Fan fiction terminology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The community surrounding modern fan fiction has generated a considerable amount of slang and jargon over the past several decades. This article serves as an introduction for the reader to the frequent and notable, but sometimes-confusing jargon of the fan fiction subculture. Because most or all of the truly notable terms (such as Mary Sue) have their own articles, this article will provide only a rough overview of the terminology with very brief definitions. For more information on fan fiction, see fan fiction. For more information on the terms listed here, please visit their main articles or the respective see alsos.
For ease of use, the terms are separated first by subject (the subjects themselves being alphabetized save for "General Terminology"), and then alphabetatized under that subject. In the event that a term fits under more than one subject, it has been defined in its first occurrence on this page, and referred back to in any further occurrences.
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[edit] General Terminology
A handful of key terms are applied cross-fandom and in a great many different contexts. These are listed below.
[edit] Canon
- Main article: Canon (fiction)
Canon (derived from the term's usage in the Christian religion and popularized in this context by the Baker Street Irregulars) refers to the "official" source material upon which fan fiction can be based. In recent years, some fandoms have engaged in lengthy debate over what is or is not "canon", usually due to multiple writers in various media creating contradictory source material, such as in metaseries like Doctor Who or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fans have varying levels of faith in the potentially "canonical" nature of novels based on films or television series, or novelizations of films and television episodes, which are generally not written by the person who wrote the script on which they're based, the creator, or even a member of the main writing staff.
It is important to note that something that is regarded as "canon" is regarded as verifiable fact in the given fandom. Details as complex as the laws of physics in a given story universe or as minute as how a character's name is meant to be spelled can be referred to as "canon" details, so long as they are specifically shown or otherwise directly revealed in the source material; this includes character behavior as well, though debate over what can or cannot be considered "canon behavior" is often a bone of contention in any given fandom. On occasion, authors (such as Joss Whedon[1] or JK Rowling[2]) also expand on what is shown in the original story in other media, especially personal websites or blogs. Generally comments on the nature of a story or character directly from the creator are considered statements of "canon".
Canon may be static or changing, depending on the source material. A television show that is still on the air, for example, is a more fluid canon because the show itself is incomplete. Often, a piece of fanfiction is speculative about "future canon", more often than not negated by what actually happens in future episodes, books or chapters of the series. Many fans refer to this as "being jossed", referring to Joss Whedon's penchant for plot twists.
In short, something that is "canon" is an idea promoted by the original work. (For example, the Will/Elizabeth relationship in Pirates of the Caribbean.
[edit] Fandom
In fan fiction communities, especially online, generally fandom refers to people who enjoy a story or game and actively interact with others who share the same love for the media, or rather, a group (however scattered) of such individuals; the term is a portmanteau of fan and kingdom. The term is often used with possessive pronouns, similar to how one would refer to one's country or religion, reflecting some fans' passionate devotion and personal attachment to certain fandoms; however, many fans who are said to belong to a given fandom might be only slightly more than casually interested.
[edit] Fanon
Main article: Fanon (fiction)
Fanon refers to invented (non-canon or not verified as being canon) facts or situations, especially those which are used frequently in fan fiction so as to become seen by many as an extended part of the canon. An example of a common fanon concept would be Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series having a fondness for leather pants; something frequently seen in fan fiction about him even though in the books, films and games, he has neither worn nor stated a liking for leather pants.
It can also sometimes refer to a fact or term from canon which is often adopted by the fandom and subsequently repeated in fan fiction at a frequency not seen in canon; for example, Dr. Robert Chase from House was referred to as a "wombat" in only one episode for being Australian, but the fact is played on constantly in House fan fiction. Sometimes, too, something that may even seem relatively plausible in a given canon but never does appear in canon may be created and subsequently adopted by the larger fandom; for instance, Xander Harris, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, often calls his friend Willow Rosenberg 'Wills' in fanfiction, but never once on the series; and so on. In this particular context, it can be also seen as a form of meme within the fandom, as often many writers and fans adopt the same fanon, often within a relatively short time frame.
One of the usual purposes of fanon is to fill in perceived contradictions or gaps in the canon, answer (or ask) questions that the source material either will not or cannot address, or simply hasn't addressed before. Prime examples include the first names of Uhura and Sulu in the classic Star Trek, which were "fanon" long before official adoption. Other examples include the speculation that Frohike, a relatively minor character on The X-Files, being a Vietnam War veteran; fans of the character then use this fanon as a way to explore and explain the character's profound disillusionment with the United States government. In fandoms based off children's cartoons - particularly older ones - fanon often darkens the universe considerably, adding consequences to the often over-the-top cartoon violence and drawbacks of the heroes' ability to suit the now-adult readers of the fiction.
