| The following fanfiction terms and definitions were found at the Fanfiction Glossary. My additional notes will be added with brackets. I thought they'd be useful for newbies to the fanfiction world, as well as we writers who use them.<G> A few are quite amusing. The Fanfiction Glossary alternate universe: Imagine a universe slightly different from ours... All fictional settings and the variants thereof are said to take place in alternate universes, as if they're actually real but can't be seen or reached except by the imagination -- or by crossovers. ;) Sometimes this term is shortened to AU or A/U in other fandoms; however, the concept is universal. [I personally don't find anything wrong with alternate universe. Often, it's a way to fix those things the writers did that made the show "jump the shark". In other words, it's a way to fix what went wrong with the show.] ANC: "Annoying New Character" -- an author-created character who (obviously) annoys the hell out of readers. Often, but not always, a Mary Sue. [A personal pet peeve. Most fans enjoyed a show for the characters that were ON THE SHOW. There's no need to add to the cast, unless you're adding what amounts to extras on a TV show.] angst: Refers to the emotional wounds suffered and/or borne by a character, especially if they spend pages moaning about their miserable life in great detail. Can add intensity to a story or turn it into one big long pityparty. Warning: angst can be addictive! Annoying Original Female Character: Any Original Female Character who's, well, irritating as all hell. Usually a Mary Sue. Often abbreviated to AOFC. [Iritating as hell is certainly the term for it, IMHO. Keep your fantasies to yourself.] Aura Of Smooth: An imaginary energy field said to exist around blatant Mary Sues or other self-insertions. It's the only explanation for how the canon characters suddenly turn into gullible shadows of their normal selves around 'em. [ROTFL] beta, betaread, beta-read: To edit and comment on someone else's work before it's finalized, taken presumably from the old software term "betatesting." Betareading brings a fresh perspective to a rough draft -- by the definition of the word, one cannot beta one's own work. canon: An adjective referring to a character, event, plotline, etc. which happened "for real" -- the actual professional source material. Note that "canon" is a term used throughout most fanficdoms, not just here. On the Star Trek fanfic forums, this is sometimes jokingly referred to as TDC (The Dread Canon). crossover: A story which straddles two different fandoms. Can be as close mixing characters from different universes within a genre (ie. Batman/Wolverine) or as wildly disparate as you can imagine (ie. Buffy/Teletubbies). These stories can either be great fun or infamously horrible, depending on the skill of the writer. Sometimes spelled "cross-over" or abbreviated to "C/O" but not with comic fandom. ep: Episode of a TV show. fandom: A collective term used to describe all fans and their activities. Science fiction fandom originates in the 1930s, when the first clubs were created. h/c, H/C: hurt/comfort -- a style of story in which one character is harmed (physically or emotionally) and another must save them, make them feel better, or both. Though not often seen in comic fandom, this one's been around since the original Star Trek 'zines and is often used to encourage a hopeless romance or set the stage for slash. In Sentinel fandom, stories of this type are jokingly called "owwies." [As are Emergency! stories. Usually referred to as Johnny-owies, or Roy-owies.] LOC, LoC: Letter of comment, also seen as eloc (e-mailed letter of comment) in some backwater ficdoms -- see feedback. Jessica Ross says: "LoC is way older than the fandoms you name -- LoCs were printed up in the very second zine ever. There's an old, old joke: 'The last fan in the world was alone in the ConSuite. There was a LoC on the door.'" lurker: Member of a mailing list, messageboard, or other forum who rarely if ever directly posts or comments, instead remaining "invisible." Sometimes lurkers are so good that you don't know they're there for years. Some lists tolerate lurkers; others strongly discourage or even ban them to assure that all members "pull their weight" by participating. Please note: most fanfic writers do not like lurkers. If you enjoy a story, send feedback! [Amen!] Mary Sue: The generic name for any new character (usually female) who's a ego-stroke for the writer: she's beautiful, has amazing skills/powers, gets into a love affair with an existing character, or (usually) all of the above. Mary Sues often convince characters to hook up romantically, especially in slash. Good writers can write good Mary Sues, but this is not the norm. [Again, anoying as hell. Again, keep your fantasies to yourself. And, if you're going to insist on writing a Mary Sue...for heaven's sake at least don't use your real name. That just makes it that much more nauseating.<G>] moderator: A person who has full or partial control over posts to a moderated newsgroup, mailing list, or other forum. Some moderators have complete control, okaying or denying each message; others merely have the authority to delete rules-breaking posts and negotiate arguments. netiquette: Rules of acceptable online behavior. Whether assumed, word-of-mouth, or painstakingly recorded, these rules vary from situation to situation -- and from fandom to fandom. If you're not a "local" (or even if you are!), it's best that you mind your manners. newbie: A raw newcomer to any online group/place/genre, sometimes less charitably called a "virgin," or in older circles a "neofan" ("neo" for short). Often not meant cruelly but as a simple statement of fact. original character: Any character who was created by a fanfic author, rather than being from the original canon material. Often abbreviated to "OC" or "oc." OT: Denotes an off-topic message on a mailing list or messageboard plot bunnies, plotbunnies: Ever get hit with a story concept that doesn't really go anywhere but you have to write it? You've just been attacked by a plot bunny! Possibly inspired by John Steinbeck: "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." ratings: An author- or archivist-applied system which lets readers know what they're in for before they start reading a story. Not all archives or mailing lists require ratings, but most of the good ones do -- ratings are increasingly becoming a solid component of good fanfic etiquette, and at very least authors are expected to warn readers if a story contains explicit adult content. Using the American movie guidelines as a template, most fanfic can be rated as follows: G: Good clean fun for all ages. PG: Mild implied sexual innuendo, mild bad words, or violence or serious (though not quite mature) topics. PG-13: Some violence, bad language, obvious sexual innuendo, implied sexual relations. Also may include some mature topics such as suicide, homosexuality, drug/alcohol advocacy, rape aftermath, details of childbirth, etc. depending on the mores of the fandom involved. R: Just-short-of-explicit sex, graphic torture or violence, rape. Not recommended for minors. NC-17: explicit erotica, excessively gory violence. Often illegal for underage readers. X: the same as NC-17 but only in reference to sex. No longer used by some fandoms. Real Life: The dread eternal reason why fans vanish, authors stop posting, and archivists fall behind in their duties. Often abbreviated to RL. spoiler, spoilers: A piece of information within a story or a message which can reveal (and thereby "spoil") an important plotpoint in a movie, show, issue, etc. that the reader has not yet seen/read. WIP: "Work In Progress" -- a story whose ending has not yet been written or a rough draft which has not been thoroughly betaread. [Personal preference is...I don't write in chapters. For one thing, I'm constantly making small changes during the writing process. For another, I don't always write in order from beginning to end. I hate reading stories that are written in chapters, and the author suddenly seems to drop off the face of the earth. It's hit or miss whether the story ever gets finished.] For more terms and acronyms, check out the Fanfiction Glossary. I hope you found the above helpful. If nothing else, I got a chuckle when reading them.<G> |
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