Fanfiction 101
Welcome, readers who clicked into this article, who I am assuming you belong to at least one of the following classifications:
TikTok users turned Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s Simon Riley, AKA, Ghost enthusiasts
Parents of teens who either found Archiveofourown.com in their child’s browser history, or mentioned on their Tumblr account that they don’t think you know about
Activision marketing members trying to figure out how to capitalize on their sudden, new demographic of fans
Adults who wrote and/or read a lot of fanfiction several years ago, and have returned only to find SO much has changed within the Fanfiction scene
Please let me know if I hit the nail on the head here, especially if you’re actually with Activision. I’m well-versed in Fandom, and you have money that I might or might not be willing to exchange that “expertise” for. Which, believe it or not, I actually do have! I’ve been reading and writing fanfiction for a little over 10 years.
So, let’s start off by answering the very first, essential question that needs to be answered before anything else.
What is Fanfiction?
“Fanfiction” refers to unofficial, fan-made pieces of literature, that either features at least one character and/or the universe of a previously existing work that’s created by another author. These works can be from multiple mediums, including, but not limited to, TV shows, movies, comics, anime, manga, video games, and books.
Most references to fanfiction are referring to those publicly posted online, for anyone with an internet connection to access and read for free. This is the most common form of Fanfiction, with its writers receiving no profit from their works, outside of criticism and praise for each of their individual works, from kind strangers who stumbled across them.
Yes, there are books that have sold for profit, that are officially licensed works, but these are the minority by a very large margin, so for the purposes of this article, we will only be discussing the former.
Why is Fanfiction Created or Read?
For both writers and readers, Fanfiction is the product of devotion or love towards the particular original work that it's based on. Sometimes, this can merge with a sense of “escape”, potentially escalating to a very unhealthy level. Like everything on this planet, you should exercise healthy moderation.
Most of the time, the writers and readers have a desire to experience a specific, “non-canon” scene to happen within the context of the original IP. Other Times, they want to experience a “ship” get together, and sometimes, they are upset with a particular “canon” event or outcome, and aim for an alternative, preferred version.
For writers, specifically, there are certain, unique benefits they’ll reap. For instance, even if it’s not noticeable until reading their older works, their writing skills along with the quality of their posted works steadily increases. It’s no substitution to formal training/education, but that doesn’t make it any less valid. On top of this, a love for writing itself may develop. These two points combined can lead to a potential future career in writing.
Where Can I Read or Post Fanfiction?
You can find or post fanfiction practically on the internet that allows it. That being said, there are certainly specific websites where you’ll probably find more luck in your fanfiction endeavors than others. I doubt you’d have very much luck finding what you’re looking for via Imgur or Facebook. Let’s break down the most common places:
ArchiveOfOurOwn/Ao3- This is currently the largest Fanfiction hub on the internet. It is still one of the newest, but despite this, it’s the first place most fic writers and readers will head to. It’s active, readily incorporating other, older (and practically dead, by all accounts) hubs of publicly shared and original works, to preserve them and the content found within. Free to use, Ao3 also has a very user-friendly interface.
Fanfiction.net/FFN- This website is currently dying a slow, drawn-out death, as its user-base steadily dwindles. This is not necessarily through any direct fault of its own, however, but rather the result of a mass-migration from FFN to Ao3. Ao3 simply has a lot more features that a growing and modern user-base needed or wanted.
Nonetheless, many of us have fond memories of FFN. While not the first of its kind, it was the first major place for Fanfiction as awareness of Fanfiction and its community increased, and for many of us “seasoned veterans,” our first introduction to the medium.
FFN isn’t totally irrelevant, at least, not yet. When you have a particular itch for a fanfiction for a much older IP, you might have more luck finding more variety and volume for what you’re looking for at FFN, especially if its fandom is considered dead.Wattpad- Mostly used to share amateur original fiction, I just have one statement: “One Direction x Reader Self-Insert Fic”
Tumblr- Unless you’ve somehow avoided the internet throughout the entirety of the 2010s, you probably are aware of Tumblr. Originally created to be a legitimate blogging platform, it is well-known for many things, but being a “legitimate blogging platform” is not one of them. Fandom and fan-made content, however, is. While you won’t find nearly as much fanfiction on Tumblr as you would on sites dedicated to sharing solely written works, it is, at least, active.
