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Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. You walk over to join their conversation, but they appear to be speaking in foreign tongues: "Did you see last night's ep? I love Snowbarry. I OTP Westallen so hard, though. Part 1: What even is "fandom"? Part 2: Basic fandom concepts Canon : The source material. In fiction-based fandoms, "canon" is simply the source narrative you're referring to when you talk about that thing you like. Some people have different ideas of what "canon" is — for example, many Harry Potter fans don't consider anything but the published books to be canon, while other fans include the extra information author J.
Rowling has provided about the wizarding world on her Pottermore website and on Twitter. Fanon : These are the pieces of information fans make up to supplement their canons. Sometimes a detail gets widely distributed and becomes a major fanon trope, meaning it makes its way around fandom and becomes a well-known idea.
And to really break your brain, sometimes that trope makes its way back to the creators of the source material, who stick the fanon trope into canon.
For instance, in the third season of the BBC's Sherlock, John Watson was rescued from a bonfire in a cheeky reference to the fanon meme depicting Martin Freeman, who plays Watson, as a hedgehog. Hedgehogs often curl up in the piles of wood assembled for bonfires on Guy Fawkes Day in England. Headcanon: A sub-branch of "fanon" is actually called "headcanon. Shipping: Perhaps the single most popular fandom activity, shipping involves fans rooting for two characters — or two real-life people, if your fandom is reality-based — to get together romantically.
If you ship a pair of characters, they become a ship and you become a shipper. Often the shippers behind different ships fight for dominance within a fandom; these are called ship wars. OT3, OT4, etc. Fanfiction: Fanfiction — or fanfic or fic , but never "fan fiction"; the two-word construction is considered incorrect — is fiction written about a previously existing work, or a previously existing source of some kind. This previously existing source can be virtually anything, including reality; there's a whole subgenre of fanfic called RPF , short for "real person fiction," or fanfiction about real people.
Fanfiction exists about everything from commercials to inanimate objects to real world history. Fanfiction is also as old as civilization itself , and, contrary to popular belief, it's not illegal. It's generally considered to be fair use under US copyright law, in that it qualifies as a "transformative" work based off the original source material.
Fanfiction is a collective noun, so you say "works of fanfiction," not "fanfictions. Fanworks: Fanworks are stuff you make in honor of a canon; how you define "stuff" and "make" is largely up to you. Common types of fanworks include things like fan art and fan vids exactly like fanfic but with pictures and videos , meta serious discussion about canon or about fandom itself , cosplay dressing in costume as a fictional character , fan comics, fan films, podfics recordings of fanfiction made by other fans , filk fannish song parodies , fan theories, and everything from fannish sewing patterns to fannish tattoos.
In short, it's just about anything you can think of making to support, defend, expand upon, discuss, or celebrate your fandom. TPTB : A fandom abbreviation for "the powers that be. The use of this term is waning in modern fandom in favor of "creators," "showrunners," etc.
The term has the side effect of reminding fans that ultimately, creators have power over canonical material and, to some extent, over fandom itself. BNF : big-name fan. This term dates from old-school sci-fi fandom and refers to a "famous" fan or a fan who is more or less at the center of fandom culture. For instance, before she became a major best-seller, The Shadowhunters author Cassandra Clare was considered to be the most famous fanfiction author in the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fandoms.
Het fanfic is "het fic. Many fans believe slash is a subversive response to heteronormative canons, which rarely allow for the possibility that main characters can be queer.
But a growing number of fans maintain that the tendency of slashers to fixate on mostly white male characters makes slash a deeply problematic and regressive genre.
Slash is a huge part of modern fandom culture. As of Tumblr's last statistical analysis on the subject, it's pretty clear that the vast majority of pairings being shipped in fandom tend to be slash pairings. However, the major het ships in fandom, like Arrow 's Olicity, seem to have more shippers in other locations on the internet — not just Tumblr, which is generally considered to be the contemporary hub of fandom online.
Femslashers generally want to be considered separately from "slash" in discussions of fandom because their ships are often quite different. Femslash has historically accounted for the smallest portion of fandom, but recently femslash pairings have surged in popularity thanks to major canonical queer ships like Korrasami for the TV show The Legend of Korra and Clexa for the TV show The , and non-canonical but still popular ones like Swanqueen within the fandom for the TV show Once Upon a Time.
