If you are reading this, you are likely interested in helping to apply Genre tags to fiction on the site. This category of tags are divided into Genre, Theme and Setting tags that can be applied to SCP articles, tales or GoI formats, as well as Style tags that are only applicable to tales. Additionally, Hubs for Series, which have the series-hub tag, may be given the Genre, Theme and Setting tags that best describe the series as a whole.
The Rules to Follow
Unlike other tags, which are an objective description of an article, the genre of a work is inherently subjective. To remedy this, we take the author's word as the final source of authority on an article.
The Golden Rule: The author has the final word on what genre and theme tags apply to an article.
The second key thing to understand is that genre and theme tags are fundamentally for navigation and discovery. Thus, in case of uncertainty:
The Secondary Rule: If you are uncertain about if a tag should be applied, ask if someone who was searching specifically for that tag would be interested in that article.
When tagging for genre and themes, the aim is to apply the most relevant tags for describing the work, not necessarily everything that could apply. Note that subtags require the parent tag, so tales should be tagged with both horror and body-horror or comedy and black-comedy when appropriate.
You don't need to tag everything that could apply, just whatever you see based on your best judgement.
Finally, when it comes to new articles, you can tag for genre and themes. However, the objective components (characters, groups, series, and canons) are best left to the tagging team; we identify untagged articles by a lack of these top level tags.
If you are tagging a new article, please don't add the scp, tale or goi-format tags specifically, and let the tagging team do that part.
Please see the tagging guide for details on these other types of tags.
Who can tag articles
While we do limit the number of people who can tag articles, this list is very broad and applies to most people who have interacted with the site in any meaningful capacity.
The following users can tag articles:
- Any user with one successful page on the site.
- Any user who has had an idea fully greenlit (two greenlights).
- Any user who has passed a crit flight or has greenlight permissions for some other reason.
- Site Staff.
- Former staff in good standing.
- Any user a member of site staff deems capable of doing so (see https://05command.wikidot.com/staff-list for a list of all staff).
Where to start
If you are an author, we recommend that you start with your own articles. If all of your articles are all tagged, or if you are not an author, please check here for a list of untagged tales, and here for a list of untagged GoI Formats.
If an article you want to tag is locked, please contact a site moderator as seen in members. The best way to do this is to make a request on the official SCP discord (https://discord.com/invite/scp) or the official SCP staff discord (https://discord.gg/efrnKZxVZB). Alternatively, sending a wikidot PM to a moderator with a list of tags for an article is allowed.
Tags and their definitions
Genre
Genre Tags summarise the core features and intended effect of the work. Articles can have as many genre tags as are applicable, as there's a lot of overlap between them, and the application of multiple genre tags can be a useful way to differentiate between stories in the same genre. However, for articles or series with brief sections in many different genres, the aim of genre tagging should be to describe the work as a whole, rather than every section within it.
- absurdism — Absurdist fiction depicts events lacking any rational explanation or meaning, for the purpose of shock or comedy.
- Compare with 'surrealism'
- action — Focuses on exciting events and spectacular violence.
- adventure — Focuses on the exploration of unfamiliar environments.
- bittersweet — Intended to evoke both positive and negative emotions.
- This is intended for articles that mix elements of both the 'bleak' and 'heartwarming' tags, and so only one of the three should be applied to a work.
- bleak — Intended to evoke negative emotions, focusing on anguish, distress and suffering.
- breakout — Focuses on containment breaches and escaping from imprisonment, both attempted and successful.
- Compare with 'chase'
- comedy — Intended to be funny.
- black-comedy — Depicts shocking or unpleasant situations for the purpose of humour.
- Applying this tag also requires the 'comedy' tag.
- black-comedy — Depicts shocking or unpleasant situations for the purpose of humour.
- chase — Focuses on pursuit or escape.
- Compare with 'breakout'
- crime-fiction — Focuses on criminals and law enforcement.
- fantasy — Depicts magic and the supernatural, inspired by myth, legend and folklore.
- Most works on the site are set in the present, and so most of our fantasy is contemporary fantasy, but this tag can also apply to works set in the past (which may be a 'period-piece') or in other worlds (which would be 'otherworldly').
- Compare with 'mythological'
- heartwarming — Intended to evoke positive emotions, focusing on pleasant experiences and supportive relationships.
