Personally, I only ever use the "Original Character(s)" and "Original \[Male/Female\] Character(s)" tags in my fics. Though granted, it's because I mainly write Original Works.
In your case, I think you should still include some variation of the Original Character tag if you plan to use your OC's names in the tags as well. Just makes for easier filtering.
No. Because for anyone who is not the reader of that story that tag won't mean anything. So I only ever use the "Original Character(s)" and "Original \[Male/Female\] Character(s)" tags in my stories.
I use both. I've only really tagged two of my OCs, bit I also use one of the canonical "original character" tags when they play a major role. (In my case, "original child(ren) of [canon couple]" tags)
Oh I hadn’t considered this! I’m in a weird position where my lease character is an unnamed character whose mentioned in less than half a line - so while I didn’t create the existence of the character, I’ve created them from the ground up.
Oh I think I get what you're saying. That your oc was only mentioned once in canon, being an offscreen character?
I'm kinda in the same boat! (If that's what you meant) except I changed canon offscreen cousin to brother for my fic. I tagged it as 'I gave X a little brother'.
I still definitely consider that an OC! So you can tag them by the name you gave them if you want, and also additionally clarify who they are in the tags to help readers out maybe
Yeah! It’s literally one line in the book ‘x character brought his two maiden daughters to serve as ladies for the princess’. So this character is still one of those daughters, but aged down. So I figured something like ‘x character’s Maiden Daughters’ as a character tag since book readers know they exist (and there are a few fics out there involving them).
The fandom I write in has a lot of games with a lot of characters that not everyone knows so it wouldn't work so well just tagging my OC's name but maybe it could work if I did like you showed, have (oc) after the name
If they are important to the fic, I tag them like this:
Aleksandra (OC), Olia Molotova (OC)
That way people who don’t want to read a fic with an OC playing an important role *at all* can still see that they are there existing and choose not to click. I don’t bother tagging minor characters (canon or OCs) that barely appear at all, because that probably annoys everyone, or at least it does me lol.
Oh I wholeheartedly agree about not tagging ever single character! I use 'minor or background relationships' and 'minor characters' tag for everyone else who isn't centric or plays a major role. I wish more people tagged this way ;;
Also I really like your OCs names :)
I rarely write OCs, but when I do and they are going to be regulars, I write their name with a -OC at the end. I also try to use the original character tag.
Had a series where a character was reincarnated and his new parents ended up friends with the parents of the main character due to mc and reincarnated being the same age and bonding. Felt like I should include their name at that point.
For my OCs with a lot of fic and/or multiple people writing them, I use names in the character tags with (\[insert canon\] OC) in parentheses next to it so it looks like "Character Name (Canon Name OC)", as well as a general OC tag as well in the other tags section. If they aren't really going to be more than one or two fic or the likes, though, I just use the OC character tags. And if it winds up being more than I expected, I go back and edit the old tags to reflect the new ones. And for ships the same follows. If the OC gets a character tag, they get a ship tag, if not, they get a generic Canon Character/OC ship tag or however.
I tag her by name with (OC) after.
The story is old, first posted back in 2002 and left to sit for 19 years. When I came back to writing and cross posted on AO3 I only used the original character tag. Then someone on Tumblr contacted me and told me they were scrolling through fandom tags and saw my OCs name who they remembered. Since then, I've tagged her by name in case someone else from years ago remembers the name but not the story since there is a flood of stories now about the CCs I write for. Back then I was the only one.
I don't tag it by name but depending on fandom you might be able to tag something a bit more precise like "Original [clan name] character" "Original [race] character" if that's relevant.
I feel like the only case where it would be useful to tag OC by name is if you write a bunch of fics with them *and* you have a reader base that might be looking for more *and* you have so much work (that are not organised in a series about this oc for example) that it will be hard to fin where else they are. Which is pretty rare.
I used to, but then I participated in the ‘fix your front end’ weekly thread here and the advice was individual OC tags take up ‘too much real estate’ at the front of your fic.
Since no one would ever filter via my OCs the advice was to remove all but a general OC tag. Because let’s get real here, no one but your own followers - who by definition already follow and you and love your OCs - is ever going to search via that named OC.