Gen or genfic: Short for "general," genfic is what you get when your story isn't primarily concerned with romance.
You can also be a "gen shipper," which paradoxically means you don't ship anyone in particular. Because of the issues involved in speculating on someone's real sexual identity, RPS can sometimes can get a bit thorny , to put it mildly. This can frequently be a squick for many people, if not an outright trigger for survivors, so should be listed in the author's warnings. Often features minor canon characters rather than the main cast members, though it may consist of a major character paired with a minor character as well.
May also include rare crossover pairings. See also: Pairing and Shipper Rating -- refers to a classifcation system in which a story is marked for suitablity by age or content. Rating levels indicate what amount of graphic language, violence, or sexual content a reader might anticipate within the story. However there are a growing number of sites now using the non-copyrighted Fan Rated Rating System with its equivalent values, and some other sites that use their own personal systems.
See also: NC Reader -- refers to the person who reads a fanfiction story. Recently, has also come to mean a new type of self-insert fanwork written usually in the second person to allow the author or reader to imagine themselves in a scene or story with the character s.
It essentially recreates the work and starts over from a blank slate. May also be referred to as "pimping" because you are attempting to make the recommended story especially attractive to the other readers to entice them to read it as well. Moonbeam's Note: For the curious, a large cross-indexed list of my favourite story recommendations can be found at my Pinboard social bookmarks. Updated daily. Remix -- refers to a story written by a second author that is a often total rewriting of a first author's story, usually from a new perspective or with a different ending.
Usually only done as ficathons or with personal permission from the original author. An unauthorized remix could rightly count as plagiarism, so prior approval is necessary. Often, it is performed to smooth out continuity so that there are no gaps or glaring errors in the characterizations or plotlines as new ideas are introduced.
Alternatively, it may completely change the meaning of all other continuity and result in a total "reboot" of the work. Some sites allow readers to make anonymous reviews, but it is still considered good netiquette to sign your review with your name so that the author can thank you or reply to it if necessary. Anonymous "reviewers" who take use of the opportunity to leave flames without chance of reprisal are why many other sites require readers to sign-in before they can leave comments.
If RPS, those real people are placed in a homosexual relationship. This genre is frowned upon by many fandoms, and many archives and moderators refuse to permit it to be posted.
However, some fandoms not only permit it, they even welcome it -- Lord Of The Rings and Supernatural for example. All bandoms fandoms about musical bands and sports fandoms Hockey, etc Occasionally, RPF or RPS elements may also intersect with fanfiction universes as well, if a real life person is written prominently into a fictional world.
Remember, this topic is a highly-debated issue in many fandoms, and a major squick for many people, so it should be listed in the author's warnings. An RPG fic may either be written from the point of view of a canon character in the game setting or of an original fan-created character in the game. RPGs usually diverge greatly from the canon source material, so are often very AU.
See also: AU Round Robin -- refers to stories written by multiple authors taking turns; often open to the public so that anyone can add a passage to the ever-growing story. RST may indicate an Established Relationship, or one that becomes so before the story's end. Originated in The X-Files fandom, but has since been procured by several other fandoms as well. If not, the corollary Rule 35 states that such porn will soon be created. See also: Rule 63 Rule 63 -- refers to one of the Rules Of The Internet originally coined as a 4chan meme which essentially states: "For any given male character, there is a female version of that character.
If a character is at all uncomfortable unsure, scared, or in pain they may at any time use their safeword to bring the scene to an immediate halt without consequence.
See also: BDSM Self-Insert -- refers to a story that features an original character who deliberately and purposefully represents the author, for they have actually written themselves directly into the story to interact with the characters. Some self-inserts may be written from the second-person POV to allow any Reader to imagine themselves as the character as well. Most often used for humour, as a parody or to provide commentary, but may also be done seriously.
Authors who insert themselves into the story need to be careful not to cross the very thin line that separates their original character from a Mary-Sue, the idealized and non-realistic representation of what the author wishes to be. A feat that is no small challenge. It may pick up immediately where the last one left off, or much later in the original story's continuity. If another sequel to the sequel is written, they have then become a series.
