Button mashing no more
We’ve reworked our Advanced Search to no longer use buttons for tags. Tags will now appear in a dropdown list instead.
Each tag will have a brief description listed so you can easily find exactly what you’re searching for at any time.
Additionally, the list can be filtered by putting text in:
There are now two separate lists for including and excluding tags, which will make searching for your favourite fictions a breeze.
Tags Evolved
Now that we can easily add more tags since they don’t use up browser real estate, we’ve decided to change and expand our genre and tag list so we can better reflect the available fictions and align with current trends.
Genre Changes
We’ve decided to remove the Non-fiction genre. Considering we’re a website that revolves around fiction, this one was an unintuitive option to begin with and most of the submissions we received were more akin to blog posts than stories. Thus, we’re ending the support for Non-fiction. Current fictions with the tag will receive the Contemporary genre instead.
Tag Changes
Xianxia added alongside Wuxia. Wuxia fictions without Martial Arts tag will receive the Xianxia tag.
Xianxia is a long-standing favourite among eastern fiction. As such, we feel it’s high time we incorporate it properly under our tag list. Previously, most users tagged Xianxia under Wuxia, but since they have their differences, we’ve decided to implement both, as well as make some of the applicable fictions gain the tag initially.
This might affect some fictions negatively, so make sure to check if your own fiction applies.
Fantasy received four subgenre tags
- High Fantasy
- Low Fantasy
- Urban Fantasy
- Portal Fantasy / Isekai
Fictions with the Summoned Hero tag will receive the Portal Fantasy / Isekai tag and will lose the depreciated Summoned Hero tag. Fantasy as a genre still exists.
Fantasy is probably the widest genre, and we feel that we need to add options to narrow it a bit. We considered the number and extent of subgenres to use, and came to the conclusion that the four subgenres mentioned above give a decent cover of the genre as a whole.
We decided to leave both Isekai and Portal Fantasy as names concatenated into one tag, as they are mostly synonyms used in different languages and origin. The decision to effectively rename Summoned Hero is to better represent its standing in the fantasy genre.
GameLit added, LitRPG description changed.
GameLit has been added in lieu of the changing trends in what is considered LitRPG and what isn’t. While LitRPG usually makes use of statistics and EXP gains and other, more visual context for development, GameLit simply requires game-like mechanics without their overly-visual representation in the form of tables or prompts.
Space Opera added.
Space Opera has been added as a subgenre to the growing Science Fiction genre, in order to better differentiate between various works.
Steampunk added.
Similar to the above. Science Fiction now has a wider array of options, including Virtual Reality, Cyberpunk, Space Opera, and Steampunk, allowing for more options to search through.
Super Heroes added.
Who doesn’t like costumed superheroes? A growing genre in the popular media, we’ve decided that this is different enough from other tags (mainly Strong Lead) to have its own separate category.
Dungeon added.
This is a two-fold addition. Dungeon Core fictions have become a mainstay on RR, and other fictions make heavy use of well-known concept of Dungeon exploration. We’ve decided to merge both of them into this tag.
Mythos added. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
We’ve seen a recent uptick of fictions that involve mythological entities (like Norse or Greek/Roman Gods) or mythological subthemes. We’ve also added the Occult subtheme to this tag because both mythology and occult felt too narrow on their own.
Post Apocalyptic added.
Let’s face it, everyone likes a good zombie infestation. We’ve added the tag to satiate your need for zombies and world ending calamities.
Villainous Lead added.
Last time we tweaked our tag list, we’ve added the Anti-Hero tag. Considering some uses of the tag were erroneous, we’ve decided to remedy that by adding a straight up Villain Lead. If you like seeing evil deeds go unpunished, this might be the tag for you.
Ruling Class added.
We’ll be honest here, not a single name we came up with felt good enough to describe the tag. Meant to be used in situations where there is distinct management of castles, cities, villages, countries, or the entire world even — we considered any other name too limiting. Thus, we felt that Ruling Class is an evocative yet not too narrow a title for the tag.
It’s up to you now
Remember to check if any fictions you have are affected by the new tag paradigm and edit them appropriately and, as always, let us know what you think in the comments.
Lone on
I am most pleased.
