Medium: Tags for the Fiction Writer

List TAGS in use by the Fiction Writer on Medium

Stevie Adler

Published in

Adlers Writing

18 min readNov 19, 2017

How do readers find stories?

Mostly by being a follower and seeing the story in “New from your network.” This is a list of the latest stories in date order.
Recommendation by Medium (curation).
Doing a search on a Tag phrase.

. . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . 3 . . . . 4. . . . . 5 . . . . . 6 . . . . . . 7
Writing Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1k . . 6.9k . . 7.9k . . 10.2k
The Weekly Knob. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2k. . . 2.8k . . 3.2k. . . 3.9k
Literally Literary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5k . . 1.7k . . 1.9k . . . 2k
Written Tales . . . . . . 242 . . 318 . . 379. . . 351 . . 506 . . . 778
The Friday Fix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Dribble. . . . . . . . . . . . 12 . . .14. . . . 32 . . . 112 . . 113 . . . 123
Pentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
50 Words . . . . . . . . . . 20 . . .22. . . . 28, . . . 25 . . . 30. . . . . 50
50 Word Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Drabble. . . . . . . . . . . 149 . . 165 . . 191 . . 214. . . 228 . . . 320
Centina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
100wordstory . . . . . 231 . . 227 . . 238 . . 282. . . 306 . . . 733
100 Words . . . . . . . . 438 . . 474 . . 631 . . 747 . . .464 . . . 500
Very Short Fiction. . 183 . . 185 . . 240 . . 272 . . .280 . . . 317
Very Short Story . . . 496 . . 506 . . 605 . . 825 . . .829 . . . 897
Microfiction. . . . . . . 338 . . 366 . . 662 . . 1.1k . . 1.4k. . . 2.8k
Flash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 . . 848 . . 860 . . . . 1k
Flash Fiction . . . . . . 7.3k . . 8k. . . 9.2k . 10.7k . 12.3k . . 15.1k
Short Fiction . . . . . . 3.1k . . 3.2k . 3.9k. . 5.4k . . 6.4k . . . 8.7k
Literary Fiction. . . . . . . . . . 149 . . 149. . . 204 . . 226 . . . . 323
Lit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 . . . 1k . . . 2k . . .2.1k. . . . 2.1k
Literature . . . . . . . . 8.8k . . 9.3k . . 11k . 15.1k . 16.9k . . . 20k
Stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.6k. . 15k . . 19k . . 21k . . . . 25k
Short Story. . . . . . . . 70k . . .72k . . 80k . . 98k. . 110k . . . 129k
. . . . . . .Top Writer
Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . .62k . . .64k . . 71k . . 87k. . 100k . . . 122k
. . . . . . .Top Writer
Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4k. . 6.1k . . 7k . . . . . 8.8k
Novela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3k

Genre Tags

Any genre tag can be used, and is an easy way to define and find stories tagged with that genre. For instance, Horror includes the obvious tags Horror and Horror Fiction as well as 50 Word Horror Story.

All genres are available, but certain tags have Top Writer status. These will be more beneficial to use if there is a chance of becoming listed as a Top Writer. Examples of top writer tags are Humor, Love and Relationships. (see list of all known Top Writer Tags)

Below is a list of many fiction genre tags. There are many more lessor used ones, particularly similar phrases or misspellings.
col 1 — Tag
col 2 — total as at mid-March 2018
col 3— total as at 16 April 2018
col 4 — total as at 16 January 2019
col 5 — total as at 26 June 2019
col 6 — total as at 03 May 2020

a note on order: The order seems to be somewhat random, but that cant be helped. I have tried to group together similar tags so when you find one you are interested in you might spot a similar better tag that didn’t occur to you, that you could use instead or as well as.

. . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . 3. . . . . 4 . . . . . 5 . . . . . 6
Erotica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8k . . 4.7k . . 6.3k . . 7.6k . . 9.8k
Erotic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
Ghosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4k. . . 2k . . . 2.3k . . . 3k
50 Word Horror Story . . 53. . . . 53 . . . 53 . . . . 53 . . . . 55
Horror Stories . . . . . . . . 122. . . 148 . . 268. . . 305 . . .495
Horror Fiction . . . . . . . . 678. . . 803 . . 1.2k . . 1.4k . . 2.1k
Horror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3k . . 7.1k . . 10k. . 11.7k . 19.9k
Zombies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1k . . 1.1k . . 1.4k . . 1.6k . . 2.2k
Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 . . 578. . . 750. . . 876 . . 1.2k
Aliens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.95k . . 2.5k . . 2.8k. . 3.3k
Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . 802 . . 892. . . 1.1k . . 1.2k. . 1.8k
Apocalyptic Fiction. . . . . 27. . . . 27. . . . 46. . . . 51 . . . 78
Post Apocalyptic. . . . . . . 242 . . 256. . . 376. . . 393 . . 480
Dystopia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1k. . . 1.5k . . 1.7k. . 2.1k
Dystopian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 . . 212
Utopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711. . . . . . . . . . 1k . . 1.3k
Space Opera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 . . . 196 . . 207. . . 237
Worldbuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 . . . 508 . . 596 . . .765
Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122. . . 951. . . 1.6k . 1.94k . . 2.7k
Slipstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Science Fiction. . . . . . . . 9.2k . 11.8k . . 15k. . 17.1k . . 24k
Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6k . . 7.7k . 10.1k . 11.9k . . 20k
Fairy Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3k . . 1.3k . . 1.8k . . 2.4k . . 2.8k
Sword and Sorcery. . . . . . . . . . . 219. . . 249 . . 267 . . . 284
Mythology . . . . . . . . . . . . 3k . . . 1.3k . . . 2k. . . 2.4k . . 3.4k
Myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .954. . . 990 . . 1.4k . . 1.6k. . 2.1k
Myths and Legends. . . . . 48 . . . . 51. . . . 94 . . .110 . . 135
Myths of the World. . . . . 26 . . . . 26. . . . 33 . . . 36. . . . 42
Greek Mythology. . . . . . 210 . . . 220. . . 380 . . 462 . . 638
Historical Fiction. . . . . . 564 . . . 655. . . 904. . . 1k . . . 1.4k
Historical . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 . . . 155. . . 192 . . 202 . . 265
Time Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3k . . 1.7k
Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9k. . . 3.3k . . 4.2k. . 5.1k . 17.2k
Superheros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8k. . . 2.2k . .2.5k. . 3.2k
Superhero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 . . 421. . . 511
Murder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1k . . 2.9k
Murder Mystery. . . . . . . 155 . . .163. . . 280 . . 340 . . . 509
Mystery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5k . . 2.9k . . 4.7k. . 5.6k. . . 13k
Mystery Thriller. . . . . . . 122. . . 153 . . . 236 . .273 . . . 490
Psychological Thriller. . 140. . . 150 . . . 190. . 205 . . . 293
Thriller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.93k. . . 2k. . . . 2.8k . 3.4k. . . 7.4k
Thriller Suspense . . . . . 116 . . . 148 . . . 210 . .267 . . . 318
Suspense . . . . . . . . . . . . 996. . . . 1k. . . . 1.4k . 1.93k . . 2.7k
Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5k. . . 2.6k. . . 3.5k . 4.1k . . . 5.6k
Magic Realism . . . . . . . . 29. . . . . 36. . . . 58 . . . 64. . . . . 75
Weird Humor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 . . . 253
Weird Fiction. . . . . . . . . 133 . . . 138. . . 168 . . .182 . . . 216
Weird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830. . . . 876 . . 1.1k . . 1.3k. . . 1.6k
Bizarro Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . 3 . . . . 4 . . . . . . 3
Bizarro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32. . . . 42 . . . 44 . . . . . 71
YA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86. . . . 107. . . 137 . . .137 . . . 168
Young Adult Fiction. . . . 566 . . . 635. . . 845 . . .936 . . . 1.1k
Youngadult . . . . . . . . . . . 790 . . . 886 . . 1.1k . . 1.3k . . . 1.7k
Fanfic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78. . . . . 85. . . 102. . . 119 . . . . 156
Fanfiction . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2k. . . 1.4k. . 1.6k . . .1.6k . . . 1.9k
Alternate History. . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 . . 199 . . . 212 . . . . 249
Futuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 . . . 84 . . . .105 . . . . 142
Steampunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 . . 351 . . . 376 . . . . 441
Cyberpunk . . . . . . . . . . . . 626. . . 640 . . 862 . . . 995 . . . . 1.2k
Punk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1k . . . . 2.4k
Cybercrime. . . . . . . . . . . . 955 . . 980 . . 1.4k . . . 1.8k . . . . 2.5k
Dark Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 . . 168 . . . . 206 . . . . 291
Dark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930 . . 966 . . 1.2k . . . 1.6k . . . . 2k
Dark Humor . . . . . . . . . . . 548 . . 554 . . 652 . . . .705 . . . . 843
Humour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9k . . 3.1k. . 4.1k. . . 4.6k . . . . 5.5k
Humor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61k . . 67k . . 82k . . . .92k . . . . 117k
. . . . . . . . . . Top Writer
Comedy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21k . . 22k . . 22k . . . .25k. . . . . 50k
Comedy Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6k . . . . . 2k
Parody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 . . 1.1k . . . 1.3k . . . . 1.9k
Supernatural . . . . . . . . . . 534 . . 571 . . 777. . . . 932 . . . . 1.9k
Paranormal. . . . . . . . . . . . 554. . 648 . . 891 . . . . 1k . . . . . 1.5k
Paranormal Romance . . . 46 . . . 49. . . . 88 . . . . 99 . . . . . 101
Romance Story . . . . . . . . 144 . . 159 . . 226 . . . .250 . . . . 365
Romance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1k. . 9.6k . 13.1k . . 15.6k . . . 24k
Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136k . 153k . 196k . . 227k . . . 289k
. . . . . . . . . Top Writer
Relationships . . . . . . . . . . 63k . . 72k . . 96k . . .115k . . . 161k
. . . . . . . . . Top Writer
This Happened to Me . . . 7.9k . . 8.6k. . 11k . . . 13k . . . 18.6k
. . . . . . . . . Top Writer
Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123k. . 135k . 175k . . 202k . . 259k
. . . . . . . . . Top Writer
Creative Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23k . . . 26k. . . . 32k
Creative Non Fiction. . . . 1.7k. . 1.93k . 2.5k . . 2.7k. . . . 3.1k
Creative Nonfiction . . . . . 241. . . 283 . . 388 . . 427 . . . . 496
Literary Fiction . . . . . . . . . 92 . . . 149 . . 206. . . 226 . . . . 323
Literary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283. . . 314 . . 389. . . 435 . . . . 527