See also: Series Series -- refers to multiple interconnected stories that follow one another in a sequential order. See also: Stand Alone Sex Pollen -- refers to stories in which some sort of external influence often the pollen of a plant, hence the name, but may be any kind of drug, magic, or mind-control causes the characters to spontaneously engage in sexual relations, often oblivious to gender or sexuality or even propiety.
Is a classic sci-fi trope. Originated in various classic Comics and Science Fiction fandoms, but has since been procured by several other kinds of fandoms as well.
May or may not be the fans' OTP. When the pairing of choice is homosexual, the proponent may also be said to be a "slasher" instead. See also: Fluff Slash -- refers to the presence of a homosexual relationship featuring at least one canon character.
May or may not include graphic or explicit sexual content. Such fics tend to have high incidences of abuse and rape, although not necessarily. Often contain BDSM. May or may not be AU. Usually carry multiple warnings and high ratings. Slow Burn -- refers to stories featuring characters who gradually and naturally fall in love or lust before beginning a romantic or sexual relationship.
As the emphasis is on the slow evolution of the relationship rather than a quick conflagration into sudden resolution, such stories may contain a lot of UST and pining until the smoldering passion eventually catches fire. Sub-category of a PWP. Snark tends to run the slightly more biting edge of humour than mere sarcasm. Characters whom excel in it are referred to as being "snarky". The term was first coined by Lewis Carrol in The Hunting of the Snark , and is believed to be derived from the combination of "snide" and "remark".
See also: Humour Songfic -- refers to stories inspired by music, often with the meaning or lyrics of the song used within the prose to embellish the story itself.
See also: Filk Spoiler -- refers to stories or comments which contain scenes or information crucial to a specific episode of the canon material, often about major plot points or character developments. Warning for spoilers allows readers to make the choice themselves about whether or not they wish to proceed and discover the unknown information willingly or skip the story until later, instead of having the surprise unpleasantly ruined when they least expected it.
Squick -- refers to possibly offensive elements ie: bestiality, abuse, rape, torture, slavery, suicide, etc Most likely derived from the combination of the word "squeamish" and the slang term "icky. Remember: Different people are squicked by different things! Besides, one person's squick may be another's kink Stand alones are complete in and unto themselves, have no sequels, and are not related to any other story by that author. Also called "Oneshots", especially when posted all at once.
Stream of Consciousness -- refers to a character's thoughts, feelings, and words pouring out of them without pause to edit or explain any aspects. May be disjointed and confusing, but is written to reflect the way our minds naturally flow and jump from idea to idea.
Subtext -- refers to the subtextual unspoken or unwritten connotations that are nevertheless evident as occurring 'between the lines' to the reader or viewer, interpreted through actions or body language and tone. Subtext among characters usually refers to an underlying attraction that is perceived to exist between characters, hinting at a potential sexual or romantic relationship without explicitly confirming or denying the possibility. See also: UST Summary -- refers to a brief description of a story that captures the reader's attention and entices them to read the fic.
Can be as detailed or vague as author desires, identify main elements such as plot-points or featured characters, or contain a quote from the story itself. Should be interesting enough to attract readers, but not give away the entire point of the story. Is often the first tool a reader uses to judge whether they wish to read a story, so some care should be taken when writing one. Tag -fic or Episode Tag -- refers to a, usually, short story that picks up from the end of a canon episode and adds to or fleshes out the episode in whole or in part.
May also refer to the hyperlinked keywords or phrases used by many sites to categorize, describe, or label fanfics or posts. User tags are as varied as the imagination allows, but generally offer some useful description of the story's content. Is not a promise that it will be finished, but generally indicates the author's awareness of its incomplete state and willingness to attempt to do so.
A timestamp fic is a drabble, ficlet or other short story written about some specific time before, during, or after an episode or other story. Timestamps themselves may be as precise as right down to the nanosecond or more generalized, such as ten years later. Is a form of AU that sticks close to canon, but still allows for change due to the Alternate Timeline.
Time Travel itself may be achieved through magic or science, or even completed unexplained reasoning. Authors will often summarize their "teal deer" as the acronym can be pronounced thoughts with a few quick sentences at the end for those who wish to skip the main explanatory text and still catch the gist of the idea. Authors should , out of respect to survivors, provide story warnings for the most common triggers ex: rape, suicide, abuse, self-harm, torture, etc Oftentimes, just the advanced knowledge alone is enough to override the trigger itself so that it does not adversely affect the reader if they are prepared for it ahead of time.
