Fanfiction has become an easily accessible option for folks who are seeking out happily ever after endings for some of their favorite and beloved characters. Platforms such as Tumblr, Wattpad and Archive of Our Own have become safe spaces where individuals can publish their works of fiction using the characters and worlds they love.
These works often center around LGBTQ+ pairings and storylines, allowing for fans to seek these alternative endings where their favorite characters finally get their happy endings.
Within the fanfiction sphere, there are certain words or phrases used that may be hard to understand upon first encounter. Qnotes has created its own guide to fanfiction lingo, so here’s what you need to know:
Fandom
Fandoms refer to groups of people who enjoy a certain franchise, story or fictional world. The term fandom can actually be traced back as far as 1903, and a more rarely-used synonym for “fandom” in modern times is “fen,” a playful faux-pluralization of “fan” that mimics “men,” the plural form of “man.”
Canon
Canon refers to what happens in “official” source material in a fandom. For a fandom surrounding a television series, the “canon” events would be those that take place within the show itself including character interactions, major plot points, etc.
Fanon
Fanon refers to fan-made scenarios or situations which take place within a fandom’s world or “canon” universe. They become memetic within the fandom as many writers and fans adopt the same fanon, often within a relatively short time frame. An example of fanon includes a common theory believed by most Marvel fans that the child Tony Stark saved in “Iron Man 2” was Peter Parker, who would go on to become Spider-Man.
Alternate Universe, also known as AU
An alternate universe, mostly abbreviated to AU, is when fans will create alternate realities within the canon of a fandom’s universe or storyline. This universe can be different in a few ways, such as AR (Alternate Reality), AT (Alternate Timeline), or AH (All Human) in the case of fantasy or science fiction works.
A story can also be termed AU when the author makes major changes to the canonical storyline or premise, such as killing off a major character, changing characters’ motives or alliances, annulling major events or changing the setting.
AO3
The shortened abbreviation for Archive of Our Own, a popular platform to access and publish fanfiction.
Hits
Hits are the number of times a work has been accessed. Used on the platform AO3.
Kudos
A kudos is a digital token left on a work to let creators know the work was enjoyed. Used on the platform AO3.
Jossed
A term that refers to a fanfic made incompatible with canon by later changes to the canon postdating the authorship of the fiction. The term was named after Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Kripked
A term that refers to a fanfic made compatible with canon by later changes to the canon postdating the authorship of the fiction. This came from/was named after Eric Kripke, creator of Supernatural.
Oneshot
A oneshot is a fanfic that consists of only one chapter and/or is first published in its completed form, as opposed to a fanfic consisting of multiple chapters which are published over time.
A/N
An acronym for “author’s note.” These are typically placed at the very beginning or at the end of a chapter of a fanfic when the author wishes to convey their own thoughts to the reader.
Tags
A tag is a keyword or phrase that is added to fanworks or bookmarks to provide information about them and make them easier to find. These are mostly used on the platform AO3 to alert readers to what’s in each work, whether it’s in regards to its contents, romantic tropes, characters involved, fandom names, etc.
H/C
H/C, also known as “hurt/comfort,” is where one character experiences pain (physical or emotional) and another character offers comfort. If one character is being comforted from severe trauma, an HC fiction may also be a darkfic depending on the origin and amount of focus on the “hurt” aspect of the story.
HC fics may also qualify as a lemon, lime or PWP if the “comfort” is provided sexually; fics in which sexual comfort leads to the injured character’s immediate recovery are sometimes called “healing cock” fics.
PWP or “Plot? What Plot?”
“Porn without plot” or “Plot? What plot?” are terms used to indicate that a story contains little or no plot and, instead, contains little more than sexual interactions or pornography; PWP is also called smut.
Lemon, lime, citrusy
Lemon features explicit sex stories, and they sometimes fall under the broader PWP umbrella. The name derives from a term which comes from a Japanese slang term for “sexy” that itself derives from an early pornographic anime series called Cream Lemon.
The term lime is used to describe a story that has sexual themes but is not necessarily explicit. Authors may call their stories “citrusy,” indicating their story is a lemon or lime to varying degrees.
Slash fiction
Slash fiction is a subgenre of romance fan fiction which exclusively deals in homosexual relationships, especially males.
Lesbian relationships are often referred to as “femslash” or “femmeslash” to distinguish them from the male/male pairing stories, though some fans prefer to use the term “Saffic” (a portmanteau of “Sapphic” and “fiction”).
Sometimes when a pairing is written in the name/name format, it follows either a male/female convention (for heterosexual pairings) or a dominant/submissive (or in-charge/following) convention (for either heterosexual or homosexual pairings).
Omegaverse
Omegaverse is a subgenre of slash fiction, though it has taken to heterosexual pairings in recent years. Its premise is that a “dominance hierarchy” exists in humans, which are divided into dominant “alphas,” neutral “betas,” and submissive “omegas.” This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts.
Mpreg
Often found within omegaverse fanfics (though not always), mpreg is short for male pregnancy. Stories that involve this trope will either provide an explanation for the male pregnancy that is reasonable within the bounds of canon (only applicable in canons that include magic or fantasy elements, or for canons set in a future where medicine may conceivably enable male pregnancy), attempt to provide a pseudo-scientific explanation (for canons that are otherwise subject to real-world laws of biology), or provide no explanation whatsoever.
Non-con
Short for “Non-consensual.” When a character in the story is forced or coerced into sexual activity. Precise definitions of this term vary as it may be considered synonymous with ‘rape,’ or is often distinguished from rape by the fact that the character, though not having wanted the sex, does experience pleasure.
There is also “dub-con,” or “dubiously consensual,” in which the character’s consent is at least questionable.
Crack fic
Crack fics are identified by its absurd, surprising, or ridiculous premise. The plotline might be twisted into a knot, the fic might be a thick parody, or the fic might feature an unlikely or rare pairing (“crack pairing”). Sometimes random, nonsensical, or stream-of-thought fics are termed crack, but other crack fics proceed logically, in character, and with internal consistency from their bizarre starting points.
OTP
Acronym for “one true pairing.” It can refer to a canon couple or two other characters that the fan would like to see in a romantic relationship.
Fluff
A genre in which the story is devoid of angst and takes on a mood of light-hearted romance.