Fanfic and Fandom Terms and Acronyms
Main Story Categories
Story Types and Genre
Other Fan and Fanfic Terms
Links
There are many entries on fanlore that you may find explain the following terms better than I have.
Main Story Categories:
Gen
– in some fandoms (like The Sentinel) gen has been used as a term used for any
fiction that is not slash, in other fandoms (like Stargate) gen is a
term used for any fiction that is not ship or slash. This has
caught people out in the past when moving between different fandoms.
Bitextual – this is fiction that includes both ship and slash relationships.
Ship/Shipper/Het – this is fiction that includes one or more male/female relationships of any rating.
Slash - this is fiction that includes one or more male/male or female/female relationships of any rating.
Femme Slash
– this is fiction that includes one or more female/female
relationship of any rating. Not all sites separate this from the
larger slash category, but some do.
Threesomes/Moresomes - this is fiction that includes multiple sexual partners.
OTP4 - this is fiction that sexually pairs the Atlantis (or other gate team) together, as a foursome.
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Story Types and Genres:
Angst – trauma and general wrenching of the heart-strings; psychological pain.
AU
– Alternate Universe (or Alternative Universe, depending on
nationality!) – any fiction that goes outside of canon.
Babyfic/Kidfic/Teenfic – fiction that contains one or more babies, one or more kids, or one or more teenagers as central characters.
Challenge
– just as it sounds, this is when someone offers a challenge to
writers. For example, a story that has to be based on one or two
words, or that has to contain certain items, scenarios or lines, or a
mix of these.
Crackfic
– this usually refers to a story where the author's ideas
are so weird or 'out there' you're left wondering
just what on earth were they
on when they wrote it! Often done on purpose, though not always,
these stories can be fun if you disengage disbelief.
Crossover–
fiction that is crossed over with another fandom. More normally,
crossovers refer to both sets of characters (or at least one
character from each fandom) being used together in one story, but can
also be used to describe a story where one set of characters replace
the characters in another fandom (this latter form is also known as a
fusion). (See also Fusion.)
Darkfic – fiction that contains dark and/or possibly disturbing images or ideas.
Deathfic – fiction that contains the death of one or more canon characters.
Drabble
– technically this is a piece of fiction that is 100 words long,
but in fandom some use it to mean any very short piece of
fiction. There are still debates about the use of this term for
fiction that is less or more than 100 words, so be warned that using it
in the more general way may upset some readers.
Filk
– a song that has had its words altered to fit fandom (this is a
term not used as much today, but I am unsure what has replaced it).
Five-ways
– some time ago a story was posted in another fandom and took off, spreading to many other fandoms. Most stories tell five different scenarios based
on one theme - for example, five ways Rodney rescued John, or more
AU-based ones like five ways John died heroically - but there are many variations, including three-ways etc.
Fusion –
usually this refers to one set of characters from one fandom replacing
another set of characters in another fandom (ie, writing Atlantis
characters as members of a NCIS team, replacing the team from that
show). (See also Crossover.)
H/C
– Hurt Comfort. Any fiction that involves a canon character
getting hurt and then being comforted by another canon character (or
characters) as a means of exploring their relationship (friend or
other).
POV – a story told from one character's Point of View.
PWP – Plot, What Plot – a story that has no plot, such as character studies.
Round Robin
- a story written in parts by more than one person. Each person
writes a bit, usually in turn, though sometimes in a more open and
random manner; there is no conferring between the authors as to plot,
dialogue etc.
Songfic
– a story that is heavily based on a song, with the lyrics used
to guide the plot and/or the character's thoughts and feelings.
Smarm
- a story that has two or more heterosexual characters (usually male)
hugging, touching, being in close contact and/or sharing emotions in an extreme
buddy-buddy type of way that does NOT lead to slash or pre-slash. See also fanlore's smarm entry.
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Other Fan and Fanfic Terms:
Beta-reader
- someone who looks at your story and checks your spellings and
grammar, and also offers advice on how to make the story better,
pointing out plot holes and technical or canon-related
errors. Some betas go into more detail than others.
Canon – referring to information that appears and events that occur within the episodes themselves. (See also Fanon.)