Creating New Tags

There is nothing to stop you using any phrase to produce a new tag for your story, but there is not much point if it is the only story with that tag. No-one else will ever search for it. But, if you were to have a number of pieces with the same tag, the Medium system is dynamic and must respond to trending changes (note: I have no idea how many are needed).

An example is the tag Written Tales. All stories published in publication Written Tales must have the tag Written Tales. You could use it and piggyback onto their success and be listed whenever it’s searched. There is also a publication and tag for The Weekly Knob. Similarly for The Friday Fix.

What tags should you use for a fiction story?

It’s pretty much guess work which tags are best for your particular story, but you should keep your tags relevant to what you have written.

Note: You can change tags at any time.

From the first table above it can be seen that Dribble, Drabble and 50 Words are not used much, though Drabble (100-word story) is beginning to be accepted more. My stories are mostly Microfiction (300 words or less), so I will be using that tag as much as I can. Since November 2017 the number of stories tagged Microfiction has increased from 366 → 2.8k.

The Literature tag seems to contain all sorts of stories. There are Poems, Flash Fiction, Short Stories and excepts from books. It also contains news stories including literary awards and book reviews. If your fiction can be classed as Literature consider this tag for a serendipitous search.

Short Story and Fiction are used most, by far, and are special. Each has a Top Writer recommendation where the top 50 writers are listed. I believe this list is updated daily.

If you are aiming for a Top Writer spot the tag This Happened To Me seems to be used least, so, is the easiest to get.

How do Readers Find Your Story

When a story is new it will be listed along with all the other new stories amongst the New from your network list. A follower will then read, or not read, any listed. As time goes on, more stories are published and added to the list, which push older stories down. Eventually they will be pushed off.

For this reason it is important to have a good “eye catching” image. Something that compels a follower to read your story in preference to the many others presented. Also, the bigger your network, the more viewers see this image, and by the law of averages the more viewers and readers you get. One reason to increase the number of followers.

There are also a number of stories listed at the very bottom of each story you read. There are usually a couple by the same author, one or two from the same publication and the rest are stories Medium thinks you may be interested in.

Publications

Publications are a very important source of reader.

By definition, because of a gatekeeper editor, the quality of work should be better. There can also be a large pool of subscribers (followers) ready to read the latest offerings. Each publication has it’s own house style. Publications also have the option to send out email notifications to followers advertising recent stories.

There are well over 100 active Fiction Publications on Medium.

Search

Most readers discover your story through one on the methods already outlined. Using the Search facility is a lessor used option.

Not having the optimum tags assigned won’t matter too much, and what is optimum anyway? But, it is advisable to use all five tag slots. Someone, somewhere may find your story that way.

Summing Up

Mostly, your story will be found and read via the various recommendation options, so tagging your story is just in case someone searches for that particular tag. You need to be a bit of a mind-reader and guess how readers might classify each story.

Make sure you use all five tag slots.

I recommend using the Fiction tag, and also the Short Story tag if the story is short. If you gather enough engagement (views, reads, claps, number of stories etc) you may become a Top Writer for all to see, not just your followers.

Good luck tagging and publishing.

If we have missed any well used fiction or genre tag please let us know using the comments below, and I will include them in future versions.

Also see the 73: Tags With Top Writer Status