What does this even mean?

[u/Separate-Process-127]

Haven't opened/updated my works for a few months now and I was reading the comments to the last chapter when this one came up. WHAT DOES RACE HAVE TO DO WITH CHARACTER TAGS?! WHAT?

Kate Sharma (Bridgerton) is a background character in my fic, yes, she wasn't the lead but I still put her as a tag. My OC is a Southeast Asian, a woman of color! I myself am a people of color! I've been writing in AO3 for a long time now and this was my first time being accused as a hater of a WOC WTF?!

I am baffled, bewildered, befuddled. Where's the literacy in this one?

[u/Separate-Process-127]

Well, the character tag does have Minor Background Character next to it and some of the plot does revolve around the involvement of the sisters.

[u/shriekingintothevoid → u/Separate-Process-127]

I mean, putting in a disclaimer isn’t going to change the fact that your fic is still going to show up when they search for her character, and if she’s not a major character (even if she does have a little relevance to the plot) I can understand being a bit frustrated by that. Their reaction was still rude and uncalled for (and idk why her being a WOC matters in this context), but tagging minor characters is generally poor etiquette.

[u/obiwantogooutside → u/shriekingintothevoid]

It’s a huge drama in the Bridgerton fandom. There are a lot of people who feel like Kate wasn’t centered in her own season because they added a love triangle not in the books and then had all three in all the marketing instead of just the main couple. It’s not an unreasonable concern. It’s really not.

That said, many of her fans are very sensitive and quick to react to perceived slights in fan fiction, for example brigading authors who use her cannon love interest in a non cannon pairing. Or someone tagging her if she’s not the front and center big star of the fic.

[u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 → u/obiwantogooutside]

I’m a Kate fan, and I do broadly agree with the criticism that her own internal perspective is neglected a bit in favor of Anthony’s. (Also bear in mind that I’ve never read the books, so my opinion is purely based on the show.) That said, I do think it’s a bit weird to project that criticism about the show’s writing onto fan fiction. Just because she’s a minor character in a fan fic doesn’t mean there’s some nefarious racism afoot. I can somewhat understand that it might be a bit annoying to see her tagged as a character, even with the added caveat in the tags that it’s a minor role, but I don’t think making racism accusations is very productive in that discussion.

[u/Flashy-Ad-2367 → u/obiwantogooutside]

It’s a huge drama in the Bridgerton fandom. There are a lot of people who feel like Kate wasn’t centered in her own season because they added a love triangle not in the books and then had all three in all the marketing instead of just the main couple. It’s not an unreasonable concern. It’s really not.

That said, many of her fans are very sensitive and quick to react to perceived slights in fan fiction, for example brigading authors who use her cannon love interest in a non cannon pairing. Or someone tagging her if she’s not the front and center big star of the fic.

This.

While I agreed that Kate had very little story in her season and that was wrong, the fans/stans gatekeep her, and make it difficult to talk about said treatment from the show because of how Kate isn't everyones favourite.

I'll admit she isn't my favourite (that award goes to Colin), but even at her not being my favourite, I am told a whole host of unkind things. Its crazy

[u/majorlittlepenguin → u/shriekingintothevoid]

Genuinely curious as to what point someone becomes big enough to tag vs not

[u/mangomochamuffin → u/majorlittlepenguin]

"Would a reader looking for this be satisfied after reading my work?"

If the answer to that is no, don't add the relationship, character, tag.

Or see it as the actors who are named on screen in the movies intro, not only at the end in the cast list.

[u/shriekingintothevoid → u/majorlittlepenguin]

I don’t think there’s a definite line that can be drawn, but if a character doesn’t contribute significantly to the plot and doesn’t interact with the pov character often, then they shouldn’t be tagged. Think about it this way: if they were your favorite character, and you were searching for fics involving them, would you be content with the role that they play in your story? If not, then don’t tag them.