a dictionary that people need to know before read and write fanfiction

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A

AU - This means alternate universe. This can be literal Alternate Universes shown in Canon, as in the world shown in Buffy's "Dopplegangland" and "The Wish" and Angel's "Birthday" and the Pylea Trilogy, or it can mean AU in the sense that a writer is taking a canon episode and tweaking it. So basically AU doesn't always mean far from canon, but it can mean way outside of canon too. Confused yet? Just remember that sometimes you have to suspend belief and let your backbone slip, it can lead to fun if you're willing to give it a try.

Archive - An Archive is a website that hosts (publishes) many stories or essays, usually by multiple authors. Archives are a collection of works used by permission from the original author, which means stories can not be used on other sites without permission from the author, not the archivist, it's all very important netiquette.

Avatar - Closely related to a Mary Sue, but this is a character which is the actual author inserted into the fandom. For instance, if I write for the character Meg Freeman, who *is* me, but breaks out, this is an avatar. It is basically a vehicle for the author to really, truly play in the fandom.

 

B

Beta - A Beta reader is a writer's best friend, and sometimes their biggest foil. The Beta of the fanfic world is like the editor in the real world. They check grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., but also they check canon, plot flow, characterization, and many other aspects that distinguish great fiction from so-so fiction. The beauty of the fanfiction world is that most writers are feedback and anyone can take on the role of Beta. If you notice a lot of errors when reading fiction maybe you should consider offering to be a beta at one of your favorite sites, the writers will thank you for a fresh voice and you, the reader, can play an active role in your obsession.

Birthdayverse - Fic set in the world shown in the Angel episode "Birthday", in which Angel and Cordelia never met in LA and Doyle's visions passed to Angel.

Buffyverse - (AKA Angelverse, Jossverse, Whedonverse) The many names the BtVS (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and AtS (Angel the Series) worlds are known under. Named after the lead characters as well as their creator Joss Whedon (AKA the great all knowing head).

 

C

Canon - Canon is a term used to describe things that have actually happened on the shows (BtVS & AtS in this case)  or been specifically referred to as having happened in the past. This means that Buffy and Angel consummating their relationship exactly one time (in this universe, not the I will remember you-verse, put down that flame-thrower) is canon. Angel having been in Rome is canon as well, as it was shown in flashbacks, Angel being in the Tower of London at some point is also canon even though it was never shown, just mentioned in the Pylean Trilogy. There is some debate about events that take place in the BtVS and AtS novels being canon as Joss Whedon has told many a soul he pays no attention to those whatsoever, meaning Angel could have a -baby in the novels and it would have no relevance to the show. I will be compiling an Angel novel Timeline over the summer and I will leave it to the masses to decide if it shall serve as canon or not.

Challenge - A challenge to write a fan fiction with a certain, theme, line or idea. If someone says, "See if you can write a story starting with the line 'Call me Ishmael'", this is a challenge. Any fiction which answers this is a challenge fic.

Challenge Fic - Any fan fiction which answers a challenge

Character Death - A heading or warning put on stories warning the reader that in the story one of the canon characters dies. If a story about Adam Newman being killed was written this story would carry a Character Death warning.

Con - Not particularly fan fic related, but common in fan speak. It means a convention of fans.

Consensual - A heading in adult fan fiction that says that all the parties that have in the fan fiction are consenting and want to have . This is as opposed to semi-consensual where consent is forced or a character is nudged but not outright forced into or otherwise having but not for reasons of their own (a character sleeping with someone to save someone's life for instance) and nonconsensual which says that one of the characters is (non consensual fanfiction is not allowed on this archive, btw)

Continuation - A fan fiction which carries on after the end of a movie or series. Any fiction which takes places after Living Stones, such as a fiction about Kevin eventually going to college and getting a job, is a continuation. This doesn't break canon, but merely extends in the author's imagination. It isn't an alternate universe because a continuation has no canon to break, since all the canon ended with the end of the movie/book/story.

