labels can indeed be a real problem. i'm never sure whether i should label a "harmless" story as slash, because when i wrote it i had a slashy backstory for my characters in mind and thus see my story as an excerpt from their lives in which they do fuck at some point, or if i should label it as gen, because in the actual story there's no actual slash as in man-on-man action. sometimes i think a comprehensive or well-worded summary may convey a lot more of what the story is about than listing only a quick pairing and rating.
in the context of naming pairings: for me, if character A is madly in love with character B, without B ever returning or even knowing about the feelings of A, i'll label my fic A/B with sometimes an additional comment that the love is one-sided.
labels can be a good way of quickly getting an idea of what a story is about, but i think it's sad they've come to replace good summaries, which i usually favor, especially in long stories. (granted, a summary for a 700 words story often feels a bit superfluous. however, if i'm in for a ten thousand word epic, i'd like to know at least the premise of the fic.)
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in the context of naming pairings: for me, if character A is madly in love with character B, without B ever returning or even knowing about the feelings of A, i'll label my fic A/B with sometimes an additional comment that the love is one-sided.
labels can be a good way of quickly getting an idea of what a story is about, but i think it's sad they've come to replace good summaries, which i usually favor, especially in long stories. (granted, a summary for a 700 words story often feels a bit superfluous. however, if i'm in for a ten thousand word epic, i'd like to know at least the premise of the fic.)