- horror — Intended to evoke fear, shock or disgust in the reader.
- body-horror — Focuses on physical mutilation or transformation.
- cosmic-horror — focuses on human insignificance and irrelevance, with emphasis on the unknowable and incomprehensible.
- psychological-horror — focuses on psychological distress and emotional vulnerability.
- Applying any of these tags requires the 'horror' tag.
- metafiction — Fiction about fiction, referencing the work's fictional nature. May feature fiction affecting reality, characters entering or leaving works of fiction, and characters being aware that they are fictional or are influenced by narrative tropes.
- When used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will often be tagged narrative.
- 'Pataphysics is a form of metafiction, as are references to "author entities", but not all metafiction on the site uses this terminology.
- military-fiction — Focuses on soldiers, field agents or mercenaries.
- When used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will often be tagged military.
- mystery — Focuses on investigation of unanswered questions.
- religious-fiction — Focuses on religion, faith and belief. Includes depictions of real-world religions, as well as worship of anomalous entities.
- When used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will often be tagged religious.
- Compare with 'mythological'
- romance — Focuses on romantic relationships between characters.
- science-fiction — Depicts advanced science and technology. May feature scientific analysis of phenomena currently thought to be impossible.
- Science fiction in the Foundation setting may focus on trying to scientifically understand an anomaly, or on making use of it to create anomalous technology. Science fiction stories may also study and explain anomalies through fictional sciences like memetics, esophysics and thaumatology.
- slice-of-life — Offers a look into the everyday lives of characters, with a focus on the mundane.
- spy-fiction — Focuses on espionage, counter-intelligence, double agents or assassination.
- surrealism — Surrealist fiction creates a dream-like story by juxtaposing the mundane with the impossible and irrational, with emphasis on subconscious associations between them.
- Compare with 'absurdism'
- xenofiction — Told from a non-human perspective, such as an alien, an animal, a monster or a machine.
- The emphasis is on the perspective being inhuman - Lord Blackwood doesn't count, he has a surprisingly human perspective for a sea slug, but stories from the point of view of SCP-173 or Josie the Half-Cat are examples of this genre.
Themes
These tags describe the major themes and genre elements featured in an article. Articles may have multiple themes, but they should all play an important role in the story, rather than just being briefly mentioned.
- alien — Features extraterrestrial life, typically intelligent beings originating from a planet other than Earth.
- Often used with 'science-fiction'
- When used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will usually be tagged extraterrestrial.
- artificial-intelligence — Features artificial intelligence, and anomalies that have AI or affect AIs.
- bureaucracy — Focuses on the administration, management and official procedures of an organisation.
- This is usually applied to stories that focus on what working for the Foundation is like, but it can apply to stories about any organisation. It can overlap with 'slice-of-life', but may instead feature very high stakes, usually by focusing on the people who respond to a crisis by filing paperwork and attending meetings.
- demon — Features supernatural entities traditionally associated with evil, temptation and Hell.
- Often used with 'fantasy'
- faerie — Features fairies, fae or the fair folk, supernatural entities inspired by European folklore.
- Often used with 'fantasy'
- ghost — Features ghosts, the spirits of the dead, also known as spectral entities.
- historical — Focuses on historical events, or on anomalies with historical significance.
- This may overlap with 'period-piece' if an article is set in the past, although many historical works are instead set in the present or an unspecified time period, but still describe notable events that occurred in the past.
- journalism — Focuses on journalists, professional reviewers, news reports or news articles.
- legal — Focuses on law, legal proceedings, and legal documents.
- lgbtq — Focuses on LGBTQ+ themes, culture or history. Possible examples include portrayal of gay and lesbian relationships, depiction of asexuality and bisexuality, and exploration of trans, queer and agender identities.
- If an article has an incidental gay couple or a character who goes by neopronouns, but the story does not explore those concepts, it likely should not be tagged LGBTQ (unless the story's author decides it should be).
- murder-monster — Features an inhuman anomaly that is hostile to human life.
- mythological — Focuses on creatures, events and practices drawn from a specific mythology, outside of structured religious practice.
- There's often overlap with 'fantasy', but mythological stories will feature specific gods, heroes or monsters from ancient myth, while a lot of fantasy fiction is much less specific.
- This tag can also be applied to stories about invented mythologies that are written in the style of a myth or legend.
