WWB sequel tagging · 2:12am Jan 24th, 2021
So this is something that's been on my mind for a bit, and I'm finally acting on it. Basically I'm wondering what the best way to sequel tag WWB stories is, and to determine this, I'm interested in hearing how y'all went about reading the stories.
So the way it's set up right now is that stories are sequel tagged to the last story within that world. For example, Playing House takes place after Inner Strength, but it's sequel tagged to Looking Glass instead, because it's more a sequel to Looking Glass than Inner Strength since it takes place in a completely different world with different main characters. The problem with this is that it's a little confusing to new readers, who have to rely on my author notes (which I'm increasingly becoming aware some people just ignore 
) to figure out the actual full chronological order of the series.
The alternative, of course, is make it a straight line where the sequel to the story is always the next recommended fic in the chronological order, regardless of which world it takes place in. So for this, Playing House would be tagged as a sequel to Inner Strength, not Looking Glass. It's a little less accurate, but maybe more in line with how people read the series. The problem comes in a few awkward instances where stories will be sequel tagged with things that they had absolutely nothing to do with, like By Blood or Choice being tagged as a sequel to Breaking the Ice despite the fact that BBoC isn't a sequel to anything, it's the start of the pony side of the story and takes place at a time when the two worlds were mutually exclusive.
But maybe a little strangeness is preferable for an easier reading experience? Though that assumes that readers want to read in chronological order, as I know there are some people who only read the stories on one side of the mirror or the other (mostly people who dislike EqG that prefer to stick with ponies, but I know some people who fell out of love with ponies but like the humanized stories still).
So I'm asking for thoughts here. How did you read the series? If you were recommending it to a friend, would you recommend they read it fully chronologically, or in some other order? For clarity, the author's notes will still give options for the next story (listing the next chronological story, as well as the next story if you only want humans/ponies, as well as whether certain optional side stories can be skipped, etc.) but I suspect people will also choose to just follow along with the sequel tagging system regardless of my author's notes, so I'd like to make that appealing to the most readers possible.
I'd keep the two worlds/storylines contained as you have now. It's the fault of others for not reading on a fanfic site. I have my storylines contained to arcs too, and if people can't check the chronological order of things and what is or isn't stand-alone, that's their fault. The best you can do is label things correctly.
5441060
A good point. Perhaps I'm a bit too worried about this for no real reason then...
5441063
I'd say just stick to correcting people in the comments unless you think of something better.
im the odd man out on all of these . im weird cause im only hear for sunset so i read looking glass and playing house than jumped into finding home and never read the pony fics before that . so i don't feel my thoughts would help anyone
I know the whole chronology of this series
But I started from Thicker Than Water
But I decided to try and pick up from there
I read Finding Home first because I was looking for non porn poly fics. Then inner strength. After that, I clicked on the link to the WWB group and just read stuff from there. Looking Glass was actually one of the last ones I read until I caught up.
Honestly, explaining it’s a series and linking to your timeline is about the only way to do some thing this complex. I think there is definitely an audience for pony-side only reading, both because EG is its own niche and because, well, the human side stories tend to be set in a suckier world. I know I prefer the generally happier tone of horse landia.
Anyway. I don’t see a need to do chronological squeling and would probably prefer to link any story to the previous one it thematically fits. So Amber and Scootaloo stories getting linked to Finding Home feels pretty okay to me. I don’t actually know if they are, but that'd be the way I think I’d prefer it.
But the key thing I think is just the blurb about it being a series and linking to your more in depth set of fics.
5441065
That's fair lol. And it does help in the sense that it tells me that not everyone is interested in reading the full chronology, which is another point in Ice Star's argument for not worrying about sequel tagging the full chronology.
5441068
lol also fair. Individual stories will always reach people and inspire them to read out of order, I suppose. So far it seems I may be worried too much about the chronology being the main way for people to read the stories.
5441069
Yeah, understandable. I guess I got too hung up on the idea that others might not be aware, but really, like Ice Star said that's on them for not reading author's notes and such. Thanks for the input
5441070
I still respect the series you’ve made.
I say it’s iconic already
5441075
Aww thank you, I'm glad you think so!
I read it in the way that the reading order said to. It made pretty much perfect sense to me, idk if that’s useful in any way to you but that's how I did it. Although i feel like whichever way you choose to tag it is fine, people really should look at the reading order for something like this.
5441094
I suppose I'm probably worried over nothing, the reading order is right there and people can find it if they do minimal poking around.
I'm here in the same way Yinzer is here. Weird reading orders unite! My strange reading pattern worked out pretty well ultimately, and if the order had been as strict as you recommended, I don't think I would have read as much as I did. Because I felt I had more free reign to jump around with stories, when I did get to the point that I read everything I was very happy.
5441212
I see, that's a good point. I think I'll wind up leaving things as they are then. Thanks for the input
You could have fics linked to both the next story chronologically, and the next one for their side of the mirror.
5442024
)
They already are in the author's notes, but sequel tagging only allows you to tag one prequel per fic (although fics can have multiple sequels, which is why Finding Home is tagged as the prequel to three different stories
5442128
Didn't realize you were limited on prequels, so yeah, that's a little annoying. With that being the case, the system you have now works fine as it is.