Tags · 5:34pm Sep 17th, 2013
In spite of valiant efforts to distract me and lots of homework, the past few days have been kind to me. Chapter 8 of Sharing the Night is suddenly 7,000 words. Normally I'd say that's about 70% done (not counting proofing), as I've been for 10,000 per chapter, but we'll see. I still have a couple of major events that need to happen, so it might be a long one.
As the story shifts in tone a bit due to the big changes that happened in the previous chapter, though, I've been pondering the tags. I've made no secret of the fact that I don't set out to match the tags, but there's one exception. I know a lot of people haven't noticed, but Sharing the Night is labeled "Everyone," not "Teen." Most people, I'm sure, only really differentiate between "Teen" and "Mature," but for a story marked "Romance," the difference between "Everyone" and "Teen" can be just as big.
For those who don't know, "Everyone" is intended to be—basically—what you would find in the show, and no more. Now, that sounds awfully restrictive for a story ostensibly marked "Romance," but it's always been the plan. The way FiM appeals to all ages is part of its charm, and I believe that charm can be maintained even with—for example—Twilight's already established tendency to wake up next to different ponies every day, and various insinuations by other ponies about it.
Now, I'm not writing this because I'm considering changing anything, really. I would be crazy to change the tone of the story any more than planned 75,000 words in, and I know I have plenty of readers that read Sharing the Night in spite of its "Romance" tag, not because of it.
What I am curious about, is what tags people think the already posted chapters warrant. I mean, honestly, Twilight has died. It happened "offscreen," pretty much, yes, but I do wonder if my skirting the edges of the "Everyone" rating is kosher.
The same goes for the other tags, too, honestly. There was a lot more comedy in the beginning, should the "Comedy" tag remain? I'd be interested in hearing opinions about all of them.
I thought it was rated Teen.
As for the Comedy tag, depends on how far you want to stay or stray from that area. Personally, I see you still weaving in moments of comedy and humour throughout the remainder of the story. Plus, the shoe fits rather well from the first few chapters. 
I think I'm going to need to reread the story.
1355985
This is a reaction I expect from a lot of people
I don't intend to disappoint anyone, though, so I would just say bear with me 
1355990
She was—technically!—physically crushed by the Ursa Major. Like I said, it's "off camera," in that the scene fades to black, and the next one starts with her as a starry mess. It's not terribly important that the reader understand the level of physical trauma, but Twilight does actually refer to it as dying...
Hahaha, I just started reading The End of Ponies because of the latest chapter of TSC, and it is consuming all my free time. I guess it's comforting that another of my favorite authors is suffering the same fate, even if it's stalling a great story.
When did that happen again?
If you want to drive the focus away from comedy and only include sporadic bits of comedy here and there, getting rid of the comedy tag should be a given. Otherwise, if it is still an important part of what you want to write, I would keep it. Likewise with any other tag.
Concerning the rating, I think it is fine.
1355997
Bah, no disappointment.
You've strayed a bit into 'Teen' territory, but not so much so that it's really important to change the tag. My rule of thumb: if Disney's Little Mermaid is rated 'G' ... 
1356009
Off the top of my head; Rainbow and Fluttershy have been used as snuggle-pillows, iirc. Been a while since I read the story, admittedly.
1356007
Hah, I wouldn't say it's stalling StN, really, though I haven't started reading End of Ponies in earnest yet.
1356009
1356016
Fluttershy and Celestia, so far, and of course, metaphysically with Luna every night.
Edit: No one else has commented on it yet, except for Twilight herself, but that changes in Chapter 8.
1356011
I almost mentioned Disney movies as an inspiration for general level of content, but then I realized I wasn't sure offhand what their ratings actually were
1356021 - I think your making a bit too much a big deal about Twilight's 'death'. I mean, yes... she got stomped on by an Ursa Major, but really... she turns to dust. It's more like the Ursa Major just knocked the 'stardust' out of her. She's had already dusted and rebuilt herself several times prior, so it wasn't really a big issue, to the point that I was rather surprised you consider it a 'death'. Now getting eaten/absorbed by the Ursa? That's probably a bit more traumatic, especially considering her very odd relationship with stars, and the star beasts in general.