- Stories about the worship of gods are generally 'religious-fiction' instead.
- political — Focuses on politicians, diplomats or the political process.
- superhero — Features superheroes or supervillains. These characters typically have secret identities, costumes and supernatural powers.
- time-travel — Features travel to or from the past or future.
Setting
The following tags describe settings, many of them associated with particular genres of story. Additional genre tags from the list above will likely apply as well.
- afterlife — Describes or is otherwise related to what happens to consciousness after death.
- alternate-history — Depicts historical events that diverge from how they happened in real life. This tag only applies for when there is a divergence in history as known to the general public - otherwise this would apply to all tales on the Wiki, given that there is not a massive global conspiracy to hide the supernatural in real life. Additionally, any events occurring in the future are not alternative history. To give some specific examples:
-
- The Seventh Occult War does not count as Alternate History, as World War II still looks normal to most people, despite the use of anomalous weapons.
- Broken Masquerade is alternative history, as things do look dramatically different once the Foundation is unveiled.
- Unfounded, in which the Foundation never existed, does not usually get the alternate history tag, as the premise is that the world largely looks the same.
- Ad Astra Per Aspera is set in the future, and so does not count as alternate history.
-
- apocalyptic — Takes place during or shortly before a catastrophic event.
- post-apocalyptic — Takes place after a catastrophic event.
- When either of these tags are used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will often be tagged k-class-scenario.
- christmas — Set during or influenced by the holiday of Christmas.
- corporate — Focuses on the operations of a business or corporation.
- dystopian — Imagines a non-existent society or culture, portrayed as being much worse than our current one.
- halloween — Set during or influenced by the holiday of Halloween.
- otherworldly — Set in another world, reality, or universe. Includes works that are entirely set somewhere other than Earth, as well as stories featuring travel to another world.
- This is often used with 'fantasy', in the case of constructed worlds and portal fantasy fiction, or 'science-fiction', if it features travel through outer space or into other dimensions.
- When used on SCPs or in reference to specific SCPs, they will often either be extradimensional or extraterrestrial.
- period-piece — Set during a specific period in the past.
- school — Focuses on a school, college or university, or on the education system more broadly.
- space-opera — Depicts a futuristic society in outer space or on other planets, focusing on dramatic events and adventures.
- Often used with 'alien', 'otherworldly' and 'science-fiction'
- utopian — Imagines a non-existent society or culture, portrayed as being much better than our current one.
- western — Set in the American Frontier, during the time period known as the Wild West.
Major Page Tags
The following tags are not genre tags, but serve a similar function and should also be applied to articles when appropriate.
- comic — For stories that are primarily told via sequential art.
- illustrated — Features an original artwork specifically made for the article. This includes photobashes and other forms of photo manipulation. This tag should be replaced by comic if a significant part of the article is illustrated as a comic.
- poetry — Applicable if the page consists significantly of a form of poetry, with elements such as meter and rhyme.
Style
The following tags describe how the tale is conveyed. Note that these tags are only applicable to tales, unlike the earlier genre and setting tags.
- first-person — Told from a first-person perspective ("I did").
- second-person — Told from a second-person perspective ("you did").
- no-dialogue — Contains no spoken dialogue.
- creepypasta — In the style of short, old-school Internet horror. Typically lacks any reference to the Foundation.
- correspondence — Told in large part though written communications between characters, including letters, emails, text messages or social media posts. Also known as epistolary.
- foundation-format — Told in the form of an SCP document.
- This is most often used in tales that reimagine an existing SCP article, mimicking the format of the original article to add new information to it, although it can also apply to tales containing their own original SCP objects. Although they mimic an SCP article in style, these tales are not posted in a valid slot of any SCP series, and so cannot be tagged as SCP articles.
- journal — Told in the form of an in universe journal written while events happen.
- orientation — Styled as an orientation lecture.
- worldbuilding — Focuses on conveying information about the setting, often taking the form of an in-universe document.
Other
- _genreless — No Genre, Setting, or Style tags apply to this article. Used to identify which articles need to be tagged, versus those that are not taggable. Apply this tag if none of the definitions listed above apply to the article.
FAQ
I don't want genre tags on my work
If this is the case, apply the _genreless tag, as this indicates to our taggers that you do not want your work genre tagged.