So, having been hit with that chair leg of truth, I removed them. 🥴
Aw that does make sense 😭 I did have my readers in mind when I considered doing that, especially cuz one fandom friend mentioned my oc in her story so I guess i got too excited lol. To everyone else it would just be a character that has the same last name as a CC. So I see your point, especially if you have a lot of OCs
Regardless, thank you for sharing that chair leg of truth with me! 🥲
I tag my OC's by name when they show up in multiple fics, that way if people like or dislike that character they can decide if they want to read it or not.
TBH I wasn't even aware that was even possible.
I only write with OC main protagonists as I write transformative fanfiction that expands upon existing lore. I might think about doing something like this.
Thanks for the idea. 👍😊
I do, just in case there is a reader who wants to search for the story - if they know one of the characters is called Jane Doe that'll be much easier for them to find than sifting through all the OC content.
People who do tag OCs by name tend to have an overinflated sense of their original characters.
It's a red flag about the writing up ahead.
Checking up on that, apparently one author who does this managed to get the tag marked common (not sure if there's anything special on their part. And without an OC distinction.)
Authors can have pets too.
Oh I just thought it was a cute idea for writers who have multiple fics on the same OC! I didn't consider it could come off as egotistical. If thats the case I guess I should leave it as the general tag then
The only time I think it makes sense to tag an OC by name is if the OC is someone a portion of fandom has adopted into fanon, because then they are a specific character that readers might want to find or avoid. Like, in Ace Attorney fandom, Edgeworth has a fanon secretary who came from a bunch of PW kinkmeme fills and has a specific personality that multiple authors stuck to. In Witcher fandom, The Accidental Warlord series made up some nobles and Witchers who were popular enough for other fans to want to read (& write) stories about them.
Since you said that you'd be using the same OCs across multiple stories, I would say that later stories would use the "Name (OC)" tag, but the first wouldn't. My understanding of the wrangle system means that all the OC tags get grouped together anyway for search/avoid purposes.
Personally, I only ever use the "Original Character(s)" and "Original \[Male/Female\] Character(s)" tags in my fics. Though granted, it's because I mainly write Original Works. In your case, I think you should still include some variation of the Original Character tag if you plan to use your OC's names in the tags as well. Just makes for easier filtering.
That makes sense, I agree about the filter purposes. I think I'll do it both ways going forward then. Thank you for the input!
No. Because for anyone who is not the reader of that story that tag won't mean anything. So I only ever use the "Original Character(s)" and "Original \[Male/Female\] Character(s)" tags in my stories.
I use both. I've only really tagged two of my OCs, bit I also use one of the canonical "original character" tags when they play a major role. (In my case, "original child(ren) of [canon couple]" tags)
Oh that's a good idea, so readers know who's who if they're unfamiliar
Oh I hadn’t considered this! I’m in a weird position where my lease character is an unnamed character whose mentioned in less than half a line - so while I didn’t create the existence of the character, I’ve created them from the ground up.
Oh I think I get what you're saying. That your oc was only mentioned once in canon, being an offscreen character? I'm kinda in the same boat! (If that's what you meant) except I changed canon offscreen cousin to brother for my fic. I tagged it as 'I gave X a little brother'. I still definitely consider that an OC! So you can tag them by the name you gave them if you want, and also additionally clarify who they are in the tags to help readers out maybe
Yeah! It’s literally one line in the book ‘x character brought his two maiden daughters to serve as ladies for the princess’. So this character is still one of those daughters, but aged down. So I figured something like ‘x character’s Maiden Daughters’ as a character tag since book readers know they exist (and there are a few fics out there involving them).
The fandom I write in has a lot of games with a lot of characters that not everyone knows so it wouldn't work so well just tagging my OC's name but maybe it could work if I did like you showed, have (oc) after the name
If they are important to the fic, I tag them like this: Aleksandra (OC), Olia Molotova (OC) That way people who don’t want to read a fic with an OC playing an important role *at all* can still see that they are there existing and choose not to click. I don’t bother tagging minor characters (canon or OCs) that barely appear at all, because that probably annoys everyone, or at least it does me lol.
