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A to W (Z later) Guide to Fan Fiction Terminology All fandoms have their own set of abbreviations that the average writer/reader has no clue what the original writer was talking about. Some of these are descriptive terms, others are common throughout all fan fiction, but here on the internet, we all love to use our short cut terms, and as typical, not everybody knows what they are. So, here is a little guide to what all those terms mean here in this fandom. If there are any that have been missed. (I am sure there are) please submit them to webmaster@jerichonet2.com Adult - Stories with themes that may not be appropriate for children, or people of extreme sensitive nature. Alternate Universe (AU) - A piece that diverges from established canon history. This divergence changes the history of the rest of the events in canon. This type of piece may be labeled AU. Angst - Causing a character great grief, emotional pain, torture, just making the character's life miserable. A piece that is emotionally wrenching or a piece where a character deals with an emotionally distressing situation. Antific - (Also called slasherfic)  A piece written to put down the show, book, movie, etc.  Anti-fics usually involve a plot that centers around killing off the main characters.  Archive- A place on the internet to store stories, or the act of storing stories on the internet. Author - Somebody who writes fan fiction. Authorservice - A scene, character or story element put into a piece by an author to fulfill the author's own fantasies, desires or entertainment.  Beta Reader - A person who critiques a story for an author. The critique normally examines the following parts of a piece: grammar, spelling, characterizations, plot, similarities to canon, and language. Betaing - The act of beta reading a fic. Beta Version - The rough draft of a story. Not final. Breaking the fourth wall - A piece where characters talk directly to the reader. Canon - Established history and characterizations of the show, movie or book.  Challenge  - An idea given out by a reader that encourages and tests authors to write a piece with the ideas listed.  Challenge fic - An answer to a challenge. Character Death - A warning in the introductory material of a fan fiction alterting the reader to the fact that a character will be killed in the piece. Cliche - An over used plot device, or description.  An example of a clichéd plot device is two people getting deserted on a desert island and falling in love.  Cliffhanger - A piece that is ended abruptly to have its conclusion in another story. (Considered evil by some readers.) Copyright - The exclusive right of an author to reproduce, distribute, and sell their written material.  Crossover (or Xover) - A piece that involves characters and or locations from more than one fandom. Darkfic - Piece without a happy ending. Deathfic- Piece where a lot of characters die. Derivative Fiction - A piece based on another piece.  Fan fiction is considered to be Derivative Fiction. Disclaimer - A part of the fan fiction header where the author claims they do not have the rights to the show, book, movie, game, etc.  This is often found the author's notes or introductory material for a fic.  While this is not always done, it is encouraged that authors include a disclaimer in their fan fiction . Epic - In literature, a book, poem or movie that is long and contains a lot of action.   Erotica - Pieces that stimulates the brain and sexual regions.   Fandom - All fan activities around and about a tv show, movie, book, cartoon, etc.  Writing fan fiction is one such activity.   Fan Fiction (or fan fic) - Original fiction by fans of a show, movie, books or video game. The fiction involves characters and the location of the show from which the person is a fan. Fans write fan fiction for a variety of reasons. One of the most popular reasons is to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored on the show, movie, book or video game.   Fanservice - Occurs when an author writes a scene, character, couple, or piece in order to please their audience and to gain maximum readership.    Fanzines - Amateur magazines created by fans. These often contain fan art, fan fiction and essays about the fandom on which the magazine is based.   FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions.  A FAQ contains information that answers questions that people may ask that portain to a fandom, mailing list , archive, etc.   Feedback - Comments by a reader of a piece for the author. There are generally three types of feedback: Praise, constructive feedback, and flames.   f/f - female/female. This designation means that the piece will include a romantic or sexual relationship between two women.   Filk - A song about a certain fandom . The musical score for the song is based often based off another song.    First Draft - The first and unedited version of a story. Flame - A comment that offers no constructive information for the author or that is intended to insult a person rather than discuss the story or issue at hand. Flames are often identifiable because they contain profanity. (or)  a note or comment intended to offend someone or provoke a response from some one.   Flamebait - A piece with an opinion expressed or posted in such a manner that the author is encouraging readers to flame it. Fluff - A light piece with no real message. Fluff often is a happy piece. Fluff can be derogatory meaning in that a piece lacked substance.  Fluffy Angst - A piece that starts out very angsty but that ends happily. Genre - A style of literature, music, etc. Examples of genre in literature include the following: science fiction, mystery, humor, romance, horror. Het - Heterosexual. Het fic - Heterosexual fan fiction . This type of piece has a romantic relationship between two characters of the opposite sex. General sex. Hurt/Comfort - A piece where one character is hurt and another character comforts or protect the other person. These pieces tend to be dramatic and explore areas of character where the character is made vulnerable. IC  - In Character.  In Character means the characters behave in a fashion that agrees with canon behavior.   Iconoclast - A writer who writes fics about smaller and more obscure characters on a tv show, in movies, books and videogames because those characters are often ignored.  This type of writer may flaunt their uniqueness. Kleenex Warning - A warning by authors that the piece is so sad it will make the reader cry thus the reader should have Kleenex on hand. LHS - Let Him/Her Suffer - Commonly used term when the story focuses on causing angst to a certain character on a constant basis. Love/Hate - A story type where the characters start out hating each other and end up loving each other.    