Fandom Dictionary

Other people have done this better than I ever could; really all this version adds is the key. Links to other fandom dictionaries can be found in the Quick Exits section of the menu to your left.

Key

setting/type derogatory warning acronym jargon

Entries

ANC = "Annoying New Character"

Angst: A story marked with this as the warning will invariably involve something very upsetting for the characters, if not for the reader. There follows a lot of wailing, gnashing of teeth, and in severe cases, quoting of emo lyrics. Well-written angst-fics are rare but worth reading.

Archive fic: Fiction that revolves around the author's real life or is heavily influenced by it. Possibly used as revenge through fiction for real life events.

AoS = Aura Of Smooth

AU: The fanfiction (or non-canonical story by the original author) takes place in an "alternate universe"; examples include Gundam Wing characters in feudal England and Harry Potter Characters in space. Unless done very, very well, these tend to be quite shit, as the whole point of fanfiction is to work with what others have provided you.

Badfic: Does exactly what it says on the tin and is bad fanfiction, although it has also come to refer to deliberately awful stories written to either annoy or amuse people.

BBS = Boy band slash

BDSM: BDSM is an acronym for "Bondage, Discipline, Sadism & Masochism", and fiction with this warning attached will feature one if not all of these factors, although what constitutes sadism, masochism, etc, tends to vary from author to author.

Beta: A Beta, or beta-reader, performs the same function for fanfiction that a truly dedicated editor or writing tutor does for writers of original fiction; checking for typographic errors, spelling mistakes, bad grammar, inconsistent characterisation, and either correcting the simpler problems or discussing the more complex ones with the author. The term "beta" is originally from the software industry, where a "beta testing" product was put out to be used and checked for bugs by a select group of people not related to the production of it.

Bottom: term referring to the receiver of anal sex (also: catcher) or the submissive partner in a sexual/BDSM encounter (some people may use the yaoi-originated term "uke" for this although the connotations are not identical).

Brit-picker/Brit-picking: One who checks for Americanisms/non-Britishisms in fanfic set in the UK or featuring English, Irish, Welsh or Scottish characters. I believe the equivellent also exists for fandoms where the characters and locations are primarily based in America, Australia or any other specific country, but I don't know what the correct terms are for these. Brit-picking is especially associated with the Harry Potter fandom, and they have a community on livejournal devoted to it: HP Britglish

Canon: As the religious connotations of this word suggest, this is The One True Word of the fandom it is related to - the official version of the characters, their world, and their relationships and behaviours. Canon is treated with varying degrees of reverence and arguments about what constitutes canon is hotly debated in many fandoms. The phrase "it's practically canon" may be used to express the user's appreciation of a particularly sound theory or convincing fanfiction

Challenge: Fanfiction written for a specific fiction challenge, which may revolve around a pairing (Snape/Hagrid), a length (drabbles are a good example of this) or trying to get a certain combination of words into the story. Pervy Werewolf Fanciers hold regular fiction challenges.

chanslash, or chan: This term springs from the Star Wars Fandom, and apparently bears some relation to the reported habit Samurai warriors expecting their apprentices to 'service' them. The definition of "Chan" or "chanslash" is that one member of the pairing is below the legal age of consent. The age of consent differs from place to place, so this phrase can have different meanings depending on the author's country of origin. If you find the idea of underage sex disturbing then it's probably best that you avoid all stories with this warning just to be on the safe side.

Citrus: PG-13 to R for sexual encounters, derived from "lemon".

Crit: Abbreviation of "Criticism". If "crit" is encouraged it means the author would like to have their work reviewed honestly. "Concrit" is an amalgamation of the term "constructive criticism" and a request for this is a request for the reader to think about how the author could improve their work.

Crossover: The story contains characters from two or more unrelated fandoms or "'verses" (abbr. "universes"). May or may not have its origins in the Marvel and DC crossover specials in the Silver Age of comics. Crossover stories tend not to be terribly plausible and are often made into AU fiction to help cover this; however, implausible does not always necessarily equate to unreadable.

