You've written your story, edited it within an inch of its life, and are all ready to show it to the world. You open a submission page and – what's this? Story Tags? What the bleep is a Story Tag?

The larger any archive grows, the more important organization becomes. Separating stories into our current categories helps connect readers with stories they'll enjoy, but it is not a perfect system. Story Tags – keywords and key phrases that relate to a specific story – are a complement to the current categories.

Story Tags are placed at the end of your story. When a reader clicks on a tag, it takes him or her to a list of other stories which also have that phrase or word as a tag. What tags you use can determine just how easy it is for interested readers to find your story (or poem – see the end of this piece for Poem Tag suggestions).

For example, suppose your story centers around a virgin girl in college who is caught masturbating by her roommate. This confrontation leads to her first lesbian experience, then to a threesome with her roommate's boyfriend. Possible tags for this story could include:
college
coed
lesbian first time
female masturbation
FFM
two women one man
female virgin
threesome
bisexual female
roommate

The best tags are ones that are descriptive and specific. "Female Masturbation" is a better tag than "Masturbation", but "Female Masturbating By A Tree Near A School" is a bit long and overly specific.

What Not to put as Story Tags:
- Your author name.
- The story's title.
- The category in which the story is posted.
- Words or phrases that have nothing to do with your story. If there are no public blowjobs in your story but you use "public blowjob" as a tag, you risk receiving low votes and angry comments from readers looking for public blowjobs.
- Generics like "sex", "man", or "woman". To get the most readers to your story, your tags should be more specific than the categories – not less so.

Below are examples of story tags that could be used. This is by no means a complete list of all possible tags. Hopefully, these will help you brainstorm tags that will bring hordes of interested readers straight to your story. If you think of any good ones you want to share with other authors, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. Good luck, and happy Tagging!

Activity
blowjob
catfight
cruising
cunnilingus
double penetration
fellatio
female masturbation
femdom
feminization
flashing
gay anal
gay blowjob
male masturbation
mdom
mutual masturbation
prostitution
public blowjob
pussy eating
spanking
strip poker
swinging
transformation
wager

Attributes
Asian
Asian man
Asian woman
bbw
big butt
big breasts
Black
Black man
Black woman
blonde
brunette
elderly
fat
Hispanic
long legs
Latina
Latino
older man
petite
plump
redhead
shy
thin
virgin
white
younger woman

Fetish
CFNM
cigarettes
food
nylons
panty
panties
smoking
tentacle

Intangibles
betrayal
blackmail
drama
humiliation
jealousy
loss
true love

Number of Participants
(If there are three or more participants, we tend to list them in order from greatest to least - i.e. "two men one woman" or "two women one man".)
FFM (two females, one male)
MMF
MMMF
FFFM
bukkake
foursome
orgy
solo
threesome
three men one woman
three women one man
two men one woman
two women one man

Participants
bisexual husband
bisexual wife
boss
co-worker
coed
crossdressing husband
cuckold
dad
doctor
exhibitionist
father
female bisexual
female dominant
female submissive
female virgin
husband
male bisexual
male dominant
male submissive
male virgin
Master
milf
mom
monster
mother
nudist
nurse
older man
older woman
patient
peeping tom
professor
secretary
son
stranger
male bisexual
student
sub
swingers
teacher
transsexual
transvestite
vampire
younger man
younger woman
voyeur
werewolf
wife

Objects
dildo
dress
gear shift
motorcycle
strap-on
vibrator

Setting
college
concert
desert
elevator
island
mile high club
office
outdoors
outside
plane
pool
public
school
train
work

Subcategorization
This is helpful for those stories which cross over into more than one category. Take the main category and add a secondary category: "incest group" for family orgies, "lesbian bdsm" for FF bondage, and so on. Below are only a few of the possibilities.
gay bdsm
gay d/s
gay first time
gay romance
gay threesome
incest romance
incest threesome
interracial bdsm
interracial d/s
Interracial first time
interracial group
interracial romance
interracial threesome
lesbian anal
lesbian bdsm
lesbian d/s
lesbian first time
lesbian oral
lesbian romance
lesbian strap-on
lesbian threesome

Time Period and Genre
ancient
comedy
futuristic
historical
medieval
mystery
prehistorical
science fiction
Victorian
whodunnit

Tags for Poems
Because poems generally deal in images and form more than plot, you may consider keywords that focus on these elements.
ballad
dada
free verse
haiku
limerick
political
sonnet
summer
winter