So common is fanon, that a complete list of even the most common fanon concepts from so much as a single highly popular fandom would be difficult to compile and impossible to reference here with any sort of brevity, though discussions of fanon can be found on many fansites and forums across the Internet.
[edit] Original Fiction
The opposite of fan fiction. Refers to wholly original works of fiction, for example, not based on any preexisting stories that were written by another author (though some accept stories based loosely upon mythology or folklore to be original fiction as well, and such works are rarely referred to as fan fiction, even when highly derivative of the original mythology, such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), especially those which involve purely fictional characters, although some do make an exception for historical fiction featuring figures such as George Washington or Alexander the Great, calling it original fiction as well.
[edit] Smushing
"Smushing" refers to the practice of combining the names of the two characters being paired romantically to create a new term to indicate that specific pairing, usually to make it easier and faster to type it out or simply for humorous or aesthetic reasons. For example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer shippers refer to the Spike/Buffy pairing as Spuffy, while Stargate Atlantis slashers combined the names McKay and Sheppard into McShep, and Parrish and Lorne into Porne. Some X-Men Evolution "smushes" include 'Kurtty' for the Kitty/Kurt pairing and 'Romy' for the Remy and Rogue pairing. In most anime/manga fan fiction, the names tend to remain seperate, though shortened. Common terms in Inu-Yasha fan fiction for example, include KagInu for a Kagome/Inuyasha pairing or MirSan for a Miroku/Sango one.
The practice of "smushing" can happen in any given fandom, but it is far more common in some fandoms than others, and is generally the most popular in fandoms which include many young, female writers, such as teen-oriented dramas like Buffy, or animated series such as Fullmetal Alchemist or Inu-Yasha, which are well-known for their popularity with teenagers and have a large female following. However, there are a number of exceptions - series that one might not expect to develop a large teen female segment of their fandom or to start making use of "smushing" - that nonetheless do. Examples include the Harry Potter series, which was originally a children's book series, and the Stargate television series, originally a science fiction action/comedy/drama series that was aimed at the adult audience.
[edit] Acronyms
Due to the popularity of fan fiction online, many terms exist as acronyms, or have a popular acronymic variation. These are listed below.
[edit] AN or A/N
Stands for author's note or authors' note. Included more frequently in fan fiction than in original fiction. In fan fiction, "ANs" are usually in commentary before and/or after a part of a fan fiction, frequently in each chapter; when used at the beginning of a chapter, they usually include a disclaimer stating that the fan author does not own the original story (and giving the correct, appropriate copyright and/or trademark information) and does not intend to profit from writing the fan fiction story. Some authors also include "ANs" in parentheses somewhere in the body of the story, though this is generally frowned upon.
[edit] AU
An alternative universe or alternate universe (AU) story is one that makes major changes to the canonical storyline or premise, such as killing off the main character, changing characters' motives or alliances or changing the setting. Generally, to be considered an alternative universe story, the change must be something that would be extremely unlikely to happen in canon, or must be contradicted by new canon information that was not released when the story was first written. For example, a fan fiction story set before season seven of Buffy that featured the defeat of The First Evil (which was the "big bad" for that season) would have been made AU by default. This sort of alternate universe should not be confused with the concepts of parallel universes, alternate dimensions, and/or evil twins, though such concepts may also be used in "AU" works as well, or be automatically featured in some AUs if the canon already featured them. Some extensive or highly altering AU fanfictions are referred to as constructed reality.
AUs can sometimes be construed as acts of protest, or make up a very large portion of a given fandom. For example, despite LucasArts's controversial decision to declare Revan a lightside male, fanfiction for Knights of the Old Republic has a nearly 3-to-1 ratio of female Revan to male. Likewise, the episode "Jump the Shark" on X-Files dismayed fans of the Lone Gunmen, causing a spike in stories where the characters escaped their certain death, or where the POV character (notorious for being untrustworthy) was lying. To continue the point, a very common jumping-off point for an AU fanfiction is negating the death of a popular character or the arrival of an unpopular one.
[edit] IC
IC is an acronym which stands for In-Character, and refers to the behavior of (usually canon) characters which seems logical given what is known about them and their previous behavior in canon (see: OOC later in this article). Most fan fiction authors keep the existing characters' behavior IC, unless a behavioral change is the whole point (see Alternate universe.)
[edit] MST
MSTs, also known as MSTings and sometimes called MiSTings, are commentaries on fan fiction stories, written in the style of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). In MST3K, a man and some homemade robots trapped on a spaceship watch bad movies and make humorous comments about them. For written MSTings, bad fan fiction is used.