Dark: This may contain elements similar to Angst fic. "Dark" fiction can contain any of the following; rape, death, black magic, torture both psychological and mental, and any number of other unpleasantness. Generally it's not a good idea to read an entire Darkfic archive in one go, unless you have a nice big stash of Prozac nearby.

Deathfic: Is as it sounds - one of the characters, probably a major one, will die in the story, and this will be a central theme of the story. Included as a warning because people can get very attached to their favourite characters and may not want to see them get squished by a falling anvil.

Delurking: Where the act of lurking is said to be reading a mailing list or message board without posting, the act of delurking is when a person who normally doesn't post decides to post a message.

Drabble: This term is the cause of much consternation and flamewars. It refers to the length of a piece of fiction and apparently originally meant "story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less" but has been appropriated, along with "ficlet", to mean "any short fiction under 600 words or so". The purists are very angry about this, and posting fiction of more or less than 100 words in a drabble community or claiming that said fiction is a drabble is inadvisable if you want a quiet life.

"f/f" or "femmeslash": A slash story involving two female characters. Any story with this warning/description attached will almost certainly feature anything from hints at lesbian tendencies to explicit female-on-female sex scenes

Fandom: Like kingdom, Fandom encompasses everything related to fans, fannish behaviour and the like, and can be used to refer to anyone who is a fan of anything, or to a specific group. For example: "The Harry Potter Fandom is full of nutters".

Fanon: Popularly accepted behaviours, pairings, or quirks which have no solid grounding in canon but have nethertheless been taken and used by a number of fanfic authors, artists, or RPGers. Examples of fanon include Remus Lupin's apparent book fetish in the Harry Potter fandom.

Fen: Plural term for "fans" implying all fans, whether all general fans or all fans of a specific program, book, or character.

Filk: Taking the tune of a popular song and changing the words to suit a specific topic, usually fandom-related.

Fluff: Romantic, generally free of actual content and by definition lacking in any trauma happening to the characters featured. May be nauseatingly sweet, but will never feature character death or anything else typified by the warning "Darkfic".

Gayfic: A story about characters that are homosexual within the canon, as opposed to slash, where the characters are portrayed as homosexual in the story but are straight in the canon, or have not had their sexuality explicitly defined in canon.

Gen: Abbreviated form of "General", stories which are "Gen" do not feature any particular character pairing and are expected to focus on the progression of plot or character rather than any underlying romantic intent. There is also the expectation that, as with the American film rating system, a fic labelled as "Gen" will also contain elements no more disturbing than a G or PG-rated film.

H/C or hurt/comfort: One of the characters gets hurt and the other comforts him or her. There is a subset of this category in which a character is raped and later has "healing nookie" [sex] with the comforting character with no apparent traumatic side-effects. The so-called "first fanfic" is rumoured to have been a Spock/Kirk Hurt/Comfort fic.

Het: Abbreviated form of "heterosexual", used to denote a heterosexual romance between characters in a fic; sometimes used as a warning on websites or mailing lists which are primarily slash-oriented.

Jump the shark: Fandom terminology deriving from an episode of "Happy Days" in which the Fonz jumps over a shark on his motorbike, which was widely believed to be the beginning of the end in terms of quality for the show, the phrase "to jump the shark" is usually applied to suggest that a fandom/concept has become utterly ridiculous or self-referencing, i.e. "The Harry Potter fandom totally jumped the shark with the introduction of a Dumbledore/Dobby shipping list".

Lemon: Roughly NC-17 for explicit sexual encounters, usually, but not always of a homosexual nature. Primarily an anime/manga fandom term.

Lime: Roughly R rated for sexual encounters, less explicit than "Lemon", somewhere between soft- and hardcore.

Lolikon, Lolicon or, less frequently, Roricon: Anime/manga fandom term for the most part, this warning refers to consensual (the "Con" suffix) sexual relationships between an older, usually male, character and an underage female character. "Underage" can mean anything under 18, including very young girls. The "Loli" prefix refers to the "Lolita complex", which is of course named for Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Lolita.

Lurker: One who reads but does not post or participate in discussion on a message board or newsgroup. Has much wider internet community applications than just fandom.

m/m = Abbreviation of male/male, this indicates that a story, artwork or community will be geared towards homoerotic or homoromantic themes.

