Well, it has come up in conversation over one of the WIP that it might be good to start a glossary for Fan Fic terms. Those of us that write know some of them or maybe even all of them but sometimes new writers of just readers coming in are unfamiliar with term that we may use in comments and reviews. Heck, I know I come across things I don't understand too. Things like OC (original character) or WIP ( Work in Progress). I can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

So I guess what I'd like to do is just open it up and ask you guys to drop in and post anything you may know or even links to sites with info. Once we get a list going we can start to compile it into some kind of logical order and eventually post a fanfic glossary for quick reference.

This is an excelent idea. I've been writing fics for a good 4 years, and I don't understand a lot of terms. Not to mention, people think some terms mean a lot of different things. It would be great if we had a difinitive source.

Common terms -

OOC: Out Of Character
OFC: Original Female Character (variant - OW: Original Woman)
OMC: Original Male Character
PWP: either "Plot, What Plot" or "Porn Witout Plot"
Mary Sue/Marty Stu - Cliched and flat "miss perfect" character, often an author self-insert
Slash: romantic pairing of two male characters who are not gay in the source material
Femmeslash: romantic pairing of two female characters who are not gay in the source material
A/N: Author's note
Songfic: story based on the lyrics of a particular song, usually quoted in pieces throughout the text. These have a reputation for being universally bad.
(character)/You! fic - A romance written in the 2nd person perspective, intending to involve the reader with one of the fictional characters. These live up to their reputation of being universally bad. Especially prolific in the Pirates of the Caribbean fandom


Um, that's all I can think of at the moment.

OC = original character
Name/Name = denotes a romantic pairing. For example, a fic about House and Stacy's life as A Couple would be House/Stacy

Oh, I forgot all the smut warnings:

BDSM: Bondage and Discipine, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism (think handcuffs and leather, kids) This can range from mild play to extreme actual torture in fic.
Kink: odd sexual practicices
NC: Non-consentual sex (aka rapefic)
Explicit Sex: what it says on the tin
NWS: "Not Work-Safe" - usually used on visual artwork, but I've seen it applied to smut fic as well
Chan: involves sex between a minor (usually a teenager, but sometimes actual child) and adult. (also known as "Loli" or simply pedophilia)
Yaoi: Explicit slash (Non-sexual romance sometimes called "shonen-ai")
Yuri: Explicit femmeslash (Non-sexual romance sometimes called "shoujo-ai")
(The terms Yaoi, Yuri and Chan are usually associated with Anime/Manga fic)
Character death: one of the canon characters dies
Darkfic: No happy ending here (often coupled with NC, kink and/or BDSM - approach with caution)
Violence: what it says on the tin

OT, do we have something like a general fic help forum? Could we use one?

I was thinking about its being a place for this topic, and maybe a thread for people to request or offer help with fact-checking and research. (For example, I could use some help with bowling and French.)

I didn't know the french bowled?! :lol:

Good idea Aud! I've been thinking about doing some restructuring here (mostly in the fanfic section) but wanted to wait until we get the mainsite settled. Since it's close to completion, or as close as a website can get to completion, I thought I'd get this ball rolling so we'd have something to put there.

So basically a Help Wanted/ Looking for Work section? I'll go start a thread down there and we can make adjustments as needed.

And thanks for all the info you guys are pulling up! I think this will be a great resource for everyone!

If anyone has a specific question about a fanfic term ask away so we can get the answer.

RL/RP - fic based on 'real' people- I got this one confused with role play-- not my thing but there sure is a lot of it!

Still I've only got into fanfic since House and avoided 'slash' for a long time because I thought it involved a character getting knifed- great being wrong sometimes :) .

Ugh. RPS. I hate "Real Person Slash". I mean, would you want to wake up one morning and find stories about you having sex with your coworkers? <_<

Totally with you on that one TS - I find the idea scary and surely it gets into potential defamation territory pretty quick. Not so much whether it's slash/het but its fabrications about a real person- that has to be big time lawsuit material.

Most writers of RPS plaster their "work" with all manner of disclaimers, but still... It's just downright rude really.

Particularly frightening is the Lord of the Rings actor bunch, especially the DomLijah Tinhats.

Hey! I take offence to that songfic definition!

Your forgot 2 of the smut warnigs, TS.
Lime: Foreplay no actually sex.
Lemon: A fic about sex.

And here's 2 more regular stuff.
x-over (AkA crossover): a story where two shows meet, denoted by a Show/Show EX: House/CSI x-over.
WIP: Work-in-Progress, unfinished, still working on it.

That's all I can think of for right now. I'll think of some more later most likely.

canon = Facts about the characters given in the show. For example, it is canon that House uses a cane. If you depart from canon, your fic becomes AU (alternate universe.)

fanon = "facts" about the characters that are commonly accepted in fanfiction, but that haven't been stated in the show. For example, it is fanon that House was athletic before the infarction. (It's true that there have been things in the show that have suggested this about him, but it's never been directly stated.)

By the way, that's the only example of House fanon I can think of. If a character on the show were ever to say, "You know, House was really athletic before the infarction" then this would no longer be fanon, but canon.

Fanon is not considered "binding" in the way that canon is.


For example, in my own fic, I depict House as being a runner before the infarction. This is fanon.

I also depict him as using a cane and working at PPTH. This is canon.

Back in March, I depicted House as having broken up with Stacy before the infarction. They hadn't yet shown "Three Stories," so that was speculation. After "Three Stories" established the canon, my story became AU.

Great thread you guys. Thank you for the information! I'm now considering writing a Pradon/House/Wilson three-way. Think it'll fly?

:o

-Pradon

p.s. excerpt: "And I really got jealous when he put the maraschino cherry on House's mound of whipped cream instead of mine." Lovely stuff.

Pradon, you naughty minx! :lol:

I'd read it



<_<





:P

This is soooooo taking the fun out of this post, but...

Wikipedia Fanfiction Terminology

Ah, well. It goes far more indepth than what we managed to get through here. Good luck with writing!

Cool Cait! Thanks. Some useful info there, at least for me! B)