Azcheron on
Ehhhhh, where is the classic 'System induced apocalypse with alien beurocracy which wants to fuck over humans' tag? It's a mainstay of RRL now and I demand equal representation! :P
Chroma on
I would like to see a crafting tag or something similar for fictions deticated to the creation of objects (or focused on it) like age of gods and master of all, jack of none.
Jordisk on
That is LitRPG and Post-Apocalyptic. Depending on how the story goes, you may also get Dungeon, Ruling Class, Magic, Steampunk, or Villainous Lead.
Endless Paving on
I agree on the crafting, it has become rather destinct in especially game like stories. I think the closest is slice of life but its closer to an obsession with world building and mechanical detail than anyhong else. Like who cares about the plot, just throw me some epic sword forging for a dozen chapters and you’ve got me.
fanvaron on
I agree crafting is an aspect I enjoy very much in stories, and for the importance it has in some stories, I find it warrants a tag as much as the ruling class (For me both are in the same category of descriptives)
Oren Cohen on
You mean the Gintama tag? yeah I wish that also existed. (by the way, it is a great series if you haven't heard of it yet. I highly recomend it.)
Alexander Skel on
Glad to see the tag update. Site continues to have one of my favorite UI.
Koinzell on
looks good, now people just have to tag their stories
Oninomad on
Glad to see GameLit get a tag, not all GameLit is as number crunchy as LitRPG tends to be so some authors don't tag their stories as LitRPG.
ActaEstFabula on
Absolute Satisfaction.
Phamtomof57 on
This is going be really helpful , both for the readers and the autors . Truly a good news .
Cimmerian on
Thank you! Good changes, I think. If nothing else, we all benefit from regularly evaluating "how" and "why"... so good job.
gnarlytreeman on
Trikki on
It fits the Ruling Class tag.
Milando on
Well sometimes, but often it is just a person building their treehouse-empire/tower/village-in-the-woods without having obvious 'ruling power' ( like the Ghosthound story) where the base is an elemental part of their journey.
Glowy3 on
Good ideas! Shoo– Shoo– pesky tag buttons~ Nice choice.
Skoonting on
Fantastic changes all around. This is why I pay for premium. RR is an independent web novel site that's not completely stagnant in its features
Nemanja on
The problem is... where to stop? At what point do you stop tagging the story and you start summarizing it through tags?
Supremeorb2 on
You dont stop because a person likely is more likely to decide what to read through tags rather then the description of the book or the synopnsis. This is probably due to the fact that I usually know exactly what I'm looking for, may not be for everyone but I'm sure there is a good amount of people like me.
Monitor on
That’s the big problem... When to stop, but also when is the point reached that the readers have enough information... in part this Problem is adressed by the writers by putting the information they think the tags are not describing enough into the blurb. Maybe creating a special space in the blurb would be an idea worth considering... something that is always shown...
Stratothrax on
Not summarizing, describing. Which is what someone would presumably want if they are doing a custom search? Like if you dislike male protagonists being able to filter that out would be helpful yes?
I get what you are saying, but lot's of sites have many tags and I've never heard anyone complain about having 'too many tags' If the author doesn't like using lots of tags they can simply pick the obvious ones.
kanadaj on
I have, in fact, heard people groaning about NovelUpdates having 800 tags. Because finding the stuff you want becomes too damn hard.
advocatezz on
How about we have more tag idea voting? I really missed "Time travel (To the past/Future but in current world)" , and "Second Chance" Tag there.
Stormblessed on
Exactly. It's a real nightmare to have an unending list of tags to browse through, specially when half of them aren't really necessary.
I believe it's best to have a good pool of tags that can point you to the right novels while not being overwhelming.
Garrdor on
But you can search them / narrow down the list so the endless scroll isn't really a problem. Unless you're just looking at every tag and seeing what catches your eye.
Alter-Ego on
Not everyone will know what a genre or a trope or characteristic of a story is called, they may have to browse through all of the tags just to grt that one specific one.
Lomyril on
Yay! Long awaited... and I look forward to searching under some of these tags for more good stories to read!
FlavorTown on
excellent! makes my bing reading so much more efficient!
DoktorPrimat on
I am much pleased by this update. Much indeed.
Was that a hecking Lovecraft reference?! "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" - The Call of Cthulhu.