Mary Sue: A usually original character in either fanfic or original fiction who a) bears very close resemblence to the author, b) is too good to be true (flawless, attractive, amazing fighter, kind, nice, totally unique, tragic past), or c) has a totally unrealisticly high contribution to the story. The male version of a Mary-Sue is a Gary-Stu, and entire websites, communities and journals have been devoted to discussing and dismissing them. Putting "Mary-Sue" into Google will provide a much more in-depth definition than I could ever hope to.

Metafic: Fiction which is used to discuss themes in fanfic, recent events in fandom and so on. Often takes the form of a parody or a puppet show.

Mod: Moderator. A person on a community website (forum or journal-community) who has the power to ban posters, delete their posts and on some sites edit for content. Mods are looked upon as being necessary to maintain order, especially in larger communities.

Mpreg: Male pregnancy. Stories featuring male pregnancy tend to be either fluffy romance or humour; the matter of how the (usually magical or experimental) child is born from the male character is subject to any number of theories, including the rather unhygienic "assbabies" (born through the anal passage). Mpreg is particularly popular with Naga characters.

NCS = Non-consensual sex (basically a fluffier way of saying "rape").

Netiquette: A term not limited to fandom, this portmanteau word of course refers to acceptable behaviour on the internet. Good netiquette usually involves correct spelling and capitalisation, refraining from l33t or text speak and not introducing personal attacks into a debate. Most forums will have an orientation laying out unacceptable behaviour on that site.

Newbie: Or n00b. Someone who is conspicuously new to the fandom, and who makes their newness all the more obvious through stupid questions or poor netiquette.

OC = Original Character. This means that the writer has included a character they have personally invented in with the canon characters. Generally speaking this acronym is a red flag warning of the presence of a Gary-Stu or Mary-Sue, but occasionally these are well-rounded and worth reading.

OOC = An acronym standing for "Out of Character" - it is classed as a derogatory term here as although it can be used to describe behaviour on the part of a character that is unlike them but still canonical, "OOC" is normally applied to hamfistedly bad portrayals of a character in which they behave as though they were someone entirely different.

OP = Original Poster. Normally used in online discussions

OT = Off-topic, usually used in the subject line of posts on message boards.

OTP, OT3, OT4, etc = One True Pairing, One True Threesome, etc. Referring to the poster's personal belief that the characters mentioned are romantically suited to each other above all others, or simply to how much the poster enjoys reading fic about them. Can also be used ironically, or to describe one's relationship to inanimate objects or abstract concepts, for example "Me and sleep, man, TOTAL OTP."

Plot bunnies, plotbunnies: Reference to the concept of story ideas multiplying like rabbits, usually with the indication that a particularly persistent idea has popped up in a writer's head and refuses to go away.

PoV = Point of View. Perhaps taken from screenwriting terminology, denoting which character's viewpoint we are experiencing events from.

PWP = Porn Without Plot, or Plot, What Plot? depending on who you ask. A fic with this acronym in the description is likely to be fairly straightforwards out and out pornography with no real justification or plot (a practice which is referred to in the pornography industry as "gonzo" porn).

Ratings: These are usually based on the MPAA ratings system, although some websites and archives have their own system. Loosely speaking, fics rated "G" are suitable reading for anyone, fics rated "PG" are acceptable to most people, although the very sensitive and/or young children should not read them, fics rated "PG-13" are appropriate reading for anyone over the age of twelve (or over the emotional age of twelve), fics rated "R" will contain sex/violence/drug use/strong strong language to a degree that renders them unsuitable for younger teenagers and/or people with strong moral objections to "obscenity" in writing, and fics rated NC-17 are suitable only for adults (and adults who aren't going to whine).

R/T: Rape/torture. R/T is a common theme in hurt/comfort fic or darkfic. RPS (see below) fics containing R/T exist, but are on legally even dodgier ground than normal fanfic or RPS as they can be perceived as presenting a threat or statement of intent.

RPS = Real person slash. Slash fiction written about real people (usually film or music industry stars, less frequently authors etc). This is legally quite dubious.