Generally speaking, MSTers follow a code of conduct, though some places such as Fandomination.net and Project A.F.T.E.R. have MSTings which clearly violate these "rules." One of the least respected rules is that MSTing authors should always obtain permission from the author(s) of the fanfics that they are MSTing.
Although MSTings originated as MST3K fanfics, some people have used the MSTing format with an original cast or the cast of the canon the original fan fiction is based on, instead of the MST3K characters.
It should be noted that FanFiction.net, among other archives, has banned the posting of MSTs, commonly citing that they include writing that is not the work of the author of the MST.
[edit] OC
OC is popular shorthand for original character, e.g. a character created by the author of the fan fiction, as opposed to one already existing in canon. The term (especially in acronym form) is also frequently used by members of the fan fiction community to refer to their characters in original fiction (for instance: "I have an OC who learns sorcery in a short story I wrote yesterday."). OMC is an original male character, and OFC is an original female character, though most people just use the general OC label. The term OFC has also gained some use in internet jargon among fans not as an Original Female Character, but an original feature character, which is a term indicating that the character is one from an already established series, but somehow changed, but placed in the same setting and events as the established character. An example of this would be a version of Harry Potter who would have become a cyborg, but still gone through the events of the first six Harry Potter novels, with only the differences in actions and reactions taken by the cybernetic Harry, as opposed to the canon version. This sometimes counts as making the entire fiction into an AU simply becauise of the change to one of the main characters, which generally causes entire portions if not the entire established continuity to be drastically altered. The Original Feature Character term has been utilized primarily in internet roleplaying games, or other RPG settings. However it can be applied to the world of fanfiction as well.
[edit] OOC
OOC stands for Out of Character. The acronym form of the term should not be confused with the version from the online role-playing community, in which the same acronym is often used to denote comments made that are made to be read outside of the context of the game's story (such as notes about when a player will next be available). Its usage in fan fiction is different, and closer to the original literary meaning of the term Out of character, referring only to the behavior of (usually canon) characters in the story itself regarding whether or not they seem "in-character" (see: IC, above). Much of the fan fiction that includes characters being OOC does so unintentionally, but it is sometimes done intentionally as well, often as a form of humor or to posit a "What if...?", such as in AU fiction. Such stories are tolerated or even enjoyed by many... and considered annoying by many others. For this reason, many fan fiction authors who delibrately write the characters to be OOC mention the term in summaries of or introductions to such stories, as a form of warning.
[edit] PWP
PWP stands for Porn without Plot or sometimes Plot? What Plot?, and is used to indicate or imply that a fan fiction story contains little or no original story but instead acts merely as a vessel for pornographic scenes.
[edit] RPF
Real person fiction, often abbreviated RPF, is fiction written about real people such as actors, politicians, athletes and musicians. For instance, fictional stories in which a person meets their favorite singer or actor, or in which a relationship occurs between two celebrities, are popular types of "RPF" stories. Due to the nature of the stories - being about real people as opposed to fictional characters - there are some people who disagree on whether or not RPF is genuine 'fan fiction'; most RPF does seem to be written by fans, but some believe true 'fan fiction' requires a fictional canon. Additionally, historical fiction featuring famous historical figures is not generally considered to be (or at least, referred to as) RPF fan fiction, despite featuring real people as characters. Most major fan fiction archives have a moritorium on RPF, usually citing legal concerns or a definition of 'fan fiction' that requires a fictional source for its canon.
Possibly the first modern RPF was written by Charlotte Brontë and her siblings, who beginning in 1826 created a lengthy series of novels, poems and short stories based on the imagined adventures of the Duke of Wellington and his two sons, Arthur and Charles.
[edit] SI
SI stands for Self-insert or Self-insertion. It refers to an author writing him- or herself into their story. The resulting "character" is usually referred to as a self-insert in the fan fiction community. The term is often closely associated with Mary Sue, but does not actually exclusively apply to the kinds of characters typically labeled a Mary Sue.
It is a common mistake to confuse the terms 'Mary Sue' and 'self-insert', especially since generally Mary Sues are seen as being the kind of person the author wishes they could be and often are a form of idealized self-insertion (especially in cases in which the character is revealed to have a secret relationship to one or more canon characters, such as being a long-lost relative), but the two terms do have two distinct meanings. Though accusations of 'Mary Sue'ism are common when it comes to self-insertion fan fiction, some authors will go to every effort to make their character believably flawed.
[edit] WDNNSP
WDNNSP stands for We don't need no stinking plot, a more "intense" PWP [citation needed] see Plot, what plot?