Conventional Relationship - Relationships that have occurred within canon, i.e. Spike/Harmony, Angel/Buffy, Angelus/Darla, etc.

Crossover - A fan fiction which incorporates characters, events, places, ideas, etc from another fandom. If the TP and Buffy were to run into each other, this would be a crossover, since they are two separate fandoms merged into one. Crossovers are also denoted sometimes with the word: "xover", the X standing for cross.

 

D

 

Deathfic - A fan fiction which centers around the death of a character. This usually is a fiction about how the other characters cope with the loss.

Disclaimer - A header that MUST be put before all fan fiction which acknowledges that the fan fiction author acknowledges the copyrights to the material which they are writing for. This is both a courtesy and necessity among fans who write fan fiction. All fan fictions on this archive must include disclaimers.

Drabble - A drabble began as a 100 word fic. These tend to be on a theme and LiveJournal has several drabble communities. The idea of a drabble is to convey an event or emotion in a short 100 words.

Drabblet - This is something between 100-500 words, usually a drabble that got out of hand or a short character piece that never became a full fledged fic.

 

E

 

Ep - Short for an episode of a show

a - Tasteful fan fiction which involves characters in ual situations. The difference between and outright ography is mainly in the intent of both writer and reader. The line between a and ography is a fine one and easily blurred. However, all fictions here at Expressions are considered, at least by the owner of the list, to be a and not ography.

 

F

Faction - Parts of a fandom which are split up among different issues in a fandom. For instance, those that support a character and those that don't are considered factions.

Fandom - The community of people who share an interest in the Whedonverse (or other shows), includes Live Journal communities, email lists, discussion boards, those who get together for conferences, etc.

Fanfiction - This is why you are here. The inherent need for fans to correct the show writers, elaborate, look into further, seek out subtext, etc. The Buffyverse is unique in that Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind the shows, encourages writers of fanfiction. Even in mass-media interviews he has told people to go write fiction if they don't agree with the way a show went.

Fanon - Things that are not strictly canon, but do not contradict it and are widely accepted by most fans. For instance if most fans just accept that Megabyte's middle name is Archibald, even though it is not expressly canon, it becomes fanon.

Fanwank - A fanwank is the fandom equivalent of a retcon: rewriting the show to suit your needs or finding an explanation for events that keeps the character's motives true to the character as the writer sees it. These are often far stretching theories on the why's or hows of canon.

Feedback - Many authors ask for feedback on their stories, and even if they don't ask for it most authors do appreciate it. So what is feedback? It's just a way of saying 'Hey, liked you're story.' Pure and simple. If you love the imagery, characterization, plot, wit, humor, , etc. Tell the writer. Fanfic writers make no money from the hours they while away trying to think up a lube and position no other writer has used yet, so they thrive on the knowledge that some one out there in cyber space is giving their spouse a happy after reading their fic. So be sure to send a quick email as thanks. (See Flames for what not to do in your feedback)

Femslash - A story depicting. ual situations between females. See also - slash.

F - A notation on adult fiction which denotes that ual situations involving only one female are going to take place in a story (ie - ion).

F/F or f/f - A notation telling readers that a story contains a ual situation between two females. If Ami and Jade were to have in a story, the F/F sign would be used to tell readers that ual situations between two females was going to occur in the story. Also known as femslash.

F/F/F, etc... - A notation telling the reader that there are going to ual situations between more than two females. If Lisa, Ami, *and* Jade had together, this would be denoted with an F/F/F symbol. There may be more than three females having in the fan fiction, but they are usually not denoted in the f/f/f symbol.

f/m - A notation telling the reader that between a female and a male is going to take place.

Ficathon - An event organized to bring writers together, writing with a deadline (usually 3-6 weeks). Usually ficathons are theme or character based, 1000+ word stories where one writer requests a situation with 2-3 things they would like to see, and 2-3 things they would not like to see in the story written for them.