Lurker - A person who belongs to a discussion group or forum who does not participate.   m/f -   male/female. This designation means that the piece will include a romantic or sexual relationship between a man and a woman.   m/m - male/male. This designation means that the piece will include a romantic or sexual relationship between two men.   Mailing List - An e-mail based discussion group.   Meta - A keyword in the subject line that alerts readers to the fact that the post is about fan fiction or fan fiction writers and that the post is not a fic.   Missing Scene - A piece of fan fiction that answers what may have happened between two scenes in a book, movie or television show. Muse - The personification of an author's inspiration. NC -  Stands for Non consentual. Sex that is not consented to or where one party doesn't agree to have sex.  Often force is involved with non consentual sex.   Netiquette - A code of conduct or acceptable behavior on the Internet. NEW -  NEW is put into header info to signal to a reader that the piece is new. Newbie - A new fan fiction writer or a new member to a discussion group. Newsgroup - An electronic message board. A newsgroup generally has a set topic and a set of rules that newsgroup participants are asked to follow. Non-Canon - A piece with a direct violation of canon. Non-canon is similar to AU but differs in that the history of the piece meshes with Canon except for a detail that happens in the piece. Novelization - A piece that puts into story format the events of a movie, television episode or video game.  A Novelization often includes more in-depth analysis of character thoughts and reasoning that may not be apparent when watching the action on the screen.   Orphan Plot Bunny - A story idea that an author has finally given up on.   OT - Stands for Off Topic. When posting to a fan fiction discussion group to talk about something other than fan fiction or the fandom the discussion group is based on, a person should put "OT" in the subject line to let others know the post is not on topic.   Pairing - Any combinations of characters who are romantically or sexually involved in a fan fic.   Parody - A piece of fiction that is a comic imitation of another piece of fiction. Parodies may draw their inspiration from more then one source.   Parallel Universe -  A piece that diverges Drastically from established canon history. This divergence changes the history of the rest of the events in canon.   Parallel Universes, unlike Alternative Universe stories, can be considered canon . Plot Bunny - A story idea that arises at a bad time. (or)  A story idea that spawns many story ideas. (or)  A story idea that the author has no intent of writing. Plot Gremlin - A story idea that hits you with such force that it eats at you and your muse. POV - Stands for point of view.  Prefic - A piece that takes place before the canon events in a fandom. Preservation - A movement by fan fiction fans to preserve older fan fiction for the future.  Purist - A reader who does not like to read pieces that contradict canon. PWP - Stands for “Plot, what plot?” This piece generally consists of a sex , humor, or other genre scene with little or no plot.  Rating - A way to tell a reader what reading level the themes are appropriate for. Regular - A person who is known, posts frequently and is generally accepted by the rest of the members on a discussion list. (sometimes called an old timer, long timer, or elder) Repost - A story or note that is being posted for again to a forum, newsgroups or mailing list . Revenge fic - A spoof where characters from a fandom come to life and take revenge on the author or people the author knows or a piece where the author takes revenge on characters by having the author or other characters attack them.   Review- Opinions of a piece by a reader for fellow readers. Round Robin - A piece written by several authors. The piece is normally written via e-mail or on a discussion forum. Each author normally writes several paragraphs or a chapter and then submits it to the next author who will add to the piece. Sequel - A piece that takes place after the canon events in a fandom . (or)  A piece that takes place after the fan fiction events of a series of stories. Series - A collection of stories joined by a central theme and/or character. Shameless Plug  - A blatant plug for a commercial product in the a piece of fan fiction, or a blatant plug for your own or someone else's fan fic .  Shippers - Fiction that focuses on relationships between two characters (Bonnie and Michael, Michael and KITT... etc.) Slash - A piece with the central theme, plot or characterizations involving a romantic relationship between two members of the same sex.   Slow Release Fanfiction - Stories which are submitted to an archive or mailing list with a few chapters at a time. It doesn't necessarily have to be Work in Progress. It is mostly used to keep the audience in suspense on a cliffhanger . Smart Quotes - Quotation marks that help to frame a quote. Microsoft Word adds them automatically. Before sending a fan fiction to a newsgroup, mailing list , message board or to an archivist, remove smart quotes from your document. Smut- A piece that has sexual content.  Smut has many levels.  Some smut pieces may have scenes with sexual intercourse, some may not.  Songfic -Song fan fiction. A songfic is a piece that normally starts out with the lyrics from a song. This song either inspired the writer while they wrote the story, relates to how the author views the character, helps set the mood of a story or sets the basic plot for a piece. Spoiler- A piece of information that tells the events that happen in an episode.    Spoiler Warning - A warning that reading the piece will spoil an episode or book for you if you haven't seen it or read it.   Story Blurb /Summary - O ne or two lines that briefly tell what happens in the piece. Thread - A list of related posts about a certain topic. Threads are most notable on message boards and newsgroups . Top Heavy - A piece with a long title. Torture- A piece where one of the main characters is abused mentally or physically. Uber - A character that resembles another established character in fiction. Virtual Season - A story or series of stories that follows the natural progression of a show after a series has reached its end. WAFF (or Waffy) - Stands for Warm and Fuzzy Feelings. A WAFF piece generally has a happy ending and leaves the reader feeling warm and fuzzy. WIP - Work in Progress. WIPs are generally posted chapter by chapter to a mailing list or other discussion forum. After the WIP is finished, the author may go back and revise the story.   Extreme special thanks to Writer's University for the definitions to some of these terms.