-Dok
All Hail the Penguin Empire!
BANANA!
Endless Paving on
I like these changes, but I feel like Ruling Class doesn’t fit completely as a name for the last one, especially with stories like Breath of Creation.
Monitor on
You’re right, in my opinion administration would be better... I do not know what the story is your mentioned, but administration is a much broader term and not constrictive...
Endless Paving on
I mentioned BoC becaise it was on the beat rated list for a while when I started reading it. It been fropped now(*cries*). Personally I would go for something like Tycoon(from the Japanese taikun) so as to be recognizable like all those management video games. Or just go pompous sounding and call it Imperium or whatever to reflect how the character has near total control over whatever they manage.
Stratothrax on
Base builders?
Wing on
We are hearing your suggestions and heavily considering them. Keep suggesting other alternatives.
j03man on
I know some websites use the tag "kingdom build"
nicobuddyboy on
"Territory Management" , maybe? Not too limiting, pretty wide but still summarizes what goes on.
Endless Paving on
I finally have an idea, and it’s a pun.
Instead lf Rulimg Class (I can’t believe how obsessed people are with making this about nobolity exclusively)
Slice-Of-Oversight
Endless Paving on
Only took the majority of a year.
BladedPen on
Great change! Can't wait to retag everything now for clarity. Thank you!
obran on
Dang, I hadn't thought about tagging my work as "non-fiction" and not the option is gone.
georgebakerson123 on
Finally, I can put the fantasy tag on my novel without people saying "this isn't fantasy" simply because it is low-fantasy
Karmagator on
Excellent!
Moreta on
While tags including or excluding this way might be fine idea the way it right now is displayed, at least at mozila browser is much harder to use and lacking transparency previous version had.
It seems that I first would need to upload screnshot somewhere to insert it here, so I won't show how it looks and why it's terrible.
kanadaj on
We've stuck to the old system as long as we reasonably could exactly for that transparency; sadly, it becomes worse and worse as you keep adding tags to it.
Moreta on
Don't know if it's your work or mozilla update, but now it's possible to read description instead of three letter pieces in too narrow field. Much better.
JackWake on
I think the Additional Tags drop-down may be bugged atm. It's half the size of the Genre buttons (so it can only show one to two-and-a-half words at a time) and the automatic descriptions make searching by scrolling down somewhat difficult. The size is not adjustable.
kanadaj on
What browser do you use?
JackWake on
Google Chrome.
JackWake on
Ah, it appears to be fixed now. Apologies and thank you.
WillTell on
some nice changes I see. I still don't understand some tags I guess, but hopefully refined search will be easier. Especially the fantasy tag, urban fantasy and high fantasy are just too far apart.
edwardcastle on
Love the changes :)
molenir on
Need to include homosexual, lesbian an such tags. Some authors want to write their stories to include those romance options. And people who want to read, or don't want to read such stories, deserve the courtesy of being able to tell if a story is going to have that in it.
Nemanja on
We have decided not to implement any tags that pertain to LGBT themes. The ones we’d be most comfortable with, otherwise, were Boy Love and Girl Love (known as Yaoi and Yuri, respectively). We feel that adding those tags is unnecessary and doesn’t reflect the state of trends present in fiction, as well as there being possible negative connotations and/or reactions from our reader base.
molenir on
I really wish this would be reconsidered. People who want to read Yuri and Yaoi stories, should be informed that this is what they are looking for, while those who do not want to read those kind of stories, should likewise have the ability to be informed. Its a matter of choice. And if the author doesn't want to slap those tags on there, that should be their choice as well. Not including such basic tags does not help anyone, and just makes people ask why RR does not have them. That really does create negative reactions.
Wing on
Thank you for the suggestion, we will keep it in mind. But, please note that when we decided on a new batch of genres and tags, we picked them based on two factors. 1. What is popular in our community: We removed previously established genres that didn't have enough fictions (such as non-fic) and added tags that many fictions would have(such as the list above). Or 2. things we were interested in growing on our platform.
The Yuri/Yaoi stories did not make the cut for either of these requirements.
We have previously pinned a list of "The Extremely Comprehensive List of Yuri Web Novels" (some on Royal Road, some on other sites)
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/91403 so you can check some of the Yuri stories there.
