Comments on 'R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It'In some newer ficlets writers, I've noticed some confusion about how to use tags. Some people don't even seem to use them at all. This is a pity, because tags are one of the only ways that people might be able to discover your ficlets after they vanish off the front page.
But what should you tag with? Anything. Everything. The name of your main character, the genre or genres like "fantasy" or "science fiction", any adjectives like "funny" or "weird" that you think describe the story. Things that happen in it, like "transformation" or "burglary". Anything else you can think of. The more tags you add, the more chances someone will have to search and find your story.
Type the tags as normal phrases. If they involve more than one word, you can put a space in; you don't have to use an underscore or quotation marks. Separate the tags with commas.
And if you're out of inspiration sometime, try searching on tags that interest you. You might find some long-forgotten ficlet that would be great for a sequel.2008-03-29T17:58:19Zhttp://ficlets.com/feed/story/26110Comment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I never find stories thru tags. I read whats on the active/recent/popular list and the many ficleteers on the buddy list, and my favorites.<br />LoA</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=525202008-03-29T17:58:19ZSKermitgorfhttp://ficlets.com/authors/kermitgorfComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I used to think I went overboard on tags. I have some of the strangest tags around. Even known of myself to use “back to my roots” as a tag. ;)</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=524122008-03-29T02:09:26ZJenuniquehttp://ficlets.com/authors/jenuniqueComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I always use tags, they’re just fun to type. <br />And I love searching for tags too, though I usually don’t have time.<br />Great advice. Again.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=523792008-03-28T23:53:04Zwytherwingshttp://ficlets.com/authors/wytherwingsComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I don’t use tags on a semi-regular basis. Starts of series and individual ficlets that I want people to read, I use them on those.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=523452008-03-28T21:29:26ZMask By The Moonhttp://ficlets.com/authors/mbtmComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>whoops. I never use tags, I know how, I just never bothered with them. Good advise though.<br />LoA</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=522452008-03-28T15:24:23ZFlute Loop<33http://ficlets.com/authors/sashaComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I have just started using them and it is a good idea and I don’t think it ever shows up on the most active or most popular unless you use tags. I think anyway.<br />LoA</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=522272008-03-28T13:36:21ZBlusparrowhttp://ficlets.com/authors/blusparrowComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>And one more thing – tags are alphabetised on the published page. Don’t tag with “science” and “fiction” and assume that it will look like “science fiction” – because it won’t!</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=522202008-03-28T12:48:33ZMycrofthttp://ficlets.com/authors/zsigeComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>Tags certainly make it easier to sift through 26,000+ (and climbing) Ficlets to find the one(s) you’re looking for.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=522152008-03-28T11:33:36ZBARomerohttp://ficlets.com/authors/baromeroComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I really like this advice. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to go searching for tags, but it can be really fun. Using character names can also be an easy way to refind your own ficlet or for someone else to refind the series later. I’ve been using the keyword ‘marshmallow’ to refind one of my earliest ficlets for quite a while whenever I need to reference it (since I reused the characters in other places).</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=522082008-03-28T10:14:56ZTHX 0477http://ficlets.com/authors/thx_0477Comment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>woops…f ive *</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=521942008-03-28T05:33:42ZTrying to Blendhttp://ficlets.com/authors/luckybeauxComment on R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #6: Tags, You're It<p>I don’t know if you are continuing this series, but so far, this has been interesting to read and informative. Thanks.</p>http://ficlets.com/stories/26110?basename=521932008-03-28T05:33:20ZTrying to Blendhttp://ficlets.com/authors/luckybeaux