feynavaley answered:

Thanks for the question! Honestly, I’m hardly an expert and I don’t know if I use tags correctly, so I’m probably not the best person you can ask to, but I can definitely explain my process. I hope it’s not too wrong! 😅

Obviously, you need to use the right fandom category, rating (I honestly miss the FFN distinction between K and K+, but I guess everything goes under G), and then there are the warnings and kind of pairings.

I have to admit that, at first, I was a bit confused by the warnings – especially, the ‘Graphic Depictions Of Violence’ one, as I really don’t know what qualifies as ‘graphic’. I used it on I See Fire because there are some serious injuries in the first chapter, but I’m still unsure if it was actually needed, haha. Probably not. At first, I used a lot the ‘Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings’ tag, then I learnt that readers tend to be wary of that as it’s often used to avoid tagging sensitive content that is actually included in the fic but the author didn’t want to spoil. In my case, I was just being overcautious, and I have since changed that to ‘No Archive Warnings Apply’ as I don’t think any depiction of violence in my other stories is strong enough to be considered ‘graphic’. Of course, I’m always receptive to feedback if any reader were of a different opinion.

As for the kind of pairing – they obviously depend on your story. I tag fics as ‘gen’ if none of the main characters is in a romantic relationship, I tagged both ‘gen’ and ‘f/m’ in Chrysalis because there is obviously a romantic relationship, but the focus is also on other non-romantic relationships that are developed through the story. The only advice I can give you here is to think only about the pairings (or lack thereof) involving the main characters, I don’t think that background ones warrant a change of category.

I follow a similar logic for tagging the pairing themselves: I tag familial relationships/friendships that are focused on with a ‘&’ between the two characters’ names, and the established or eventual romantic ones with a ‘/’. I don’t know if this is right, but I personally tag only the relationships involving the main characters – if there are other pairings, they are relegated to the ‘Minor or Background Relationship(s)’ tag as I don’t want to clog the tag for people who are looking for stories centred on that pairing. I also used that tag for the relationship between George and Aila in Arthur Kirkland’s Guide to Being a Big Brother, for example – I kept the category as ‘gen’ because their relationship was never the real focus (moreover, they were OCs, readers probably didn’t care about who they were paired with), but I thought it was better to warn the presence of a background relationship. Once again, I don’t know if this is the right way to do it, but nobody complained.

Now, on the characters: I think it would be better only to tag the ones with a significative role, but how do you define what ‘significative’ means? Personally, I’m still trying to find a balance – I also tag side characters who are recurring or have a significative impact on the main characters’ actions – and I’m afraid I’m overtagging, in this department. What I do, however, is to specify in the additional tags which characters the story is actually focused on, so readers will have more elements to decide. I also always add the ‘Other Hetalia Character(s)’ tag if there are some characters who appear in the story but I don’t want to tag because they have some truly minor roles.

I don’t tag OCs if they’re not focused on, though, even if they have a role I would deem significative enough to tag a canon character. I don’t know if this is the right etiquette, but I do it keeping in mind my preferences: I don’t like stories focused on OCs and I won’t read them, I’ll even blacklist the tag when I’m looking for stories to read – but the only thing that bothers me is the OC being focused on, I don’t mind side OCs. So, I don’t even tag them because they aren’t truly important.

After the characters, there are the additional tags, that I still have no idea of how to use, haha. I used to overtag a lot, using them as tumblr commentary tag because I had gotten the impression that it was what most people did, but I’ve since learnt that many don’t like it so I cleaned them up (I only left some tags on Overheated because they ended up featured on ao3tagoftheday, haha). I see additional tags as the place for further specifications. I tag the main genres – usually, the ones I use on ffn plus other ones that might apply (and that’s why like all my fics will be ‘family’, ‘hurt/comfort’, ‘angst’, ‘drama’, ‘brotherly love’, and ‘fluff’, haha) and if the story is an AU, for example.

One important thing to keep in mind, in this department, is the existence of subtags, that show up in the specific search but also when looking for the parent tag. To make an example, ‘Alternate Universe – Human’ is a subtag of ‘Alternate Universe’. Obviously, you’ll find a work tagged ‘Alternate Universe – Human’ when looking for something tagged like that, but it will also show up when looking for ‘Alternate Universe’. Therefore, tagging also as ‘Alternate Universe’ would be redundant, and this is something to keep in mind to avoid using too many tags. Unfortunately, I don’t know where you can find a list of subtags and parent tags, so you’ll have to rely on logic and maybe try a bit.

For the rest… honestly, I really don’t know. Always in the optic of specifications, I tag other things that I think the readers might want to know. As I’ve already mentioned, I specify which characters are focused on if others are tagged as well, use tumblr-style tags to elaborate on the meaning of other tags or mention themes/elements that come up in the fic, and write other stuff I think I should warn readers of (for example, always in Chrysalis, I mentioned which name I would use for Nyo!Canada because it’s not the most widespread one). I also add warnings that weren’t included in the main ones – violence that I don’t think crosses the threshold of graphic, abusive situations, and other things that might bother somebody.

I want to stress that I actually don’t know what I’m doing, but I hope this was at least a bit useful. Good luck with your writing! 😊