The Monthly Watt - February Issue

Fanfiction Terms

Fandom

A fandom is a group of fans of a particular novel/movie/TV-show. Members of a fandom are typically interested in even minor details of the plot/characters of their fandom and often spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, that is why most fan fictions are written by members of a particular fandom(s).

Slash fiction

is romantic fan fiction that depicts characters in homosexual relationships. It is popular on most fanfiction sites including Fanfiction.net, and wattpad. But the most homosexual pairings are published on , comprising twice as much as heterosexual pairings. Slash fiction resulted in arrests of some authors in China.Most fans of fanfiction believe that slash is male/male oriented, and female/female fanfictions are catorigized as femslash.[]

Songfic

A songfic, also known as a song fic or a song-fic, is a term used to describe a genre of fan fiction that features a fictional work interspersed with the lyrics of a relevant song.The term is a of "song" and "fiction"; as such, one might also see the genre referred to as "songfiction". As many lyrics are under , whether songfics are a violation of that copyright law is a subject of debate and some fan fiction websites such as have barred authors from posting songfics with lyrics outside .

In an essay in Music, Sound, and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, professor commented that the genre was "one of the least distinguished modes of fan production" and that "within fan fiction excessive attachment to or foregrounding of popular music is itself dismissed as immature and derivative".

Mary Sue

Also of note is the concept of the "", a term credited as originating in fan fiction that has crossed over to the mainstream, at least among editors and writers. In early Trek fan fiction, a common plot was that of a minor member of the USS Enterprise's crew saving the life of Captain Kirk or Mister Spock, often being rewarded with a sexual relationship as a result. The term "Mary Sue", originating in a parody of stories in this genre, thus tends to refer to an idealized character, often representing the author.

Crossover

A crossover is a fanfiction in which two or more fandoms are combined in some way (including characters, setting, and universe). Crossovers are an old story trope of fanfiction; as soon as fans started writing stories in more fandoms than just Star Trek, they started crossing those sources together.

TW

An abbreviation of "". Trigger warnings are meant to warn of content in fics that could be harmful or "triggering" to those who have dealt with situations such as abuse. Fan fiction is tagged different TWs so readers may avoid certain content.

Canon

Canon is the original story. This means anything related to the original source including the plot, settings, and character developments.

OTP

An abbreviation of the term "one true pairing". Where the author or reader prefers to have certain characters from a fandom in a relationship.

Fangirl/Fanboy

A female/male that is a part of one or more fandoms.

Taken from: Wikipedia