Ficlet - A story usually between 500-1000 words, different from a PWP, these tend to be a little more plot driven, little windows into a moment from the show, etc. Of course word counts are just a general guideline and not set in stone.

Filk - A song with altered lyrics, to make it Buffy-related.

Flag-waving - The practice of dividing into faction and supporting or "waving a flag" for your faction. For instance, if there are those who "wave a flag" for Adam, they like and loudly support the character of Adam Newman. This can be a fun practice, but has turned ugly in the past. Flag waving is asked not to be done on the Expressions mailing lists.

Flames - Flames are the opposite of helpful feedback. It means sending an email to an author to tell them you disliked the story you just read. Common examples are people who can't stand slash, yet read a slash story in its entirety then email the author to tell them they hate slash. Well, here's a thought, if you know you won't like it, don't read it. Remember there is a difference between saying 'you may not know it but you spelled wrong.' and saying 'if you can't spell it you shouldn't be doing it, dumb '. While I realize the latter is more tempting be polite, authors have memories like really well superglued traps, they won't forget your flame and will probably even send back a snarky response if you send them one.

Fluff - A light fiction which is usually just a day-in-the-life piece that is cute and humorous. A fiction about Jade taking a humourous shopping trip would be considered fluff.

Future Fic - A piece set after the end of canon episodes, this means post season-seven of Buffy, or past the current season of Angel. Stories set in the future give the author the chance to explore ideas possibly hinted at in canon as something that 'may happen' in the future. Also, when dealing with immortal characters, like Spike, Darla, Drusilla, and Angel, it releases the author from the burden of working the many characters of the Buffyverse into stories. An important rule when writing future fic is to remember that people's personalities don't generally change that much even over time, so if you have Spike ten years from now with a suit and tie on watching reruns of the Golden Girls you might want to rethink your characterization.

 

G

Genfic - Fan fiction which does not contain ual situations. It is fan fiction that would be rated G to PG. It contains no ual or overly graphic violence and relatively little cursing.

Genre - The type of fan fiction that it is. This can mean a lot of things. The fandom itself can be considered a genre.

Getting Jossed - This is one of my favorites. Getting Jossed refers to writing a line or plot that later shows up on a show. Angel's line about smelling Wesley on Lilah in S4e2 came directly from my Ensouled series that was written two months before the show aired. I nearly fell of my couch laughing when the episode aired, which is one of the great compliments a fanfiction writer can receive. While chances are the writers have not actually read the fic getting Jossed it is nice to know our brains are sharing the same wavelines.

 

H

Het - Male/Female in a fic is called het. Het *warnings* sometimes show up in slash stories as a background story such as Wes/Lilah or Gunn/Fred in a season 3-4 centric Angel story.

Hurt/Comfort - Also called H/C, fic where one character is hurt or beaten and another takes care of them, usually leading to ual relations.

 

K

Kerfuffle - A silly word basically meaning an online argument involving more than a couple people. These tend to happen on email lists, web-boards and Live Journal. Often kerfuffled discussions are the issue of slash, Spuffy/Bangel, Connor, the mind-wipe, character motivations, etc. Kerfuffles are generally frowned upon, whereas constructive points of view are not.

Kink Fic - Fic written with a specific Kink or turn on in mind. Popular kinks are "" in which one character has a clearly dominant role over another male character, " Kink" where characters engage in , Master/Slave type relations. Others include Non-consensual/ fic, Piercings, H/C, and many others.

 

L

Lemon - Any fan fiction containing graphic ual situations that are described. Much like adultfic and PWP's, only a lemon might be a full length story that contains merely scene of graphic .

Listee - Any person on a mailing list.

Listmommy/Listowner - The owner or moderator of a list, the person who makes sure that everything is running correctly and nobody is flaming or violating the rules.

Live Journal - Also called LJ, a website where people from all over the world have journals and interact with other people from fandom. Also home to LJ 'communities' where fic and essays can be posted, critiqued, etc.