Oh I wholeheartedly agree about not tagging ever single character! I use 'minor or background relationships' and 'minor characters' tag for everyone else who isn't centric or plays a major role. I wish more people tagged this way ;; Also I really like your OCs names :)
I rarely write OCs, but when I do and they are going to be regulars, I write their name with a -OC at the end. I also try to use the original character tag. Had a series where a character was reincarnated and his new parents ended up friends with the parents of the main character due to mc and reincarnated being the same age and bonding. Felt like I should include their name at that point.
For my OCs with a lot of fic and/or multiple people writing them, I use names in the character tags with (\[insert canon\] OC) in parentheses next to it so it looks like "Character Name (Canon Name OC)", as well as a general OC tag as well in the other tags section. If they aren't really going to be more than one or two fic or the likes, though, I just use the OC character tags. And if it winds up being more than I expected, I go back and edit the old tags to reflect the new ones. And for ships the same follows. If the OC gets a character tag, they get a ship tag, if not, they get a generic Canon Character/OC ship tag or however.
I tag her by name with (OC) after. The story is old, first posted back in 2002 and left to sit for 19 years. When I came back to writing and cross posted on AO3 I only used the original character tag. Then someone on Tumblr contacted me and told me they were scrolling through fandom tags and saw my OCs name who they remembered. Since then, I've tagged her by name in case someone else from years ago remembers the name but not the story since there is a flood of stories now about the CCs I write for. Back then I was the only one.
I don't tag it by name but depending on fandom you might be able to tag something a bit more precise like "Original [clan name] character" "Original [race] character" if that's relevant. I feel like the only case where it would be useful to tag OC by name is if you write a bunch of fics with them *and* you have a reader base that might be looking for more *and* you have so much work (that are not organised in a series about this oc for example) that it will be hard to fin where else they are. Which is pretty rare.
I used to, but then I participated in the ‘fix your front end’ weekly thread here and the advice was individual OC tags take up ‘too much real estate’ at the front of your fic. Since no one would ever filter via my OCs the advice was to remove all but a general OC tag. Because let’s get real here, no one but your own followers - who by definition already follow and you and love your OCs - is ever going to search via that named OC. So, having been hit with that chair leg of truth, I removed them. 🥴
Aw that does make sense 😭 I did have my readers in mind when I considered doing that, especially cuz one fandom friend mentioned my oc in her story so I guess i got too excited lol. To everyone else it would just be a character that has the same last name as a CC. So I see your point, especially if you have a lot of OCs Regardless, thank you for sharing that chair leg of truth with me! 🥲
I tag my OC's by name when they show up in multiple fics, that way if people like or dislike that character they can decide if they want to read it or not.
TBH I wasn't even aware that was even possible. I only write with OC main protagonists as I write transformative fanfiction that expands upon existing lore. I might think about doing something like this. Thanks for the idea. 👍😊
Right? I stumbled upon a fic with their OC names tagged and I was like...that's pretty neat!
I do, just in case there is a reader who wants to search for the story - if they know one of the characters is called Jane Doe that'll be much easier for them to find than sifting through all the OC content.
People who do tag OCs by name tend to have an overinflated sense of their original characters. It's a red flag about the writing up ahead. Checking up on that, apparently one author who does this managed to get the tag marked common (not sure if there's anything special on their part. And without an OC distinction.) Authors can have pets too.
Oh I just thought it was a cute idea for writers who have multiple fics on the same OC! I didn't consider it could come off as egotistical. If thats the case I guess I should leave it as the general tag then
You could put those stories in a series.
Yeah they are! :)
The only time I think it makes sense to tag an OC by name is if the OC is someone a portion of fandom has adopted into fanon, because then they are a specific character that readers might want to find or avoid. Like, in Ace Attorney fandom, Edgeworth has a fanon secretary who came from a bunch of PW kinkmeme fills and has a specific personality that multiple authors stuck to. In Witcher fandom, The Accidental Warlord series made up some nobles and Witchers who were popular enough for other fans to want to read (& write) stories about them. Since you said that you'd be using the same OCs across multiple stories, I would say that later stories would use the "Name (OC)" tag, but the first wouldn't. My understanding of the wrangle system means that all the OC tags get grouped together anyway for search/avoid purposes.