However, our position as a platform is that we would like to distance ourselves from overly mature content.
We previously had requests to add the Yuri/Yaoi tag, so we took this decision very seriously and put a lot of consideration before making a choice. We researched other platforms that already have this tag, and noticed that the majority of cases, fictions with the LGBT tag are sexual in nature.
While it is unfortunate, and we do agree that there exist many stories of such nature that don't contain sexual content in them, we'd prefer to err on the side of caution and not include the tags.
In the meanwhile, please make use of the user-generated list.
13lack12ose on
A comprehensive answer, thanks for explaining RR's stance and the thought process behind it!
Sydorow on
Oh yesss.. New tags
LordGrayKnight on
Hehehe. I been here for a few days now and I can think of a few stories I've seen that needs the Villainous lead tag
Zethuron on
Thanks for adding the new tags, and for giving me new idea's for tags to use in my Excel personal reading list.
nolgalaxy on
This is a great update.
uncle sup on
How about adding a way to remove already read/reading LN form serchs results
Nemanja on
Our previous update marks fictions you've followed/favourited, or marked as not interested in, in lists.
j03man on
but there's no way to filter those results so they don't show up in searches?
Starchiller on
I really love those new marks, but a filter would be nice too. Don't wanna scroll for ages everytime i search for a new story.
Vandafer on
This satisfies Vandafer's need for easy access to fictions. It shall be used with mirth, humans.
Garrdor on
Last time we tweaked our tag list, we’ve added the Anti-Hero tag. --> we added
Don't you think there should be a separate sub genre for a story written from the POV of a sapient dungeon, which usually focus on settlement mechanics, and a story that has a dungeon in it?
kanadaj on
Personally, I don't feel the latter should have the tag added to it at all.
Garrdor on
Agreed but sometimes the story is set within a dungeon, so I guess it makes sense to have an applicable tag (like snake report, or more recently Queen's hound)
Fireflywaterfall on
I agree with that, but there might not be enough dungeon core novels for them to implement it yet. We'll have to see (and maybe force more authors to write them).
PCarrson77 on
I'm happy to see some of the new tags. Now I won't have to go crazy searching for dungeon stories and I can find other types I like, post apocalyptic and others, much easier.
Koor on
Awesome! Thanks!
j03man on
I find the traumatising content tag to be nearly useless. Some consider parental/spousal abuse to be traumatising, some authors think slavery or oppressive nobels are traumatising, others use it for rape and torture like you'd expect. The point is I can't tell if a story has content I'd actually consider traumatic and I'd appreciate more specificity so I can filter these stories better, because right now it feels like authors slap it on there just in case someone finds infidelity traumatising.
l nimbus on
Agrre with you on all of that.
j03man on
thanks for the signal boost ;)
Djay4054 on
The updates reflect the trends, I am pleased to see that RRL is constantly improving the UI to incorporate them.
redmirage on
This is for the best. Time to Xianxia up my fiction.
opt23241 on
"Gl'ry to our Administrat'rs, f'r this is forsooth gl'rious w'rk. "
Glowy3 on
I always ask myself how should one voice sentences that are written like that, I just can't Imagine how that would sound.
opt23241 on
What Shakespearean English Sounded Like And How We Know
opt23241 on
"A little like a drunk dwarf, I'd say."
Dreamheart_Dragon on
Yes thank you! I kept getting misled by the anti-hero tag when it was actually about a villian, and I hate villain stories. We definitely needed it.
Root on
Time to update my stories tags, this was long overdue
DarknessWolf on
I am vote for harem to be a Genre!
Good work for your hard works! Thanks for all your hard works! :)
The combine is good i think.
DarknessWolf on
short story should be in tags i guess or in story type with have: origin, fan fiction, short story, ... Well tag is mostly a go i guess.
Add in Genre harem, RPG/Game systems (for game like or in game), Martial (for well martial arts, wuxia, xiaxia, ...) like you guys had said?
CyclopsSlayer on
Good work! Been wanting some of these for a while now!
Syenzo on
Im just here to remind people of my existance.
Escribo on
Been posting on and off this site for two years. It's wonderful to have a community I can share my work with. The changes have been encouraging over the years. This is yet another step in the write direction. Keep up the good work, Everfixer.
j03man on
"write direction" fun pun.
