Modifiers

Modifiers add detail about how this tag relates to this book, and help us keep the total number of tags down which in turn makes searching easier. Instead of writing "multiple graphic descriptions of internal bleeding", we tag "Injury: Internal Bleeding", but add the modifiers "multiple" and "graphic" to it. Sometimes a tag doesn't technically fit, but conveys the same general idea: The page training the protagonist undergoes in Tamora Pierce's First Test isn't exactly in a boarding school, but the protagonist is a child, taking lessons and having exams with other children, and living at the place their training takes place. When we tagged it "Setting: Boarding School," we added the modifier "kinda" to it. Other modifiers include "past" for events that don't happen in the major timeline, or "by another name" for concepts the author uses a different word for: when werewolves are called “moonhounds,” we will still tag “werewolves” with the modifier “by another name.”

Modifiers only refine a tag, never negate it. They just add a bit of depth when it's needed. We currently display them by writing them in parentheses, for example "Location: Westafrican Country (fictional)." Multiple modifiers can be added to a single tag, but most tags have no modifier at all. They help us out when we find a tag by itself lacks nuance to accurately summarize the piece of the story it describes. Keep reading about Clusters for situations where one tag alone is not enough to describe a situation.