 

M

Mary-Sue - Any original female character which is too perfect, too extreme, or otherwise badly done. There is no real hard and fast standard for what constitutes a Mary Sue, but some guidelines can be found here The Mary Sue Guidelines.

Marty-Sam - Any original male character which is too perfect, too extreme or otherwise badly done. The male counterpart to a Mary Sue.

m/m - A heading denoting between two or more males. Another m indicates that there is a . Note, however, that there may be more than three male characters having even if only the m/m/m heading is used. Three can also be used in a general sense to denote multiple partners.

Mind-Wipe - The events of Season Four Angel where everyone's memories of Connor were erased or altered are referred to as Mind-Wipe. Fic or essays that address this issue are also referred to as being set in the Mind-Wipe verse.

 

N

Netiquette - General term for online niceness. This applies to many online settings, proper netiquette involves everything from asking for permission before archiving stories or essays to writing responses/feedback to authors you enjoy and signing guestbooks at sites you visit. Netiquette's main purpose is to keep online life friendly and avoid hard feelings and misunderstandings.

Newbie - Any fan that is new to a fandom or list.

Non-Canon - Is just the opposite of above. Relationships that have never been shown, spoken of, or hinted at on the shows are non-canon, as are the many great liberties taken with character histories. We know Spike was a poet, but we don't know if he had a regular job, how old he was, if he was actually born in London, if he had a last name, etc. Any of these details in fanfiction are non-canon. While some situations have been hinted at (see subtext) they cannot be considered canon.

NS - New Series. This refers to the series of the Tomorrow People that aired in the 1990's. 

 

O

OC - An acronym meaning Original Character. An original character is any character that is not in the series and is created by the author.

OFC - Original Female Character.

OMC - Original Male Character.

OOC - Out of Character. (1) When a canon character acts in such a way as to be totally contrary to what they would in the series. If Adam was to get violent and start fights, this would OOC. (2) A term used during RPG's when a person wants to say something as themselves, outside of the game. (e.g. - OOC: I have to leave my computer in twenty minutes.)

OS - Old (Original) Series. This refers to the first series of the Tomorrow People which aired during the 1970's. 

OT - Off Topic. This is used in the subject of emails sent to mailing lists when someone is talking about things that are not directly pertaining to the purpose of the email list. For example OT: Happy Birthday, Mary Sue!. OT messages should be used sparingly as they tend to clog a list with lots of chatter that other listee's might not like.

OTP - One True Pairing - A term that originated on Live Journal, means the two characters that make your heart pitter patter. Usually refers to a romantic pairing such as Angel/Spike, Buffy/Angel, Wes/Fred, etc.

 

P

Pairing - The selection of characters that are in a relationship together. This is denoted by using the abbreviations of their names together or just their name. for example in the EXO fandom, Sehun/Luhan put together. That is a pairing.

Plotbunny - An affectionate term for an idea that sticks in your head and you just HAVE to write it even if it goes nowhere or keeps going off into other ideas.

POV - Point of View - Means the character whose perspective is being highlighted or followed in a story.

Posting Text - The warnings and disclaimers attached to the beginning of a story when posting to a mailing list or archive. These include, Title, Name, Rating, Warnings, Spoilers, Timeline, Thanks, Pairings, or author notes.

Pre-slash - A story which is not strictly adult or strictly about a homoual relationship but which introduces the possibilities, situations, and circumstances for one to occur. A story about Megabyte and Adam getting closer on a vacation, not starting a relationship per se, but getting there, that's pre-slash.

Pre-series - A story which is about events occuring before the series began. A story about how John lived before he broke out in the Old Series is pre-series.

Ratings - The ratings system on this page loosely follows American movie ratings and are as follows: G- all ages, PG- some intimacy, mild language, PG-13-fleshy touching, strong language, R- actual , , course language, NC-17- graphic with excessive detail, , torture, etc.