Jiecut on
Ruling Class tag is cool. I'm interested in kingdom building novels. One thing that isn't covered exactly is business development/merchant/crafting.
Veritas97 on
Jiecut on
I found this list recently but I haven't started going through it. Maybe you'll find something that interests you.
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/58603
Zalpha on
Great changes. I hope if I am searching with the ‘Dungeons’ as a tag it takes into consideration ‘heart’, ‘core’, ‘labyrinth’, ‘maze’ and ‘crawl’ as theses novels sometime go by those names instead but sometimes aren't considered when searching for dungeon novels.
Zalpha on
I just realised that I was thinking of novel names and not tags. I suppose most of old novels will not be updated to be tagged with dungeon added to them so that only leaves future novels. At least if they make a novel called something like The Crystal Shared that is dungeon novel for example it could be tagged as such so it can be found when searching for a dungeon novel. Thansk for the update.
Miles Trombley on
Awesome. That will add more variety to this site. Thank you for the update.
Neydomus on
gud job. me satisfy end heppy.
i wonder if a "bad grammar" tag would be revolutionary, seeing as everyones definition of "good/bad grammar" is different on this site.
Dat_Karma on
Yay, more comprehensive tags
Mezo on
Thanks, I would appreciate a way to include or exclude fan-fictions while searching if possible. Love your hard work
Lucasnox on
These are good tags and subtags, better tagging system than even tsumino has :D
lucianosamas on
you can add Technological Gap ?
lucianosamas on
and Modern Knowledge
brjlqxuv on
well done , this will make it easier for spelunking good "magical cave"
Zalpha on
Thank you again for all the changes made. I am really happy to fantasy extended so well and the difference between GameLit and LitRPG add as well. I feel it is very important as I read both of those novels but sometime I don't enjoy LitRPG towards the end of them as the stats like 10,151 strength actually mean nothing at all at that point. It just becomes some arbitrary number. At least with GameLit the MC can get a perk here or there and the novel still feels good. That is just my personal preference and opinion.
Another thing I am excited about is the ‘Punk’ genres extended as well.
13lack12ose on
Thanks for the update RR team!
Much love as always <3
Amodock on
This is a welcome change.
hakatri gin on
Are there tags for actual blog entries?
Because some analytic work would be a good complement, and articles allow for clear dissertations about the nature of writting that would be preachy inside a story
Alter-Ego on
I love the tags, but really tho, what's the difference between high and low fantasy? And the Ruler Class tag can be changed to Caste or something similar, or maybe Hierarchy.
kanadaj on
Something like Lord of the Rings would be High Fantasy. Generally, stories with a world of their own are high fantasy. There are some cases where the line blurs, since many consider George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) low fantasy due to the down-to-earth approach with the few fantasy elements, but technically speaking it'd still be high fantasy.
Meanwhile, Twilight Saga would be Low Fantasy.
spaizzzer on
Can I have your cover?
Luke Scheffe on
personally, I would like a section for any of the included tags
EX: if I want to find GameLit or LitRPG or Dungeon, I need to have three separate searches, otherwise it will search for something with all three, and I want more results than that
kujkujkuj on
Really like the update well done RR. Cant wait to look up some new books to read.
Tschallacka on
Can we have in mobile view a browse mode per tag like netflix has? So you can just swipe sideways through the titles and covers until you find something that hits your fancy? It would make it a lot more comfortable to find something you want on mobile.
Scarlust on
Just come back to the site after a bit of a break, loving all the new additions you wonderful beautiful people~
[I'd be interested to see a Crime tag but because I've been away for a bit so I'm not certain if theres really a need for it right now]
What are your thoughts on doing a seasonal competition to add new tags?
With a seasonal addition there would only be 4 new tags per year but it could help keep our tagging system keep up to date with what people are writing and would promote more interaction within the community if you do it in competition form :3 (Just want to clarify that the platform would end up with 20 more tags in 5 years though so it would make more sense to go with yearly to prevent the 1000 tags NovelUpdates has long drowned in)
Have a great day guys, you've done good~
Chabu on
Can I just get a tag that says 'It's complicated' ?