~A simple guide on how to use AO3 for the Wattpad Refugees~
You do NOT need to create an account to read on the site!!! However:
Some stories, as marked by the author, cannot be accessed without an account, you also might not be able to leave comments if the author hasn't allowed non-registed users to comment
You won't be able to bookmark stories
You won't be able to customize the appearance of the site
To search for fics, you have two options, first one allows you to search for tags, second one allows you to search and exclude tags
Fill in as many or as few boxes as you wish. The things you mark on will be included in the search, below I clarify some of the more confusing categories
If you know the name of the fic you're looking for and/or the username of the author, use this option
Here you can look up a ship, character, fandom, etc. Once you hit Search, on one of the fics below click on the Fandom or a Tag, you can then pull the Filters menu:
Everything you click in Included will be featured in the story, everything you click in Excluded will be removed from your search. For example, if you include the tags Fluff and Angst, only stories tagged with both tags will be included. If you want either or, search for Fluff first, clear up the search, and then search for Angst
Explicit is for 18+, graphic smut and/or violence and the like
General Audiences is self explanatory
Not Rated is a wild card.
(if you want graphic smut look for Explicit, if you do NOT want graphic smut EXCLUDE the Explicit rating fics and that's about as much as you need to remember)
Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings: this tag means preceed with caution, there might be some things to we wary of but don't strictly fall under the other warning. Occasionally an author will use this tag if they don't want to spoil the story with a warning, usually the Major Character Death one
No Archive Warnings Apply: the fic does not contain warnings (Major Character Death, Underage, Violence, Rape/Non-Con)
The other warnings are self explanatory, a story can contain multiple
M/M – male/male characters, F/M – female/male characters, F/F – female/female characters
Multi is used for more than one type of relationship or a poly relationship
Gen means the story doesn't focus on a romantic or a sexual relationship BUT there might be a romantic of sexual subplot that's not the main focus
Other is for everything else
Character A / Character B: those characters are in a romantic and/or sexual relationship
Character A & Character B: those characters are in a platonic relationship, friends, family, coworkers etc
This works the same way for more than two characters, but they all have to have the same dynamic (either / or &, you cannot mix them in the same tag, you have to select them separately from the drop menu)
The names of the characters are in alphabetical order, you can type the names in any order, just select the tag from the drop menu that pops up
Write whatever you want there, AO3 will help out. Keep it simple, search for let's say Fluff, Angst etc, until you get used to the taging system. Click on the suggested tag below that best matches before adding a new one
Keep your Include search to one or two tags, ESPECIALLY if you're in a small fandom, obviously Exclude as many as you wish
Do NOT search for Characters or Relationships here
the tag Dead Dove: Do Not Eat – you might find it as something similar to "the dove isn't dead but it isn't flying right", "the dove is so dead it's rotting", if you see a dove in tags where the story isn't about birds, it's referencing this. This tag is just a "hey, the other tags mean business". If a story is tagged as both Dead Dove and Torture, the torture would be detailed. It is NOT used in the context of "the fluff is super fluffy and wholesome"
Word count: use < or >, for example >5000 will show you fics that are only over 5000 words (use this if you're searching with Option 1, otherwise the site will give you From-To option)
In Search within results if you are looking for a ship, and want that ship to be the main focus of the story write "otp:true" WITHOUT the quotations
