azurite | Working on Epiphany... (Reply)

Okay, so Epiphany's my eFic 3 test, and so far everything's going so well. I haven't gotten tinyMCE working just yet, but almost all the other bugs I found recently were solved in one fell-swoop, and using the test beta is actually good for when the stable release DOES come out-- I'll be used to everything, rather than surprised by how different it is.

One thing that IS significantly different is how there is a single classification system, where you can add types of your own choosing. One type is Genres (mystery, romance, drama, action/adventure... you get the idea), Warnings (character death, drug use, sexual content, language, etc.), and Story Types. The latter is where I'm having some difficulties.

Now, eFic 3 has advanced search capabilities. You can include specific genres, warnings, or types, or exclude specific genres, warnings, or types. You can sort through fics based on ratings, category (all anime, all movies, anime, manga, and movies... etc.), sub-categories (specific titles), characters, and the status of the story (complete or not). You can even specify a "greater than" word count. So with all these functions, I didn't want to clutter up the site with Story Types I didn't need.

For example, let's say I want to read some smut. :} So I search for fics for the category and sub-category I want (or multiples thereof, if I'm into that kind of thing), specify a MA (NC-17) rating, the characters I want to see, the genres I want and don't want, and the warnings I want and don't want. Let's say I also would like a semi-long story of at least 1000 words, and completed, too. But what about Story Type? Should I include things like PWP ("plot, what plot?" or "porn without plot") in the Story Type list? If I include PWP, should I also include Lemon, Lemonade, Lime, or those other euphemisms we tend to use for the various kinds of smutfic?

And what about shortfics? You have 100-word drabbles (but you can search for fics of 100 words "or more" with the Advanced Search, and specify "completed"), you can have double-drabbles, or even those

1sentence kind of fics. Or you can have a oneshot with no particular word count. Matter of fact, is "shortfic" even a good word, or is "ficlet" better? I think the former is more sensible, but the latter is more common. I don't think I should use both as separate Story Types, though. So what do I put for Story Types? People might want to read oneshots and not give a rat's ass about the word count, but there might be people who have a five-minute break and want a 100 word fic EXACTLY.

The current version of Dragonfayth only serves ONE fandom and ONE pairing, so it's much easier to use Main Categories divided up by the seasons/arcs of Yu-Gi-Oh. There are also Continuations (fanfics that take place after Vol. 38 of the manga or episode 238 of the anime) and Alternate Universes (that don't take place within Yu-Gi-Oh canon at all, and so can't be considered "divergent" fics, or ARs). I'm wondering if I should make AUs and Continuations Story Types rather than sub-categories within EACH fandom, though. It's much easier to make it a Story Type, but somehow it doesn't make sense. If I did divide up each fandom by its seasons/arcs (where applicable), wouldn't it be weird if someone went to look for a story that's NOT part of any particular season/arc? And what about all those fics that ARE included... aren't they ALL technically divergence/AR fics? Why have a Story Type for them? But some fics really DO change a bigger premise (i.e. what if Anzu had the Millennium Puzzle rather than Yuugi?) as opposed to something smaller (i.e. what if there was a bigger context to Scene X in episode Y than we thought!?), so having the AR tag would be helpful, for the fics that really are VERY divergent as opposed to merely exploratory.

The same goes for Continuations. But if I *DO* consider them a sub-category (or a sub-sub-category, as it would really be), should I make them 2 separate ones, or lump them together as "Other"?

When you search for a fic, what are ALL the possible criteria you would want to use? I know when I search for a fic, I USUALLY go by the following (in this order):
-Fandom (obviously)
-Pairing (characters)
-Genre (some Story Types can fit into this, i.e an MST would be a specific kind of Humor/Comedy fic. So would a Parody.)
-Rating
-Completed Status
-Length/Word Count (some Story Types fit into this, i.e. oneshots, drabbles, ficlets, etc.)
-Warnings

Here are the Story Types I'm using so far:

Alternate Realities/Divergent Fics

Alternate Universes * (see above)

Continuations * (see above)

Crossovers (again, if people can sort in multiple fandoms, wouldn't this be useless? Or should stories be MARKED as a Crossover so that people looking in a single category don't get weirded out if they find them?

Shortfics * (see above)

Editorial

Essay

Holiday

Letter

Parody (something can be a Parody without being an MST, but an MST, by definition, is a parody, right? So wouldn't an MST be a sub-type of the Parody story type?)

Prequel (would this make more sense as a sub-category of a particular fandom, the same way AUs and Continuations might be? The only reason why I thought making ARs a Story Type would be a good idea is because you can have an AR set WITHIN canon or BEYOND it --before it, in an AU and/or Prequel, AFTER it, in a Continuation.)