Archive of Our Own

The easiest way to tag a fic is to follow the funnel model: from the broadest to the smallest. Begin with the setting: is this story canon compliant? Canon divergent? An alternate universe? When is it taking place? Where is it taking place? If you go canon compliant, you’ll want to specify which piece of canon your story fits in. For example, a story talking about Sirius’ year in Azkaban before his escape in PoA will be tagged: 

• Canon compliant
• Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Below are examples of tags you can use to describe the setting of your story. Remember, these are the elements related to setting: when, where, position in relation to canon. 

Setting

• Alternate Universe - X
• All Alternate Universes should be included. If your fic is set in a Muggle AU and also back in time, then you would tag AU - Muggle and AU - 1970s, for example.
• Canon Divergence
• Book/Episode/Season - X: applicable for both Canon Compliant and Canon Divergent, optional in cases of major rewrites.
• Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, etc.

Time and place (if applicable)

• City/Country
• Mainly useful for alternate universes. Tagging "London" or "Hogwarts" for a canon divergent Harry Potter fic is probably overkill.

• Era/Year
• This can either mean the time period (such as a decade or century) and/or the generational era of canon (lightning gen, Marauders). It can also be used for historical eras that have had names coined to refer to them (Gilded Age, Prohibition Era, etc.)

Next up are genres. In broad strokes, a genre is a category. Fanfiction can fit in any of the traditional publishing genres (such as romance or adventure) or in some genres that tend to be specific to it (angst, fluff, porn without plot, etc.) Below, you’ll find examples of genres that you may tag. 

Genres

• Common genres
• Romance
• Sci-Fi
• Adventure
• Horror
• Comedy
• Mystery
• Etc.

• Uncommon genres
  • Literary Fiction
  • Lesbian Gothic
  • Philosophical Fiction
  • Etc.

This section is included to show the variety of genres that may apply to a singular work.

• Fic-specific genres
  • Fluff
  • Angst
  • Crack
  • Crack Treated Seriously
  • Porn Without Plot
  • Etc.

Fic-specific genres are not tropes! They are genres that emerged in fandom communities and are mostly only used for fanfiction.

Once you’ve narrowed down the genre(s) your work belongs to, you’ll want to delve into the smaller details that compose your narrative: inspired by (particularly useful for AUs based on other works or ideas/narratives borrowed from other writers/source material), tropes, and themes.

Inspired by or references

• If your story is inspired by another work/author (Shakespeare, mythology, a poem, etc.) this is the right spot to include the tag.

Tropes and themes

• Tropes: tropes are self-contained narratives; fake dating implies they will date for real later, marriage law means there needs to be an actual law, soulmate will have some form of a pre-tied destiny between two characters, etc. Tropes can be subverted of course, but they’re different from themes. You may include both, neither or one of each. Whether you tag tropes or themes first depends on the audience you have in mind for your work. Here are some common trope examples:
• Fake dating
• One bed
• Enemies to Lovers; Friends to Lovers; Lovers to Enemies, etc.
• Marriage Law

• Themes: themes are broad ideas being depicted in the work that are not contained within a narrative structure. Themes may include, but are not limited to:
• Religion
• Grief
• Social Commentary
• Politics
• Love
• Death
• Violence
• Friendship
• Family

Once you’ve sorted those elements out, it’s time to work on the actual details. Remember: tags are here to help promote and advertise your work to the proper audience. Depending on your audience, you may not want to tag some of these.

Let’s say, for example, you’re writing a fic that is rated E but where the smut is minor and often used in service of plot/character development rather than as erotica. To attract the proper audience, you may not want to tag specific kinks and sexual acts, as those might reach readers who are interested in an intensely smutty fic where the sexual relationship is at the forefront of the story. Inversely, if you’re writing porn without plot, you will want to have all these specific kinks tagged in great detail.

Same goes for characterization! If your fic is filled with tropes, specific characterization traits would need to be tagged (like professions); but if you’re aiming for a more narratively-driven story with deep themes and character study, tagging characterization might not be a good fit for your story. It’s a matter of knowing what your story aims to do. 

At any rate, below are examples of tags for all these categories:

Characterization

• This would include anything from professions (Auror!Draco Malfoy) to morality level (Dark!Hermione) and anything in between (including OOC and Character Bashing, or things like X Needs a Hug). POV characters should also be specified here.

Kinks and triggers

• Anything from "Blood and Violence" to "Blood Kink" depending on the tone, genre, tropes and narrative you decided to go for. For dead doves, those should probably be further up the ladder. It depends on how much importance you want to give them and how present they are in the overarching narrative.

Ending cues

• If you want to tell your reader how your fic will end, best to have those tags at the end. Examples:
• Happy Ending
• Sad Ending
• Open/Ambiguous Ending
• Hopeful Ending
• Bittersweet Ending
• Cliffhanger

Fun tags!

• Rambly tags should probably go towards the end since they don’t usually inform the reader. They can be peppered throughout if there are puns to accompany any of the previous tags.

Unsorted: stylistic and narrative choices

• I feel like those can go anywhere depending on the fic you write. Style- and character-driven stories will probably have those higher up than tropey and/or genre fics. Examples of such tags:
• 1st/2nd/3rd Person POV
• Omniscient POV
• Poetry
• In Media Res
• Writing Exercise
• Abstract
• Etc.

A note on Archive Warnings:

There are four Archive Warnings on AO3: Major Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-Con, and Graphic Depictions of Violence. The alternatives to tagging any of those are: No Archive Warnings Apply (when none appear) and Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (commonly abbreviated as CNTW). AO3 does not require that you tag any of the Archive Warnings as long as you tag CNTW. Depending on whether you want to avoid spoilers or not, CNTW is a good alternative to consider—but keep in mind that you cannot tag NAW if any of the Archive Warnings do apply.