[edit] Characters
[edit] Anti-Mary Sue
An anti-Mary Sue (usually shortened to 'anti-Sue' or 'anti Sue') is the product of an author doing everything that he/she can to prevent their characters from becoming a Mary Sue. Normally, an anti-Mary Sue will be physically unattractive, not powerful in the least, hated by most canon characters or else just not interact with them at all, and will most likely be nothing short of an utter and complete failure. For more information, see: Mary Sue.
[edit] Avatar
Also known as an Author Avatar. This is a character that is basically a representation of the author.[citation needed] Quite often Avatars are also considered Mary Sues and as such most uses of this term are derogatory. The assumption is that the author wrote the story as a sort of wish fulfillment. Some original fiction stories also have characters accused of being author avatars.
Though technically a form of self-insert by some people's definition of the term, the "avatar" does not use the same name as the author and is sometimes even different in physical description; the character itself is a part of the fantasy, as opposed to merely taking part in the fantasy.
[edit] In-character
[edit] Mary Sue
Mary Sue (Sue for short) is a pejorative term that refers to characters perceived as being badly-characterized and unsympathetic, often written in a cliché manner, who usually dominate the story they appear in, whether through upstaging the established characters, romancing one or more established characters, or having her own story set in the same universe in which she is the star. Mary Sue most often refers to a heavily idealized character, and as such, most argue that characters they perceive as Mary Sues lack any significant or noteworthy flaws, and thus are unrealistic. Most characters labeled as Mary Sues happen to be OCs (see: OC above), but some maintain that even established characters (referred to as canon characters or sometimes canons) can be made into a Mary Sue, or that characters in original fiction can be one as well. Many, but not all, characters labeled as Mary Sues are also self-inserts (see: self-insert). The term Mary Sue usually refers specifically to a female character; the male equivalent has a number of designations, among them "Marty Stu", "Harry Lou," "Marty Sam", and "Gary Stu"; most are a variation or wordplay on "Mary Sue", either rhyming with it or including many of the same letters.
[edit] Out of Character
[edit] Original Character
[edit] Self-Insert
See "SI", above An original character (see above) who represents the author of the story.
[edit] Subgenres
[edit] Subgenres based on relationship to canon
[edit] Alternative universe/Alternate Universe
[edit] Crossover
Another fan fiction subgenre is the crossover story, in which either characters from one story exist in (or are transported to) another pre-existing story's world, or more commonly, characters from two or more stories interact. An example would be the human refugee fleet led by the Battlestar Galactica finding and entering the territory of Star Trek's United Federation of Planets, or the characters from the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation solving crimes in the Harry Potter universe. While the crossover genre is extremely popular amongst fan fiction writers, it does sometimes occur in canon works – examples of this include the episode of The X-Files which featured Richard Belzer as his Homicide: Life on the Street character John Munch, and the fact that John Munch later began to appear as a main character in Law and Order: SVU. It is from the term's usage in reference to canon works that it came to be used in reference to fan fiction crossovers as well.
[edit] Pastiche
Fan fiction also exists in the form of independent, fan-produced pastiches and parodies of established works, including fan-produced film and video. The first such parody was 1978's Hardware Wars. One of the best known is Troops, a parody of the reality television show Cops, depicting Star Wars Imperial stormtroopers on patrol.
Sherlock Holmes, the Cthulhu Mythos and several of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fantasy series have fan fiction pastiche communities. This tradition comes from the establishment of literary societies, dating back to the 1930s and 1940s. These societies attracted both professional and fan writers. They practice a semi-professional level of publication of fan fiction of a specifically sophisticated literary nature, both in print quality and community expectations. Star Trek fans quickly developed a pastiche community around the Kraith series, which began appearing in fanzines in 1967 and had about thirty contributors. Probably the best-known example of such a community as of 2006 would be the followers of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series.
[edit] MST
[edit] Virtual seasons
The virtual season is usually a collaborative effort to produce a compilation of fan stories or scripts portraying episodes of an entire season for a television program – usually one that has been cancelled or is no longer producing new episodes. Often, these writers will elect members of their group to be the imaginary producers, head writers, editors, and other traditional roles to aid in the coordination of the virtual season's material, direction, and continuity. Every effort is made to reproduce and carry on the details of the program as professionally as possible. The most dedicated of these teams sometimes produce fan films such as Star Trek, New Voyages.
[edit] Movieverse
Movieverse refers to movies based on original works of fiction such as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. Most people try to steer clear of this form of fan fiction because it shows that the person either does not know much about the books or TV shows or have just seen the movies.