Sap: "Sappy" fic. Excessively romantic. See below.

Schmoop: Overt romanticism. If there are flowers, chocolates, candles and terms of endearment - particularly extremely cute ones (we're talking "pumpkin pie", here, not "buttface"), if even dedicated fluff readers turn their nose up at it, you're looking at schmoop. Also spelt "shmoop".

Self Insertion: Sometimes abbreviated to SI (to add to the confusion the abbreviation SI is also used to warn of Self-Injury themes in some circles), this refers to directly or indirectly inserting the author into a story as a character; this may be as a commentator, as a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu or as a parody character.

'Ship ('Shipping, 'Shipper): Originally an abbreviation of "relationship". A 'Ship is just that - a relationship. If you 'Ship a pairing, it means you support the idea of their relationship becoming canon or widely-accepted fanon. Some people also use the term to explain which pairings they most frequently read/write, without wanting them to be canon. 'Shipper = someone who 'ships a particular pairing, for example: "A Harmoanian is a Hermione/Harry 'Shipper". Fans can be quite passionate about their chosen 'Ship and the term "Shipping Wars" has been used without irony on many occasions.

Shotakon: Also shota. This anime/manga-centric term refers to media where one or both of the characters in a male-on-male sexual/romantic pairing is conspicuously underage, often pre-pubescent. Common charactertistics include bunny suits and use of lollipops. The "kon" suffix denotes consensual encounters; there are a lot of shota-related materials available which deal with non-consensual encounters too. Shota is not legal in some countries.

Shoujo ai: "Girl Love". An anime/manga-centric term referring to media where the primary relationship is between two female characters. There is very rarely any sexual activity depicted in shoujo ai media, as it focusses more on the emotional than the physical.

Shounen ai: "Boy love". As above, but with two male characters instead of two female characters.

Slash:Enormous essays and entire websites have been devoted to this term, so I shall keep this brief. Originating from the "/" symbol used to link names in a summary of a fic, slash refers to non-canonical same sex pairings in fan fiction or fan art. It most frequently describes male-on-male romantic pairings, with "femmeslash" describing female-on-female pairings.

Song fic: A story built around a song, or inspired by one. May frequently contain lyrics from the song in question as well as reflecting its mood in the narrative. These are not done well very often and for some people "Songfic" in a summary acts as a warning.

Spoiler, spoilers: Contains information about the canon which may not be available to everyone yet, e.g. a new episode or a recently-released book. "Spoiler-cuts" are frequently requested on Livejournal and Journalfen.

Squick: Variants: squick factor, squick-o-meter. An onomatepeic term, really. It is an expression of disgust: "That really squicked me", an identifier of themes that make the reader uncomfortable: "incest is a big squick of mine", and essentially acts as the opposite of "kink".

Top: In a sexual encounter, the penetrator or, if no penetration occurs, the dominant sexual partner. Also a person who tends more towards penetration than being penetrated.

TPTB = The powers that be. Often used in television series-based fandoms to describe network executives.

UST = Unresolved Sexual Tension, or Underlying Sexual Tension, depending on who you ask. There is some debate about this, but either way, any mention of UST is not going to relate to a resolved relationship.

Vanilla: Lacking in anything that might be considered "kinky" - no BDSM, Urophilia, etc., and in some cases no penetration either. Generally considered a "safe" erotica read with no recourse to rubber chickens.

WIP = Work in Progress.

Yaoi: Fiction or art where male-on-male sex is the main or only theme of the work. The word was originally an arconym of a Japanese phrase referring to the tendency of some manga to progress to the point of two characters having sex and for no other reason. Characteristics peculiar to yaoi, as opposed to slash, include a clear differentiation between a feminine, subordinate character and a masculine, dominant character, and a higher instance of hurt/comfort and/or rape than non-yaoi male-on-male fanfiction.

Yuri: If yaoi can, very vaguely, be defined as "gay fiction" (with the stronger likelihood of coming from a Japanese fandom) then Yuri is the lesbian equivallent. Unlike femmeslash, there is a large heterosexual male contingent of yuri fans.