Fan Fiction Glossary

A/A - Action adventure story

ABH - Anywhere but here (common in Star Trek fan fiction)

Adult - Story for mature audiences, either because of violence or sexual situations

Alternate Reality story - An alternate reality story in fanfiction is a story where the main character is put into a completely unfamiliar setting. For example, if Harry Potter was an astronaut of the future.

ANC - Annoying new character, usually a Mary Sue

AOFC - Annoying original female character

Antific - A fan fiction story in which one, some, or all of the characters in the original creation are killed. So really it's the exact opposite of fan fiction, hence the name. Usually written by an anti-fan also.

Bandom - Phrase coined to mean a fictional story written about actual bands. This type of fan fiction was really popular during the Boy Bands period.

Basher fic - An author that hates an original series and then writes a fan fiction story in which the original main characters are tortured and maimed.

Beta reader - A fan fiction writer's personal proofreader

BNF - Big Name Fan

Canon - Any facts or events that happened in the original story. For instance, Harry Potter lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin- not his parents.

Character Death - This is a warning that a fan fiction author places in the teaser or heading of a story. This warns that a major character will die in the fan fiction story.

Cookie - A fan fiction 'teaser' written by a fan fic author to entice you to click and read the rest of the story. A fan fiction cookie is also called a summary.

Crackfic - A creative way of saying 'What kind of crack was the fan fiction author smoking when they wrote this?" In other words, a storyline or characters that are completely unbelievable.

Crossover - This is a fan fiction that has combined two different fandoms. The results are sometimes believable and effective, but often are horrid. An example would be Harry Potter meets Eragon.

Darkfic - Very dark fan fic, obviously by the name. Usually violent and morbid

Drabble - Fan fiction that is exactly 100 words. Can you guess how many words are in a double drabble?

Deux Ex Machina- Latin phrase literally translated as 'God from the machine. This refers to the Greek practice of spinning a complicated plotline and then resolving it by a god appearing and cleaning up the entire mess. In the fan fiction world, this refers to a story that has used poor writing skills and unbelievable circumstances to bring a story to its conclusion.

Dino- A fan fiction participant from waaay back

EP- TV episode

Fandom - The entire fanfiction world that revolves around the original story: all the fans, stories, clubs, etc

Fanart - Artists that do artwork for fan fiction stories

Fanficcer - Fan fiction author

Fanon - Ideas about the original story that are generally believed to be true, but that have never been specifically stated in the series

Fen - Synonym for fans

FIAWOL - Acronym for 'Fandom is a way of life'

Fluff - A sweet fan fiction story with little substance

Founderfic - Fan fiction story written about the four Hogwarts founders

Gen - A general fan fiction story that doesn't focus on romantic relationships

IC - In Character. Basically, this means that the characters in the fan fiction story are staying true to the original author's character development.

Mary Sue- This is when a fan fiction author inserts themselves into a story as some sort of fictional character. This character is usually unbelievable, as in being perfect and omniscient.

MWPP - In Harry Potter fan fiction, this stands for Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

One Shot - Short story consisting of one chapter

OOC - This means 'out of character'. Basically, if readers are commenting that a fan fiction story has become OOC, it means that a character in the story has done something that doesn't fit their personality as developed by the original author.

Plot Bunny - This can be a good thing or a bad thing. It simply means an idea that can be added to a plot.

RL - Anything that takes fans away from their beloved fan fiction- jobs, spouses, illness. It is also referred to as the real life.

Round Robin - A fan fiction story written by different authors. Each author takes a turn writing a part of the story, then passes it to the next fan fic author.

RPF - Real People Fiction is a fan fiction story written about an actual person or group of people. The most popular form of this type of fan fiction seems to be about musicians and bands.

Ship- Ship stands for relationship. In particular, this means romantic relationships. These 'ships' may or may not exist in the original work of fiction. For example, a popular Harry Potter fan fiction 'ship' pairing is Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley.

Shipper - A shipper on fan fiction is a person who is a fan of a particular romantic combination, or 'ship'. For example, a Harry and Hermione romance fan would call themselves a 'Harry/Hermione shipper'.

Snark - To be rude and arrogant

Squee! - Yahoo! or Hooray! or Cowabunga! (Was that last one a little dated?)

TBC - To be continued

WIP - A work in progress, an unfinished story