[edit] Subgenres based on character relationships
[edit] Alternate pairing and "shipping"
In fan fiction communities, pairing refers exclusively to romantic or erotic involvement; never to mere friendship or team involvement. An alternate pairing story centers on a relationship between characters who are not involved nor seen as involved in canon. Many fandoms have set "canon" pairings based on strong hints in the original story, though fandoms tend refer to pairings as "canon pairings" more often when characters have actually had a stated attraction or involvement (kissing, confessions of feelings, sexual relations, etc.) in canon. A canon containing many changing relationships (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Desperate Housewives, or any number of soap operas) is more apt to generate fan fiction with alternate pairings. Fans often refer to a pairing as a "ship" (short for "relationship") and people who are in favor of two particular characters pairing up are referred to as "shippers."
[edit] Lemon and Lime
Explicit sex stories in general, especially in anime fan fiction, are known as lemon, a term which comes from a Japanese slang term meaning "sexy" that itself derives from an early pornographic cartoon series called "Cream Lemon." The term lime denotes a story that has sexual themes but is not necessarily explicit. "Lemon" stories without much plot other than sex are also referred to as smutfics or as PWPs ("Porn Without Plot" or "Plot? What Plot?"). These terms are also sometimes used to describe original amateur fiction that is published online.
[edit] Slash and het
Slash fiction is, depending on one's preferred definition: a subgenre of romance fan fiction which exclusively deals in homosexual or male homosexual relationships; a subgenre of Alternate Pairing that addresses a relationship between characters of the same gender, especially males; or the same thing as an Alternate Pairing. The expression comes from the late 1970s, when the "/" symbol began to be used to designate a romantic relationship between Star Trek characters, especially between James T. Kirk and Spock. In the Star Trek fandom, 'slash' still currently tends to refer to any non-canon ship (including heterosexual ones), although in most other fandoms, the meaning has morphed into referring specifically to same-sex or even, frequently, to exclusively male same-sex pairings.
Stories with male homosexual pairings are the most common. Lesbian relationships are often referred to as "femslash" or "femmeslash" to distinguish them from the male/male pairing stories, though some fans prefer to use the term "Saffic" (a portmanteau of "Sapphic" and "fiction"). Fans of Japanese manga or anime tend to use the Japanese terms relating to the subgenres, referring to male homosexual pairings as yaoi or shōnen-ai and lesbian pairings as yuri or shôjo-ai. The former term for each typically represents the more sexually explicit stories, while the latter generally represents more romance-centered stories, though they are occasionally used interchangeably.
"Het" is the opposite of "slash" (by most of the term's definitions), classifying a romance and/or sexually explicit story which has as its main focus a heterosexual relationship.
"Gen" is a story with no romance or very little.
- See also: Shipping (fandom), Shounen-ai, Shoujo-ai, Yaoi, and Yuri (animation)
[edit] Other subgenres
[edit] Real person fiction
[edit] Crackfic
A form of fanfiction in which characters are put in very random, nonsensical situations, and most often are all OOC. See "OOC", above. Such stories are often written and posted to the internet on the spur of the moment, and are usually laced with in-jokes amusing only the writer and a small circle of the writer's friends. Also known as a sugarfic, probably from the author's notes that the story was written on a "sugar high". Some connoisseurs of Fanfiction claim that almost all crackfics are now short and poorly written.
"Crackfic" should not be confused with "crack" being used as prefix (e.g. "crackpairing"). When used in this sense, the story may not be nonsensical or written with "OOC" characters at all, rather, it indicates that what is described with "crack" is not a commonly accepted or perhaps even thought-of element by fanfiction authors. Of course, what constitutes, for example, a "crackpairing" could possibly change given time.
[edit] Fluff
A genre in which the story is devoid of angst and takes on a mood of light-hearted romance.
[edit] Religious fic
Also called "conversion fic", these are stories in which the primary character or characters experience an emotional crisis and adopt religious beliefs not mentioned in canon -- almost invariably those of the writer. These stories are often extremely OOC and have little to do with canon, as when Harry Potter suddenly abandons the wizarding world on being told that all magic is Satanic in origin, or when the central character in Sailor Moon becomes an evangelical Christian after a two-minute conversation with a perfect stranger.
[edit] Songfic
This is a genre in which an author takes an existing song and uses the lyrics to generate the theme of his or her story. Songfics are usually one-shots though there are exceptions. The title of a songfic is usually the name of the song featured in the story, but the title may use specific lyrics from a song or it may be an alternative naming for a song or it may not have anything to do with the song at all. The format of these stories is usually an alternation between song lyrics and narrative with the placement of the lyrics corresponding with the pace of the story.
[edit] See also
- Fan fiction
- Anime and manga terminology
- List of common loan words in non-Japanese otaku culture
