The glossary: fandom, translated

Fandom vocabulary in one page: the terms you'll meet in tags, summaries, and comment sections, in plain English. Jump by letter, or skim. Most terms are two sentences.

A

Angst

Fic built around emotional pain, such as grief, longing, and misunderstanding. Check for the companion tags "Angst with a Happy Ending" or "Hurt/Comfort" to know how much you'll suffer.

AO3

Archive of Our Own, the nonprofit, fan-run archive that hosts most of modern fandom. See the platform guide.

AU (Alternate Universe)

A fic that changes a fundamental premise: the characters run a bakery, nobody has powers, the war never happened. "Coffee Shop AU" and "Modern AU" are beloved classics.

B

Beta / beta reader

A volunteer editor who reads your fic before posting, checking anything from typos to characterization. Fandom's peer review.

Big Bang

A fandom event pairing writers (who commit to a long fic) with artists (who illustrate it), all revealed together on a schedule.

C

Canon

The official source material, meaning what actually happens in the show, book, or game. "Canon-compliant" fic fits inside it without contradicting anything.

Crack / crackfic

Deliberately absurd fic written for comedy. The premise is the joke.

Crossover

A fic combining two or more fandoms in one story.

D

Drabble

Strictly, a story of exactly 100 words; loosely, any very short fic. A 200-word one is a "double drabble," because fandom loves rules it can bend.

Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

A tag meaning "this fic contains exactly the dark content its tags describe. The warnings are not exaggerating." Named after an Arrested Development joke.

E

Exchange

An event where participants write a fic to another person's request and receive one written to theirs. Yuletide, the rare-fandoms exchange, is the most famous.

F

Fandom

Both the community of fans around a work and, on archives, the category label for that work ("the Star Wars fandom").

Fanon

Ideas invented by fans that spread until they feel official, like a character's coffee order, a backstory the show never gave. The opposite of canon.

Fic

Fanfiction. One story is "a fic." Nobody in the community says "a fanfic" with a straight face more than once.

Fix-it

A fic that repairs something fans hated in canon: a death undone, a finale rewritten. Therapy, in prose form.

Fluff

Light, warm, feel-good fic. No one gets hurt. Everyone gets hot chocolate.

G

Gen

Fic with no romantic focus, such as friendship, adventure, or family. From "general."

H

Headcanon

A personal belief about characters or world that isn't confirmed by canon. Fanon is a headcanon that went viral.

Hurt/Comfort

A genre where one character suffers and another cares for them. The suffering is the setup; the comfort is the point.

K

Kudos

AO3's one-click appreciation button. A comment says more, but kudos always says enough.

L

Lurker

Someone who reads but never posts or comments. A noble and ancient calling; most fans start here.

M

Mary Sue

A too-perfect original character the story bends around; the term (from a 1973 Star Trek parody) is now often criticized as a lazy insult, especially toward female characters.

O

OC (Original Character)

A character invented by the fic writer rather than taken from canon.

OOC (Out of Character)

Behavior that doesn't match how a character acts in canon. As a tag, it's a courtesy heads-up.

OTP (One True Pairing)

A fan's most beloved ship. You can have several OTPs. Nobody polices this except everybody.

P

PWP

"Plot? What Plot?" Fic that exists purely for a single scene, usually romantic or explicit, with no pretense of a larger story.

R

Rarepair

A ship with only a small number of fics. Rarepair fans are the most dedicated people alive.

Ratings (G / T / M / E)

AO3's content scale: General, Teen, Mature, Explicit. Set by the author; the reader's first filter.

RPF (Real Person Fiction)

Fic about real public figures, such as musicians, athletes, or streamers. Governed by strong etiquette: it stays in fandom spaces and is never shown to its subjects.

S

Ship

A romantic pairing you support, from "relationship." Noun and verb: you ship a ship. Written with a slash ("Kirk/Spock"), which is also why older fandom called same-gender romance "slash."

Slow burn

A romance that takes its sweet time, often 100,000 words of yearning before a single kiss. A genre, a promise, and a warning.

Songfic

A fic structured around song lyrics. Largely extinct for copyright reasons; survives as a fond memory of 2004.

T

Tag wrangler

An AO3 volunteer who links freeform tags together so that "Coffee Shop AU," "coffeeshop au," and "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" all show up in one search. Unsung heroes.

Trope

A recognizable story pattern, like Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, or There Was Only One Bed. Fandom treats tropes as flavors to seek out, not clichés to avoid.

W

Whump

Fic focused on a character taking (and recovering from) physical or emotional punishment. Hurt/Comfort's more intense sibling.

WIP (Work in Progress)

An unfinished, still-updating fic. Subscribing to a good WIP is joining a small congregation that gathers on update day.