Do you know what an “AU” is?
Elayne Law · Follow
5 min read · Aug 5, 2023
--
Warning: M18 terms and scenarios visited in this work.
Unlike traditional publishing, fanfiction has come with its own set of terms. Delving into fanfiction for the first time and not quite understanding what “angst” or “smut” or “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” mean?
Don’t fret, for you’ll find many fanfic tags, terms, and abbreviations here! Through my years of writing fanfiction, I’ve collated a few terms that are normally used to describe works, and I hope this would help you when you’re trying to tag your work, or you’re looking for certain fics.
Angst
Angst fics are what they say on the tin. They contain elements of sorrow and sadness, with the characters getting hurt physically or emotionally. Any fic with this tag, you may want to watch out in case you get your heart broken.
AU
AUs stand for Alternate Universe, and this alternate universe can be anything you want. For example, you could put Arthur and Merlin in a cyberpunk world, a far cry from their familiar medieval fantasy surroundings, and write a story based on that.
As long as the characters are not in the setting of the work, then that is counted as an AU.
Generally, common AUs are coffeeshop AUs, fantasy AUs, soulmate AUs, and high school AUs.
Canon Divergence
Canon divergence refers to when the characters are still part of the plot of the original work, and they are still in the same “canon,” so to speak. However, the fanfiction author has tweaked just a small portion of the original plot so their characters wind up with a different ending.
For example, having the entire Hunger Games plot occur, but with Rue surviving the first game.
Badfic
Badfics are fics that are purposely written poorly, in the sense that grammar, spelling, vocabulary and more are compromised. Of course, the plot may still be good, that is, if you can get over the dip in language quality.
Crack
Crack fics are basically humorous stories that don’t have an ounce of coherency to them.
Crack fics are meant to be ridiculous, for instance, having a character turning into a cat and having the other characters following them around trying to turn them back, but end up getting into whacky scenarios on the way.
Dead Dove: Do Not Eat
Dead Dove: Do Not Eat simply means that you should be aware of what the work contains, and do not complain if you expected something different, because the work is exactly what it says on the tin.
Often, these fics include dark themes that can be triggering. Approach these fics with caution.
Drabble
Drabbles are basically flash fiction stories, which tend to range anywhere from 100 to 800 words, with most drabbles being around 300–500 words.
Fluff
Fluff fics focus on the happy aspects of a relationship. The fics can be something as simple as two characters going on a date in a theme park, or having a family celebrate a birthday party. Of course, angst and fluff can go together, as well as fluff and smut.
Hurt/Comfort
Hurt/Comfort fics are characterised by one character suffering an emotional hurt, such as suffering the grief of a loved one dying, and the other character(s) comforting them. The focus of these fics is typically on the comfort of the other characters.
If your fic, or are looking for one, that has the character not receiving help, such as in the case of fics starring unreciprocated feelings, then you should look for Hurt No Comfort fics.
Kidfic
Kidfics is exactly as it says. The characters are kids, end of story. These fics tend to be a bit sillier and focus more on the shenanigans that the children get into. Often, this would come with one of the other, more mature characters being their guardian and trying to get them out of messes.
Mpreg
Mpreg fics focus on pregnancy — male pregnancy, as the term implies. These fics usually come hand in hand with ABO — alpha, beta, omega — dynamics, with the focus on the fic on the pregnancy and the potential fluff or angst that comes with it.
And also, the smut… if you’re into that.
Real Person Fiction (RPF)
Real person fiction tends be the centrepiece of controversy, since fanfiction authors are creating stories of real people who have their own lives and may not be represented accurately in these works.
Nevertheless, RPF has flourished and is still flourishing, but do proceed with caution and check with the content creators’ boundaries before writing them…
Self-Insert Fics
Self-insert fics refer to fics that put the reader or the author into a relationship with a fictional character. Depending on the fandom, self-insert fanfiction can be quite popular and common.
Songfic
Songfics refer to fanfiction that is based off a song. For instance, the popular Minecraft YouTubers fanfiction Heat Waves is based off the Glass Animals song of the same name.
Smut
Smut fics are characterised by raunchy activities and sexual content. Fics that fall into this realm tends to focus more on the sexual part of a relationship between characters, often putting this fic into M18 territory.
Basically, don’t read it in front of your parents.
Textfic/Chatfic
Textfics are fanfiction that is written entirely in text format. That is, instead of being in prose (though, there are some textfics that do use prose), the fics would tend to look like this:
Devon: Ready to leave?
Cheryl: Yea just need to get my makeup done. Doing mascara now.
Ron: How are you doing makeup if you’re using your phone
Fanfiction is a great place to begin practicing your writing, and you can even post your stories for other people to read if you feel like it. Sites like fanfiction.net, AO3, Asianfanfics and more are good places to start.
Do you write fanfiction, or have written some before? What kind of fics are they, and what fandom? Let me know in the comments!
If you enjoyed it, be sure to clap and follow! Want my articles sent directly to your email? Then do subscribe! Your support is greatly appreciated!
If you’d like to read more awesome stories on Medium for $5/month or $50/year, sign up via this link! You get access to every single article, and your membership fees go towards supporting authors!
Want to connect elsewhere? Then visit my Linktree to see what other platforms I’m on!
