A couple of fic-writing related questions

[likealeafonthewind]

Hi all, I'm wondering if there's a fandom consensus on a couple of things:

1. what to call the different groups of people that occupy Haixing
    a. Haixingren/Dixingren/Yashouren
    b. Haixingian/Dixingian/(Yashou...?)
    c. Other

 

2. how to tag fics that take place in the past so that they can be more easily found by readers who may be looking specifically for them
    a. War Era (an existing tag but not specific to Guardian)
    b. Ten Thousand Years Ago (not currently an established tag but could be if enough people use it)
    c. Other


ETA: I'm going to try to summarize the discussion from the comments:

1. It sounds like most people would go with Dixingren and Yashou, but Haixingren vs humans seem to be pretty evenly split.

2. I think the general consensus is that the novel and the drama should have their own, separate fic tags for the past, because their backstories and timelines are so different. And anyone writing a blended fic could use both tags. So maybe Ten Thousand Years Ago or Old Haixing/Ancient Haixing/Ye Olde Haixing for the drama history fics (yeah, I know, it hasn't been narrowed down at all)? Not many suggestions so far for the novelverse fics specifically but I personally think Kunlun Era (from qikiqtarjuaq works well for it, since IIRC, Kunlun precedes almost everyone and everything else there, including Shen Wei). So basically...still an open, ongoing discussion.

Comments

[china_shop]

I don't believe we have a tag for the past! Kunlun Era maybe?

Ooh! *hearts* But would that include pre-Kunlun fic, like earlier Shen Wei or Ye Zun backstory?

And now I'm wondering about "bb!Shen Wei Era" as an alternative and am a little ambivalent.

[qikiqtarjuaq]

Hmm, yeah, there's no real catchy way to encompass the much earlier canon points. When exactly did the meteor hit? I can't remember if bb Shen Wei and bb Ye Zun had ever lived pre-meteor? But that might be a useful time marker if that were true.

[china_shop]

Shen Wei says, "At the time we left our home, asteroid collision happened to Haixing planet."

[qikiqtarjuaq]

So I would tag fics around that time with "And Then the Asteroid Nation Attacked."

[china_shop]

Hee! (I can't imagine myself using that, unless it became totally standard in fandom. I tend to tag very boringly.)

[melannen]

If you go with something meteor-related just make sure it isn't something that could get confused with the Homestuck tag for their Meteor Era. :D (Another reason to go for something as fandom-specific as possible.)

[china_shop]

Would "Ancient Haixing Setting" work?

[melannen]

There is one AO3 tag so far that references Xiao Shen Wei! I couldn't tell if it was referring to an era or a kink dynamic, but "Xiao Shen Wei Era" sounds adorable.

[mecurtin]

An Era doesn't have to match a person's life, specifically, so Kunlun Era would work.

I would say Old Haixing Era, except Haixing isn't in the novel.

Young Shen Wei Era would be a name to cover both the afore-times of the novel and of the drama.

[china_shop]

Yeah, I was just thinking about this and, to contradict my earlier comment, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to have a drama-specific tag, rather than one that encompasses the novel as well, since the backstories are SOOOO different.

[likealeafonthewind]

I really like Kunlun Era too, and I think it would work perfectly for novelverse fics! I'm not sure if it would fit dramaverse fics either, since there's a lot of room in the past for fics that pre-date Kunlun.

Also what about fics that take place after Kunlun leaves the past?

[bonibaru]

Or before he gets there, or don't involve him because they're about other characters, etc, etc. I think 10k years ago works better for those purposes.