Rare tags

[Mogrem]

What are the rarest tags you've used on one of your stories? Ones that you're the first to use don't count in this case; I'm interested in hearing about some seriously hidden niches you may not have even realised were going to be niche when you tagged the story.

My two to start:

Vignettes. Seven stories in total, including a veritable rush of four since 2020. I used it in my recent story Daughters of the Diaspora. Its rareness surprised me because it seemed like such a natural format for erotica. Presumably most simply aren't tagged as such.

Sumerian. I was inexplicably chuffed to see @anyawvossand had got their before me. The late Chalcolithic can get lonely on your own.

 

[NotWise]

I might have some rare tags on my stories by mistake. Normally I want my tags to be common enough that people will search for them. Using rare tags seems self-defeating.

 

[countdowntolov3]

Turns out "grad students" is stiff competition. 5 red H's out of 6.

I guess that begs the question, what tag has the highest average score?

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Though I don't know if it's unique, some readers got a chuckle when I used the tag "Noisy Sex," for Crashing at the Office. I used the tag to describe a lady who sounds like a howler monkey in heat when she's climaxing.

 

[SimonDoom]

I actively seek to avoid rare tags, and I can't think of any I've used. I choose tags that I think my potential readers might plausibly use to search for stories. That strategy precludes the selection of rare tags.

 

[Bramblethorn]

"sex work": about 92 hits altogether (about 12 of them mine). Not the rarest but surprisingly rare given the topic.
"autism": about 70? hits altogether, but most of those are from a few long series; I think about 18 distinct stories.
"lovecraftian": only a couple of dozen, and I think I'm the only one with "king in yellow" but that's more understandable.

On other sites with different tagging culture, I'm a bit freer with frivolous tagging. Over there I've used "we do bones motherfucker" (3 hits), "porn for people who like science facts", "barely even alpha-read", and "I wrote this in less time than it takes to read" (unique).

 

[joy_of_cooking]

"I wrote this in less time than it takes to read" (unique).

Teach me, oh master!

 

[OnlyHappyEndings]

I think I'm the only one with "king in yellow" but that's more understandable.

I found "The King In Yellow" compelling, particularly the second act.

 

[Erozetta]

Stroker has about ten uses. (I was extremely surprised by this.)

Online friends has about 25. (Also surprising.)

My favorite tag I ever used was unique though. It was Difficulty giving up control.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I found "The King In Yellow" compelling, particularly the second act.

User name checks out.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Teach me, oh master!

That was a one-off short piece written mostly as snark on somebody who'd posted a cursed boomer meme. Sadly it doesn't translate through to my longer stories.

 

[StillStunned]

"shades of grey": only five hits
"wiwaw: only four hits
"dark love": only three hits
"stillstunned": only one hit

I guess that makes me unique! Also, pretty bad at coming up with tags.

 

[Omenainen]

“Anarchy in the fairyland”, unique
“Smashing patriarchy”, unique
“Virgin sacrifice”, nine hits
“Queef”, seven hits
“Pussy power”, four hits

And that’s just one of my stories.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

There's about 40 stories with the tag 'psychology', three at least are mine, and over half are two long series. Even fewer for 'psychological'. I tried reading several, hoping for stories similar to mine which get into people's heads, but was mostly disappointed.

'Whisky' nets 8 stories, four being chapters of one of my series.

'Wales' - 11 stories, two are chapters of mine.
'Scotland' gets about 60 stories, mostly long fantasy series, and one story of mine.

'Northern Ireland' - six stories, two are chapters of mine

(England and London have a couple hundred each, a few hundred for British, about 20 for UK.)

I should have tagged Sex Swing Shenanigans with 'South London' - no hits for that yet.

 

[TheLobster]

"hypersexuality" has only 15 hits, including my very first story. Curiously, "nymphomania(c)" both have multiple pages of hits.

"sex work": about 92 hits altogether (about 12 of them mine). Not the rarest but surprisingly rare given the topic.

It's a website with stories about fucking -- we don't do euphemisms here "whore" and "prostitute" each have many times more hits than that, and even "camgirl" seems to have more.

"autism": about 70? hits altogether, but most of those are from a few long series; I think about 18 distinct stories.

I don't think many smut authors go into exact medical diagnosis. They just slap the "shy" tag, which has 10+ pages of stories, since that's the primary way in which an autistic character would stand out in an uncomplicated sex-focused story.

"porn for people who like science facts"

Damn, that was basically the tag I needed for my Geek Pride submission. Alas, it had to do with just "sci-fi" in the end :/

Stroker has about ten uses. (I was extremely surprised by this.)