Even if an author chooses not to warn for squicks, they should still provide basic trigger warnings as a common courtesy. See also: Warning Troll -- refers to someone who is usually cowardly anonymous who deliberately and often repeatedly makes inflammatory or off-topic comments in a ploy to rile up other people and create dissension.
Trolls set out to induce emotional responses, preferably as explosive as possible, and don't actually seem to care about whatever point they are making so long as it starts an argument. In truth, trolls cannot and should not be argued with at all because you can't make them see reason and you are only encouraging them to be even more disruptive if you try. Hence, the frequently used reminder of "Please Do Not Feed The Trolls", because often the only way to get rid of them is to simply ignore them.
Rather tropes are significant or recurrent themes whose universality makes them a convenient way to show familiar concepts. See also: Cliche Moonbeam's Note: There is a very informative and addictive! Underage -- refers to stories featuring at least one main character below the age of majority be it 16yrs, 18yrs, or 21yrs depending on author and country of origin whom engages in a romantic or sexual relationship, whether with another underage character or a recognized adult.
See also: Chanslash Universe aka -verse, 'verse or! Stories written within the same universe may be connected by those similar traits but do not necessarily follow sequentially as a series does. Differs from subtext in that the attraction is not merely a perceived interpretation by fans but an actual factor influencing the canon and characters.
See also: Fluff Wank -- refers to a deterioration in online discussion from civil discourse to complaints, whining, and often vulgar bitching. Can occur at anytime, but generally only when egos are in high attendance and someone takes offense easily. Or if there is a troll around to deliberately stir things up!
Posturing, aggression, and flame wars are common. Warnings for all major squicks should if possible be given, especially those that may trigger flashbacks in trauma survivors, but it is subjective to the author's preferences. Readers are ultimately the only ones responsible for filtering what they read, so must remain vigilant and stop reading if they come across something they really don't like. You cannot flame an author for failing to warn for something when anybody can just hit the Back Button on their browser if they stumble across something that makes them uncomfortable.
Warning is a courtesy, a valuable one, used to varying levels among different fandoms but in the end still solely an author's perogrative. Different from Angst fics because whumped characters don't really suffer for all they are hurt by a gleeful author. Wingfic -- refers to stories in which the wings of characters either naturally, or in which the author has -- often gratuitously -- given the character are featured.
Some WIPs are updated frequently, even on regular schedules, while others are more slow as inspiration strikes.
Stories may go months or even years between updates, but if the author has not explicitly stated that it has been abandoned or discontinued, the chance still exists that it will be updated. Authors usually welcome readers showing continued interest in their WIPs, but please do not harass an author to complete an unfinised story as that is merely rude.
Woobie -ified -- refers to a character who inspires great sympathy and desire to comfort due to the physical or emotional pain they appear to suffer through no fault of their own. A woobified character is one who is treated as such even if they might otherwise not qualify, possibly leading to some or a lot of OOC characterization to justify the woobification.
Most fanfictions do not require worldbuilding as the canon itself provides that starting off point, but many AUs do indeed richly develop entirely unique universes with their own rules and backgrounds from which to frame their new stories. See also: AU Word of God -- refers to the statements and thoughts made by the "God" who created the canon source material TV show, movie, book, etc As the words are direct from the original creator they may also be considered canon by certain fans.
Whether or not the Word of God should be accepted as true canon is subjective to each person, as there are a large contingent of fans who believe if it is not shown then it simply doesn't count. See also: Canon Xeno -- refers to characters or pairing in which someone is decidedly non-human, be they alien or supernatural creature.
Most often used in pairings when it is an interspecies mating between a human and sentient being of other origin. Costs vary, but are usually non-profit -- all proceeds tend to go directly to covering the costs of printing and binding the 'zines.
Often include fan-created illustrations 'Fanart' and never-before-seen stories. Prior to the Internet and the World Wide Web, zine printing and selling was the dominant method of circulating fanworks around the planet, either by mailing through the postal system or trading in person when fans gathered at Cons.