Disclaimer
– this states that the fiction is not for profit (very important) and that the characters etc
belong to the appropriate company not the fanfic author.
Fanon
– referring to information that appears or events that occur
commonly within fanfic, to the extent sometimes that they can be
confused with canon. For example, names often fall into this
category. In another fandom (The Sentinel) one of the main
characters was called Blair Sandburg. No middle name was
given, but a lot of fanfic writers used the middle name Jacob for him -
to such an extent that some people new to the fandom thought it was
canon-established fact. (See also Canon.)
Feedback
– passing comments to the author about the story, both good and
bad. It is best to give honest but polite comments; constructive
criticism is usually considered good, depending on the author; flames
are bad. (See also Flames.)
Ficathon - explanation comes from wikipedia
(it was so much better than my own attempt) - 'A ficathon is an
organised fanfiction writing event. Such an event normally involves the
writing of stories within a particular fandom. They will often all have
a particular theme, such as being all about one character or pairing.
Most ficathons work by authors signing up with one or more ideas for a
fic that they would like written for them. They also state which
genres/characters etc they write and which they will not write. In
return for somebody writing a story for them, they will be assigned an
idea to write. Ficathons normally have set timescales, with all stories
due in on the same day where possible. Such events are often organised
via websites such as LiveJournal or Yahoo! Groups.'
Flames
– negative feedback given in a way meant to be offensive, abusive
and downright hurtful. It doesn't take into account the
author's feelings and is usually in the form of a personal
attack.
Jossed/Jossing
- when writing for a series that is ongoing, a situation can occur
where you have an idea or are writing a story that, before you can
finish and publish, an episode is shown that is so similar to your own
story, you abandon your fanfic (or else write it as an AU and tell
people you were Jossed). The term comes from the fans of Joss
Wheldon shows, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly.
Mary Sue (or Marty/Gary or Larry Stu)
– a character who is perfect; able to do things others
can't, saves the day, is usually the love interest of one of the
major characters (or a relative), is there in place of the author herself.
Can be annoying to some as she takes away from the characters by being
stronger/smarter/better than them and able to defeat foes that they
can't (often has superpowers to do so), but there are others who like this genre. Gary Stu is the
same, but male, though the author doesn't have to be male to
write a Gary Stu, or a female to write a Mary Sue. Go
here for further information.
Muse
– has a connection to Greek myths, usually meant to mean the
source of a person's inspiration. (See also Plot Bunny.)
Non-con – this is a term used to indicate rape.
OC – this stands for Original Character – someone the author has created.
OFC – this stands for Original Female Character - a female character the author has created.
OMC – this stands for Original Male Character - a male character the author has created.
Plot Bunny
– that plot idea that won’t let go and starts to multiply
(!) - basically, any story idea that crosses your mind, even if it
never gets written. (See also Muse.)
Rating
- this is usually based on movie ratings, though some sites use
their own version. Basically, it tells the reader if a story is
suitable for children, for teens, or is adult only.
Spoilers
– if your story gives away plot details that have occurred in one
or more specific episode(s), then it is best to warn people, in case
they haven’t seen the appropriate episode(s) and don’t want
to know any plot details.
Squick -
This is a warning meaning that the story contains scenes that might be
gruesome or in some other such way distasteful to some readers.
UST
– Unresolved Sexual Tension – where two characters long to
get together with each other but never do anything about it.
Warning –
it is always a good idea to give warnings if your story contains
rape/non-con (whether on or off screen), abuse, torture, character
deaths. Other things I would suggest warning for are common phobias (eg
spiders, claustrophobic situations, snakes etc), or issues such as self-harm, suicidal thoughts and similar.
Whump
– This is harming a character (usually a canon character)
physically or emotionally (though it tends towards the physical side). Also whumpage (as in 'lots of McKay whumpage in
this story'), whumping (as in 'I'm writing a story
with lots of McKay whumping involved') and whumped (as in 'McKay got whumped a lot during this story').
WIP - Work in Progress. A story that is being posted in parts, usually because that is how it is being written.
Please
also let me know if you feel I have given an inaccurate description of
a term, and also send me any terms you think I should include and
haven't. Thank you.
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