Fandoms for works that have no "fandom"

[elf]

I've recently uploaded a handful of filksongs to AO3, in light of franzeska's clarification of the TOS FAQ saying that the important measure of "fanworks" is that they were "created in a fandom context for a fandom audience." Yay!

Um. So... how do I tag them? I wrote filk for kink_bingo. Is kink_bingo the *fandom?* That seems... wrong. Is the original tune the "fandom," which would mean adding half a dozen new single-work fandoms? I wrote filk about coffee. Not about sentient coffee (in which case, it could go under "anthropomorphic"), but about coffee. No fandom. No characters. No pairings. It's to the tune of & in the style of a popular Pagan song, which is probably unknown outside of Pagan circles. (The Pagan song is ttto a traditional tune, but it doesn't match the original tone or style.)

I'm not posting to say "help me figure out how to tag my weird fanworks!" They can remain under "no fandom" for all I care; I'm happy to have them all in one place next to my (tiny selection of) fic. But AO3 is eventually going to host art and vids and maybe other stuff, and SSBB fic, and other things that don't easily fit in the category of "what movie, book, game or TV show inspired this?" (*Ponders some of the multi-fandom vids being tagged with every fandom. Shudders.*)

I could put "filk" in the fandom field, potentially along with other fandoms (I have Harry Potter filk), and let that wind up with a category in "Other Media." (That's kinda what I'm leaning toward, actually.) But I'd love to see other people's ideas... what would you like AO3 to do with fanworks that don't fit in the traditional categories? Can you think of other fanworks that don't fit well in the current system?

Comments

[elf]

I think that my definition of fanworks follows that old saw about pornography, where I know it when I see it.

Yep; that's about how I feel. (That's pretty much how I define "filk," too. There's no nice sharp line that distinguishes "filksongs" from "folk music on maybe-fannish themes.")

Being about coffee just means there's no pairing or characters. It feels weird to leave a third of the info fields empty.

I could list "coffee" as the fandom. I could list the Pagan song I based it on. (The Question Song) Or I could list the original tune *that* was based on--Twa Corbies. Except that people looking for Twa Corbies fics-and-fanworks would likely be disappointed by my song.

I don't mind fandoms-of-one, if people who are interested in those fandoms are going to be (potentially) be interested in what's listed under them. IMHO, it'd make more sense to list this one under "coffee" as a fandom than either of the origin tune songs. I've been putting the to-the-tune-of song in the summaries. (I'm probably going to start listing "Filk" as the fandom, and it can get wrangled into "other media.")

[risha]

I think that plan works best for the vast majority of browsers, yes. Though if other people suddenly start tagging by song someday I'd go back and add it.