like that I swear I write a story starting out as Twixie fanfic, just to brutally murder them both when they would make out.
*cough* Yes, I did read Cupcakes. I reckon you guessed it from my reaction.
If you're unsure of specifics for a tag, should we e-mail you about it? There are some specific scenes that I have some questions about, but I don't know if they warrant a specific tag.
ReplyDeleteEw, no. No one's going to my moon. I just had it cleaned.
ReplyDeleteNo, you're going to Pluto till we find someplace more inhospitable. That includes you, Hater-of-my-Star-Pupil, you.
@Fenix
ReplyDeleteJust bring it up when you submit
Yo Sethisto, just saw a Canterlot Playset commercial on Nickelodeon just a few minutes ago!
ReplyDelete@Sethisto
ReplyDeleteAlright, well it's about a story that's already submitted. When I submitted the story, I didn't know the real specifics of what the tags truly imply.
Basically, if a story has some scenes that could be considered part of a certain tag (where it be dark, or shipping, or sad), but the story as a whole doesn't revel in it, does it need a tag as a warning for those scenes? I'm guessing the tags are what the story is about in whole.
Let me try something with the tags...
ReplyDeleteAdventure: Lord of the Rings
Dark: Batman the dark knight
GrimDark: Fallout
GrimDerp(Tries too hard): 40K
DarkComedy: Ciaphas Cain 40k series
Gore: Any slasher film
Horror: Amnesia dark descent
Action: Die Hard
War/Action/Adventure/Dark/light : Battletech
War/Comedy/Grimdark/adventure/horror : Fallout Equestria
GoreDerp:Cupcakes
Trixie: Trixie
Dammit, I wanted to reserve [Grimship] for a future story. Damn Anonymous beat me to it.
ReplyDelete5-Starred, would read again.
ReplyDelete@D4SHTH3R4INB0W
ReplyDeleteFlutterDash is the best!!!
Down with AppleDash! Up with FlutterDash!
Does Grimderp happen to be a tag yet?
ReplyDelete[GrimDerp} - Having extreme grotesque violence and macabre themes presented so over the top it's hilarious.
ReplyDeleteWe need something that says Serious, but something that that could be something that they would explore on the show. Can we get a "Serious" tag, or is there something that covers that?
ReplyDelete[Adventure-war? Not all war stories are grim or dark. Like Valkyria chronicles would never fit as either of those.
ReplyDeleteI think slightly more specific tags would be better
ReplyDeleteEX: death, blood, shipping, clopship, war, conflict (conflict more between charackters), adventure, etc.
and then color them after the general atmosphere.
Giving each tag an own color makes it easier to see which tags are there, but they are confusing and redundant.
Make it orange even if someone dies, tag it "death" "shipping" "adventure". If Rainbow travels out to slay a dragon that kidnapped Fluttershy and the general atmosphere would be like Rainbow getting all cheesy (yeah I know bad example) and not going all out slaying everything in her way.
If the main aspect is romantic, it's good to tag death because some won't like to read that, but coloring each tag in a different color makes things complicated, I wouldn't know if Rainbowdash would go on a gory journey and may even loose Fluttershy or something like that.
I couldn't decide, is this more like a dark story or is it shipfic. (The first one I would less likely read)
Sorry this is probably written hard to understand but english isn't my native language and it's 4:20 AM here, can't concentrate.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteTrixie is best tag
A death tag would be a huge spoiler wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteOh and I've got a question what is the normal tag? Is it what they would normally do in the show or at least theire behaviour. I can't really understand it xD
ReplyDeleteDeath can be there in many forms, you will have to decide: Should I tell everyone what awaits them or let it be a surprise, or something between.
ReplyDeleteLingering Nightmare author here. Does this mean I need a dark tag added to my own story? I'm not really sure.
ReplyDelete@Ewyndall
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
I've written two stories that have been posted here, both of which have lost readership solely because the people were responding to the extremes of the tags in question, and didn't even bother reading the story before hitting the one-star. I know this is true because people have outright said so about the the stories in question.
People downrate [Shipping] without reading because they expect the story to be an equine sex manual. But if your story goes no farther than kissing, and so you leave out [Shipping], people get bent way out of shape because even a kiss makes their Puritan heads explode, and "you should have warned them, Ima tattle to Hasbro on you". And if your story goes no farther than kissing, and you DO tag it with [Shipping], you get downrated by the one-handed typers for the lack of aforementioned Ponysutra.
I've encountered the same with [Grimdark]. I wrote a story in which a single character dies. It's not written luridly, it's a heroic death, and it's not one of the Gang of Six. And I got flak because it wasn't enough like "Saw" or "Misery" to earn the [Grimdark] tag. But you know very well I would have been pilloried if I left it out. Even so,the story received two one-star ratings less than a minute after posting, based solely upon [Grimdark].
ARGH
Okay, changes are clearly needed. However, there is a major problem: the "installed base". If a new system goes into place, what about the huge amount of existing material? There is also issue that the proliferation of tags have become serious spoilers in and of themselves.
I suspect we're just plain stuck with it.
@Caerdwyn
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder how many good stories I've missed reading because of this, mainly because of Grimdark tags. I try to look at the description at least, but 'Grimdark; will certainly potentially color me away. Sad as well, though not quite as much.
Yes. There need to be more mood tags. It's silly for A Shower Of Stars (which has a Wonderbolt dying while defending Ponyville from a giant ass meteor, but is otherwise an adventure fic) and Cupcakes (which is... Cupcakes) to have the same tag.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the [Grimdark] tag should be removed. If it's a story like Cupcakes where ponies get injured and killed in brutal ways it's [Gore]. If it's a story in a crapsack world where characters suffer and/ or die it’s [Dark]. If it's a story in which deaths plays no important role - like villain Queen Meanie kills pony Ed to show that she's evil on page 10 of 1030- and the rest of the story is normal than it’s still a [Normal] story.
ReplyDeleteI never really had a problem with the tags, Seth. They work fairly good, and the color coding makes them easy to recognize.
ReplyDeleteWell this is definitely interesting. I've been writing a [GrimDark] fanfiction for a while with the intention of eventually submitting it here.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm still wondering. How exactly do [Crossover] tags work? I mean, does it count as a crossover if you merge My Little Pony with another universe (say, Gears of War for example)? Or do you have to have characters from that universe for it to count as [Crossover]?
I'll keep this in mind and figure it out when I eventually submit, if I ever get around to that. Very interesting article, had to read twice.
Wisdom Thumbs raises a good point, there should be a [Fusion] tag for stories that are fusion rather than ACTAUL crossovers....which is probably the majority of stories with the crossover tag.
ReplyDeleteI has a questions for all you smart people hurr durr derp..
ReplyDeleteSo, about [Crossover] tags, do you have to cross over the story for it to count? For example, if I put the Assassins from the Assassin's Creed series but not the actual story does it count as a [Crossover]. Or another example, say I put the Red Faction from the Red Faction games into the pony universe. I don't really merge the story just the people. The GROUP of people. Not the actual characters from the game. Then does it still count as a [Crossover]?