Fanfiction Dictionary
A complete dictionary of fanfic terms and definitions, made by moi, gained from experience. Now being alphabetized!
The Terms
- ABH- Anywhere but Here. Generally used when you are portrayed as the main character, such as "You walk up to the door and it explodes in a firey furball of cheese." Not a common term.
- angst- Probably the most common poetry genre. Drama, sadness, horror, people being painfully philosphical. Usually involves H/C.
- AU or A/U- Alternate Universe. Pretty much uncanonical. For instance, this character did not die, that didn't happen, etc.
- Slash- a male/male romantic pairing. This often isn't canon, but you do see a lot of these out there. Most of the people reading these are straight woman, interestingly enough.
- Femslash- Romantic pairing between any two female characters. Usually not canon.
- PWP- "Plot? What Plot?" Pure smut, plain and simple.
- Fluff- No conflict, but a resolution. Happy, very airy. Fun to read, but not espescially deep.
- WAFF- :"Warm And Fuzzy Feeling". See fluff.
- Yaoi- The anime/manga term for smutty, pointless m/m slash. See slash.
- ATG- "Any Two Guys". Take the names of any two male characters and write a slashed-up story about them. Then take the names of two male characters in a different fandom, replace those in the story with them, and you'll see what I mean. If your story still makes sense, you have an ATG fic.
- Flame- A very rude attack on the author or story (usually author). Has no constructive critiscism, and doesn't help anyone.
- Shoujo-ai-Anime term for femmeslash. See femmeslash.
- Yuri- Anime term for pure, smutty femmeslash. See femmeslash.
- Shounen-ai- Anime term for m/m slash. See slash.
- POV- Point Of View. Third person, third-person omniscent, and first person are some popular POV's. The author might or might not tell you who is speaking in first person POV.
- Songfic- A fic based on or to the lyrics of a song or poem. Most people skip over the lines of your song to just read the story, so it is sometimes difficult to do these.Usually oneshots.
- Filk- Like songfic, except it is based off a really popular or well known song. It usually means the same plotline as all the others, as let's face it, how many hidden meanings can you find in Good Charlottes "Bloody Valentine"?
- Relationshipper- A person who makes two characters have a romantic relationship they didn't have in the original. Most of the time they are referred to as a 'shipper'.
- Friendshipper- Like a relationshipper, but just makes them be friends. Less common.
- Beta reader- When you finish a story, some authors like to send it off to another person (sometimes two or more) who will read through it and make suggestions on the wording. The people who do that are Beta readers. If a fic has gone through that, it's been Beta'd.
- Disclaimer- A note at the beginning of the story that says, basically, that you do not own the characters or settings, and you do not make any money off your work. Depending on the fic, these can be quite funny.
- UST- Unresolved Sexual Tension.
- RST- Resolved Sexual Tension.
- OC- Other Character
- OOC- Out Of Character
- Mary-Sue- A perfect character. These come in several different varieties, but generally are female (if male then Gary-Stu), beautiful, have an impossible shade of eyes/hair/skin, and are also amazingly fit but need a character to protect them. The purpose the Mary-Sue usually serves is hooking up with the main character, or causing two main characters to have wild monkey sex. It is usually a thinly disguised self insert, albeit perfect.
- Spoliers-
- Feedback-
- Het- Heterosexual pairings. This usually ivolves sex. yay for sex.
- HC- Hurt/Comfort
- OTP- One True Pairing.
- Fandom-
- Canon-
- Fanon-
- Ficlet-
- Oneshot-
- WIP- Work In Progress.
- ER- Established Relationship.
- FT- First Time.
- MPreg-
- BDSM-