PWP - without Plot. This is a small, usually short, often funny, tale of , with either no or very little lead in. Like Knock Knock. Hello. Wanna shag. Okay. 1-2-3-fingers. Done. Bye. See you next week. 'Kay. Finished. Satisfied? Me either..

 

R

RL - Real Life. Your real life.

Round Robin - A fan fiction written by several authors taking turns each writing a part. These are great fun on a mailing list.

RPG - Role Playing Game. A game that involves people pretending to be their favorite characters. If you played a game where you were pretending to be John, you'd be playing a Role Playing Game. 

RP - Roleplayer. Usually in kink fics.

 

S

Shipper - Someone who has an affinity for a specific pairing or relationship, whether conventional or non. I myself ship Baekhyun/Chanyeol, as you may also since you're here, but I also ship Kai/D.O and even Sehun/Luhan, which is not terribly different from most fans, we all like different pairings when we're in different moods. It is okay, really, like who you like and don't flame others just because they worship a different relationship, 'kay?

Slash - Boy, where would this site if I had not discovered the word Slash? Slash means any same- pairing. Here it means Male-on-Male, although there is of course fem-slash out there. Slash can run the gamut from a tender kiss to full on crying-to-a-higher-power-. Not all stories housed here actually have 'the ' so even if slash isn't your thing hopefully you will find stories here to love. Just pay attention to the ratings and have fun.

Songfic - A story with song lyrics woven into a story, can also include stories inspired by a particular song. The basic thing to remember when writing songfic is that if your story can not stand without the song lyrics it will most likely not be better with them. Always take a good look at the piece without the lyrics to make sure you have written a cohesive story that can be enjoyed even if the reader has never heard the song you have in mind.

Spoilers - Plot elements that refer directly to things that have happened in canon or to a specific episode and may spoil the episode or an entire season for those who have not seen it. There are many countries that do not air Buffy and Angel episodes for one to two years after their first run in the U.S. If you are writing a piece that is episode specific always put a warning in your posting text. This is not so much an issue, but is still considered polite since some people may not have seen every episode.

Squee - An online term meaning extreme happiness, often seen when a reader's OTP share an onscreen moment or when a writer gives the reader just what they want. Also seen often when shirtless pictures of Taecyeon or Nichkhun are posted.

Squick - A plot point, kink or device that turns the reader off or pulls them out of a fic.

Subtext - Subtext on the shows refers to ual undercurrents apparent to viewers. These are moments like in Buffy's "Beneath You" when the girl of the week asks if there is anyone there that hasn't had with each other and Spike and Xander look at each other then lower their eyes.  This instance was a pretty blatant attempt by the writers at subtext, others may be a little harder to spot unless you are looking for them or have your gadar on high.

 

T

TBC - This means To Be Continued. Usually used in Series writing to indicate that the story has not yet ended.

 

U

Unconventional Relationship - AKA UC pairing, a non-canon relationship, i.e. Spike/Angel, Spike/Xander, Angel/Anya, etc.

UST - Unresolved . This is a term referring to interactions between characters that aren't expressly ual but have ual undertones. If two characters are dancing and begin to get very close but then are interrupted, there is UST there. This is a term first coined by X-Files fans to describe the chemistry between Mulder and Scully.

 

V

Vignette - A piece of fan fiction which is centered on a characters feelings, emotions, experiences, reflections, and thoughts. Usually very short. A fiction that is just about Carol thinking of Earth while she is in the Trig is a vignette.

Vanilla - Referring to a type of which is ordinary male/female without any variations or kinks.

 

W

WIP - Work in Progress. This is sometimes the same as TBC, but can also mean a single piece of fiction in a state of flux, possibly awaiting a beta edit or canon check.

Wishverse - Fic set in the universe shown during "Dopplegangland" and "The Wish" on BtVS, where the Master and other vampires ruled and Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.

 

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collected by Karisalf @ AFF

from: Tania @ Fangedfour ; Expressions.populli.net

some contents were edited.

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feel free to ask anything ☺