Not surprising to me at all. I only learned what the term means when I started to hang out in AH.

Online friends has about 25. (Also surprising.)

"long distance" has two pages of hits and more-to-the-point "sexting" has close to ten. People just prefer to be explicit

 

[Bramblethorn]

"hypersexuality" has only 15 hits, including my very first story. Curiously, "nymphomania(c)" both have multiple pages of hits.


It's a website with stories about fucking -- we don't do euphemisms here

"Sex worker", as a term for somebody who does sex-related stuff for money, seems like the opposite of a euphemism. It doesn't get much more literal than that!

A euphemism would be something like "lady of the night", "grande horizontale", "seamstress", something like that.

"whore" and "prostitute" each have many times more hits than that, and even "camgirl" seems to have more.


I don't think many smut authors go into exact medical diagnosis.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that to be a common one; it's one of the reasons I wrote that story in the first place.

They just slap the "shy" tag, which has 10+ pages of stories, since that's the primary way in which an autistic character would stand out in an uncomplicated sex-focused story.

Hmm? Autism isn't the same as shyness/introversion. There's overlap, but it's not a defining trait.

 

[SyleusSnow]

Six stories have 'moose' as a tag, but only Kyle the Weremoose Gets Lucky features a literal moose

 

[Cagivagurl]

Cuck shit

Cagivagurl

 

[ThatNewGuy]

This was a fun little exercise. My rarest are:

• Les Miserables - 3 uses
• corn maze - 7 uses
• tornado - 12 uses

I have a few unique tags, including "crop circle," "self-storage," and "Modigliani". My favorite unique tag, which I tacked on to an absurdly silly A-Team parody, is "pitied fools".

 

[Gamblnluck]

I might have some rare tags on my stories by mistake. Normally I want my tags to be common enough that people will search for them. Using rare tags seems self-defeating.

Exactly. I recently read a story with tags that were all stupid that nobody would use them. Tags are suppose to help a reader find certain types of stories not be so obscure they are useless.

 

[THBGato]

“Smashing patriarchy”, unique

Really? I'm surprised. I would have thought there would have been more...

EDIT: No I'm not. I don't why I wrote that. Forgot what website I was on for a minute!

 

[Erozetta]

Not surprising to me at all. I only learned what the term means when I started to hang out in AH.

"long distance" has two pages of hits and more-to-the-point "sexting" has close to ten. People just prefer to be explicit

I think I've used the term stroker since before I was Lit legal. I thought it was a fairly common term for short erotica with a heavy focus on the sex and not much else.

Neither long distance nor sexting applied in this case. It was about online friends. One telling the other about a dream they had. No phone sex, no relationship beyond friendship between them at all for the duration of the story. And the end only implies anything more being a possibility.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Exactly. I recently read a story with tags that were all stupid that nobody would use them. Tags are suppose to help a reader find certain types of stories not be so obscure they are useless.

Depends - if you read a story and wanted to find it again, then 'that one with the moose' or 'it was in Wales/Scotland' or 'that Northern Irish whisky-obsessed guy' would be the kinds of things I'd look for.

Looking at some of the commonest tags, they're for things like 'sex', 'blow job' 'female' and other such banality. Unless you're into incest where 'mom' and 'son' and such are obvious search terms, or BDSM where there's so many terms that may be relevant, it's a shame we can only use ten, a lot of the time there's nothing that hugely jumps out to use as a tag. ('snark' and 'sarcasm' don't help much, people dont tag for good dialogue or interesting characters. I've ended up searching for Australian or British stories just because they tend to have dialogue and humour that appeals to me, but they're not exactly useful tags in general!)

 

[Omenainen]

Really? I'm surprised. I would have thought there would have been more...

Should have been two, which is to say that “smashing the patriarchy” also has one use and it’s also mine. I’m inconsistent in my tagging, but I’m not coy about my life goals

EDIT: No I'm not. I don't why I wrote that. Forgot what website I was on for a minute!

“Female empowerment” once brought up 8 stories, out of which 25% were mine. I put up an event to correct the issue, and three years later that tag has 19 hits. Slowly but surely.

 

[THBGato]

“Female empowerment” once brought up 8 stories, out of which 25% were mine. I put up an event to correct the issue, and three years later that tag has 19 hits. Slowly but surely.

I'm so gutted I only found out about the Pink Orchid event after I'd submitted my first stories in February. They would have fitted the theme. It's such a great idea of yours.

Next year... Maybe I'll submit a fan fiction featuring Andrea Dworkin and Adrienne Rich ;-)