A problem with the tragedy tag · 3:50pm Jan 4th, 2015
I keep getting asked why there's a tragedy tag for To Love the Moon. The definition I read way back said that it could be used on stories that ended bittersweet rather than in death/destruction. There's also the problem of this site not allowing comedy and sad to exist together.
So what is a writer to do when a story explores a lot of aspects of romance? Love is not always sunshine and ladybugs. Do I leave the tragedy tag? Take it off and let new readers become surprised by the darker/sad parts that happen later in the story? One could also argue that there are some tragic things that happen in the story.
What do you all think? Should I ask the admins and see if I can get a force change to 'sad'? Leave the tragedy tag and hope readers understand it doesn't always mean hero-death? Take the tag off all together?
Honestly, I wish they would add a 'bittersweet' tag.
The 'bittersweet' tag may or my not help! I believe the description is perfect for this story and that you should let it be!
Don't change what is not broken.
Well, if your story is not going to ultimately end on a down-note, then the tragedy tag is not right. Dark and Sad would likely apply, but Sad tends to be more stories with an overall tone of sadness. Dark... it depends on your setting. Is your world dark and gritty overall?
2699846
It has 'some' dark elements. Life with splashes of joy and dark moments. Though being a fantasy setting, the dark moments are more pronounced than our everyday lives.
Sad doesn't seem like it would fit since there's plenty of fun and uplifting moments. I never believed in 'happily ever after' there's always an end. So does that count as tragedy to see something to its conclusion?
2699860 Well, put it this way. My stories tend to have funny moments and sad moments, but I don't feel the need to tag those. Life entails a certain amount of funny and sad after all, romance in particular tends to increase the chances of that. It's when your story is actually about the tragedy or the sad or the comedy that you want to tag them.
2699874
Suppose you do have a point there.
So having read the story thus-far and knowing that it ends on a bittersweet note, how would you tag it?
2699882 Well, confession time, this is on my read later list
But even with a bittersweet ending, I'd say tragedy is unnecessary.
I always thought tragedy was just for any story with tragic events in it and that the sad tag was for sad stories in general. Like somepony can die in a tragic story and it can still have a happy ending. But a sad story would have a sad ending.
2699911
I've been of the same mindset. Sad-tagged stories make me think that the overall tone is sad.
And there are tragedies within this story, so it's not necessarily a wrong tag, but I've gotten a lot of concerned messages/comments about that tag. They're afraid the hero dies in the end. I wonder if that's deterred a lot of potential readers of the same opinion.
2699903
If you're waiting to read the story when it's finished, you might be waiting a bit.
2699930 I say the same thing to my readers
But no, I am just the type to add anything interesting to read later.
I found the easiest way to figure out a story's tagging is to use the tag place of X below.
Is your story about X, or does it just have some X in it? If it is about X then yes, without a doubt, it needs the tag. If it just has some X in it then no, it doesn't need it since that isn't what the story is about. If there seems to be an overwhelming amount of X in the story, then it is probably about X even if you didn't mean for it to be.
And as you said, romance is not always sunshine and ladybugs. You're trying to use another tag to further describe the Romance tag you already put on the story, but in doing so I think you may be confusing some readers as that isn't really what the tag system is meant to do. They see the Tragedy tag as a separate item central to the plot, and that's why they're concerned as a Tragedy story basically means the hero fails in the end. I know what you're doing with it because I've kept up with the comments on the story, but not everyone goes back and reads over all of those and finds where you said that it is only there to indicate the ups and downs of the romance story.
My opinion would be to remove it since its use seems to be confusing to some readers. I can understand why you put it there though, as you want to give your readers a fair warning of what they're getting into so they don't get deep into a 300k+ word story, come across some moments that pull on the heart strings, and then say, "Wait, I didn't sign up for these feels!" If you really feel a warning of some sort is warranted, you could add something into the story's main description. Maybe put your own "Additional Tags:" or some such under a break in the description, make your own [Bittersweet] tag if you feel that would be appropriate.
2699986
Very good points.
I think you may be right adding a sub-tag on the description tag and removing tragedy.
On a side note, what do you call a story where a hero/heroine wins in the end, but still dies? There's a few books and movies out there like that, but I wonder what tag would they receive?
2700026 Pyrrhic
2700026
Hm, do you mean using only the FimFic tags? Honestly, I think they're a bit lacking in detail, so there might not be one that matches that case very well. I suppose the Sad tag would be the closest, but defiantly not a perfect fit.
I like to use TV Tropes for things like this, because it goes into a lot better detail. This page has some good information on what you're talking about.
I'm one of the people that don't read incomplete stories, so I'm only going off what I've seen here, but in my opinion the Tragedy tag should be removed. To me, Tragedy is when a character's life is completely ruined or dies. Basically agreeing with everything brought up by 2699986
I believe (through various rants people posted on their blogs) that Tragedy has a very specific meaning, and if it doesn't satisfy its conditions, it is NOT tragedy:
That second part is really important (emphasis mine) and must be satisfied to qualify for Tragedy.
2701500
Yeah, based on yours and others notes on the definition and taking into consideration the original concept, the story doesn't end as a tragedy. Though the story does contain tragic moments, they are not the overall tone.
Therefore, I'll be removing the tag.
2700026
I think that's a Pyrrhic victory, where you win but at such a great cost it's almost not worth it.
I think that in the way that most people use the tragedy tag is wrong. The way I see it (and I may be biased, I don't know), is that tragedy will never truly happen until the end of a story, not when something tragic happens, but when something good fails to happen/come of a tragedy.
So that means that unless you plan something like that, I vote you remove the tragedy tag, and try and appeal for a sad tag.