These practices do continue today with many fandoms and authors, and there are still several good zine publishers to help new authors get their work printed ex: Agent With Style if they are interested in experiencing this alternate format for story distribution.
Traditionally, zine-published stories will not become available to the net until at least one year after the zine has been released, if ever. Anime Fandom Terms Chanslash -- refers to stories, usually slash and often but not always explicitly graphic, involving underage characters in a sexual or romantic relationship. Originated in and most common to anime fandoms only, but has popped up occasionally in other fandoms. See also: Underage Hentai -- refers to the presence of graphic or explicit sexual content, either heterosexual or homosexual in nature.
Often, the sexual content will be of a kinky or deviant subject matter, such as "tentacle porn". Japanese term, specific to anime fandoms only. Always rated NC See also: Anthropomorfic Lemon -- refers to the presence of graphic or explicit sexual content, either heterosexual or homosexual in nature.
Lemons are usually more vanilla than hentai porn. Usually rated NC Usually rated PG13, as there is no actual "on-screen" action. Japanese term, originated in and most common to anime fandoms only, but has popped up occasionally in other fandoms. In other words, the 'top' of the pairing. In other words, the 'bottom' of the pairing. In non- anime fandoms, the term 'Slash' is standard and generally considered more appropriate.
In non- anime fandoms, the terms 'Fem me slash' or 'Slash' are standard and generally considered more appropriate.
The term is used sarcastically, as the parent is obviously unworthy of receiving such a high passing grade in the skill of parenthood. May indicate a parent is who is not deliberately unjust but simply cannot understand their child's needs, but is more likely to indicate neglectful or harmful behaviour all the way to cruel and abusive. Marvel-verse Daemon -- refers to an animal-like companion that represents the soul of a character.
Are usually the opposite gender of the person, they cannot be separated from their human without consequence, and there are taboos about touching another person's daemon. During childhood the daemon may shift shapes representing various aspects of the person's personality until finally settling on one form as the person grows up.
The cut portion did air in Canada and throughout Europe. What Epilogue? Harry Potter Faction -- refers to a smaller group of fans within a larger fandom that is divided in its fans' preferences. While many fans can disagree about certain elements within a fandom such as preferred pairings or characters , factions only develop if the number of members who adhere to a certain belief is particularly great.
While strife among different factions is possible, generally they get along through acceptance, tolerance, and annual humour-filled cracky "wars" with each other and their characters! Members can also belong to more than one faction, such as myself being both an UFer and Light Cousin. Failwolf -- refers to, usually, the character of Derek Hale when he is being a ridiculous failure of a person due to his lack of social skills and inability to communicate effectively.
The term is usually used affectionately. Teen Wolf Grimdark -- refers to stories with especially horrible violent and depressing settings or situations that are rarely if ever relieved by lighter, happier moments. May include post-apocalyptic or dystopian universes. Third rule. Don't do too long or short of a reply. You may feel the pressing need to add more and more detail, but it makes the other person wait, and their character doesn't get to interact at all during that time.
Also, if it's too short- come on! The other person has to reply! Give them something to reply to! This also includes the fact that every bit should try to have at least a little speech on their part, or in cases of a mute or very quiet character, at least an action the other person can reply to.
If nothing else, just have them curl up in a corner and show their thought process. This rule can be ignored under certain circumstances, the biggest one being when it's at the beginning of a story and both people are attempting to establish their characters before they get to the meat of things.
Another situation is if the characters are separated temporarily. Fourth rule As grammatically correct as possible. No l33t speak , no ignoring punctuation , and always make sure things are spelled right. It just makes you look like an idiot, and the other person will end up silently frustrated with you.
This also includes not naming your character something long, ridiculous, and is unable to be pronounced by any mortal tongue.
Some immature RPers ignore this rule entirely, but it makes everyone else roll their eyes. Fifth rule. This one can be ignored, but most people at least offer it. It has to do with noobs to RPing. If one person has done an RP before, and the other hasn't, then the more advanced one often suggests that maybe they should take on most of the characters, leaving the noob with one or two to play around with on their first try.
This can be ignored under many circumstances- such as if both are new, or one is new and the other has only done a few RPs. It's mostly advanced RPers who offer it. Try to make it as smooth a transition as possible Such as like this: You want to offer that maybe their character should get captured. If they don't go for it, don't push it.
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