I'm not really sure Everyone was appropriate from very early on. Teen seems a bit more fitting, if only because the scene of her re-appearing on Celestia's balcony and poking herself, watching herself literally fall apart would be pretty disturbing. Nevermind the innuendos, getting shouted off a castle to fall to her death (though not), cuddle-pillows, and various antagonists in the form of Star Beasts, The world, and a certain uppity astronomer... Though to be fair, I'd probably be somewhat irked if the stars that I studied started to get up and dance and swirl for no reason. Cosmology of this universe is weird.
1356038
I suppose that's one way to look at it. When I think of ratings, I think more about hard, definable things that are off-limits—violence, death, overt sexuality, etc—more than more objective things like how scary or dark something is. Certainly, I pull no punches in that regard, so perhaps teen would be best...
My intentions with the story won't change, of course.
Personally the reason I started reading this was the fact that it had he romance tag, and that it was in the twiluna :3
1356054
Duly noted
1356075
temiville.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/smiley-hug2_sl-designs.jpg
Cast-Iron plz
Go ahead and change it to teen, I think most of the readers already thought it was teen or at least wouldn't be put off by it. And congratulations on progress.
Season 3 spoiler (I assume most people have seen it by now, considering season 4 is coming up, but can't be too certain): I rather think Twilight died in canon, too. Finale of season 3, she got blasted by the Elements during the daytime, leaving only a scorchmark on the floor. Then she descended from the heavens later in the evening. (One wonders what the others were thinking in the intervening hours.)
Either way, King Sombra and Philomeena have died on-screen. My Little Pony is not as death-averse as you would think.
Everyone is fine.
I'd say keep the tags the way you originally had them. Don't bother changing 'em if you're flip flopping back and forth on what tags you should have. If you end up changing your mind later on and decide that your story isn't a comedy anymore like you'd planned then don't worry about it.
...and Twilight died? ...I'm assuming you're referring to the Ursa Major scene? I guess you could call that dying, though I might argue against it. However, I think the important bit is the how the dying happened. It happened off screen, and it wasn't a gory death. Seeing as how King Sombra was killed (as far as we're aware at least) on screen in a pretty spectacular way I'd say you're in the clear.
You should be careful about the tone and all. I mean, its not like the show has all sorts of dark stuff in it. Like a fascist alien bug vampire who attempts a coup of the government by abducting, physically abusing, and then replacing the bride to be of a powerful government official so she can use his love for his bride to slowly brainwash him and reduce him to a mindless husk so she can decapitate the army and allow her soldiers/children/spawn to invade and ensalve the citizens of the nation at their leisure and "feed" on them. Something like that would really stretch the Y rating the show has. Good thing it didn't happen.
Oh.
Wait.
No.
That totally did happen.
-
If anything I would argue the theme of romance and the mature and complicated relationship Luna and Twilight have would sort of put this story out of the reach of kids. Not because its TEH BADS, but because its just not something I'm sure they'd get.
Personally i don't think comedy fits, i don't remeber thinking it was fitting ever. Im pretty sure you're way outside the "everyone" border at this point.
I actually had this comedy discussion with somebody else on kkat's blog. Basically, I see tags as things the story is focused on. Therefore, if you intend STN to make people laugh, then I would keep the tag. On the other hand, if the comedy just kind of happened, but the story is much more focused on something else (like the TwiLuna), then it would be best to remove it. For example, with Fallout: Equestria, the comedy tag would be blatantly incorrect, despite the hundreds of times that story has made me laugh. It's just not a comedy.
It's basically the same for teen. If it fits your intent better to make it teen, then do that.
I believe you're leaning more towards the "Teen" category with the romantic content, but it's not that big a deal. Most of the people on this site should understand by now what to expect in their Shipping stories, and this hardly pushed any limits.
If this was a straight-up romantic comedy, the Comedy tag would make sense. But with the focus mostly on serious stuff, it feels more like a fantasy Romance with some light humor sprinkled in here and there.
It ultimately doesn't matter if you have one tag or twenty, though.
Just write!!! 