Before we continue, let’s also go over a bit of vocabulary that will be important:
Fic/Fanfic- Short-hand for “Fanfiction”
Podfic- A fanfiction that is presented in an audio form instead of the usual written
Crack Fic- A fanfiction that is intentionally written to be ridiculous or outlandish and, if not labeled as a “crack fic”, would be considered completely awful
One-Shot- A fanfiction with a total completed length of a single chapter
Self-Insert- A fanfiction that features a character that is either based on the author themselves or intended to be interpreted as the reader
Smut- Refers to an explicit scene of a certain variety, or a work containing such, previously called a “lemon”
AU- Short-hand for “Alternate Universe”. AU fics are fanfictions that feature characters from an IP, but set in a completely different universe, usually one of an unrelated, but popular IP.
Ao3- Short-hand for “ArchiveofOurOwn.com”
FFN- Short-hand for “Fanfiction.net”
Kudos- The equivalent of “likes” for works posted on Ao3
Canon- Used to describe official content released for an IP, and anything that happens in its universe, released to fans via that official content
Fanon- A piece of information or interpretation in regards to the IP that is not canon, and fan-made in origin, but is used in place of the canon it contradicts by a large portion of its fandom. Sometimes Fanon is not a contradictory re-write of canon, instead dealing with ambiguous or currently officially unexplored aspects of it. In these cases, despite it being neither confirmed nor unconfirmed, it’s generally regarded as or used as the answers to these holes
OC- Short-hand for “Original Character”, referring to characters featured that do not exist within the canon. Instead, it is created solely by the fic’s author. OCs have been used as the protagonist, as minor characters, as supporting characters, and even in works that only feature OCs.
Ship- Technically short for “relationship”, this is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, a “Ship” refers to a relationship (usually of a romantic nature) consisting of at least 2 fictional characters, with ships consisting of more than 2 being called a “Polyship”, that is preferred to be together. Ships can exist regardless if they are canon or not. “Ship”, used as a verb, refers to the action of preferring the aforementioned relationship.
Examples:
“I just don’t see real chemistry between Sasuke and Sakura, and don’t understand the ship.”
“You’re actually wrong, and delusional for shipping Sakura with Ino.”OTP- Shorthand for “One True Pairing.” This is either used to describe your all-time favorite ship that you’re most invested in, or to describe the ship that you’re most invested in for a particular IP
NOTP- A play on words with “OTP”, used to describe a disliked or hated ship
A/N- Short-hand for “Author’s Note”
R&R- Short-hand for “Read and Review”
“Don’t Like, Don’t Read”- This is a phrase readers might see in the author’s notes across multiple fic, though not nearly as used as it once was. In short, it’s meant to advise the reader that if they don’t like any part of the fic’s concept, to take responsibility for their own media consumption, and simply exit out of it.
Okay, I Now Have an Understanding of Fanfiction. How Do I Begin?
Reading
For those only wanting to read fanfiction, you’ll be happy to hear it’s quite simple to get started. Using a device that has an internet browser and an internet connection, simply navigate to your platform of choosing. I personally recommend starting out with Ao3. In none of the platforms I cited do you need to create any kind of account to just read what’s been publicly posted.
Assuming you heeded my advice and went to Ao3, choose the corresponding category that the IP would be reasonably categorized under, and from there, search for it from the alphabetized list. Once you’ve completed this step, you will be directed to a list of fanfictions available for you to read for that IP, presented in descending order of most-recently updated. From here, you have the ability to curate this list to your tastes with the use of filters, based on multiple factors, including:
Age rating
Characters featured
Relationships featured
Language written in
Completion status
Tags
Posting
For those who want to try their hands at writing Fanfiction, the process has more steps. However, I’m not going to go into the details of actually writing fanfiction itself- that’s enough information to qualify it for its own article.
The first step for posting, for all of the platforms, is to create a free account in order to gain the ability to post your works. For brevity, I will describe the rest of this process under the assumption that you’re only going to be using Ao3 as your platform of choice.
Once you have your Ao3 account, navigate to your “Dashboard”, by clicking on your username in the uppermost-right corner of the page.
From here, click on “Post New” that’s near the top.
At this point, you’ve been navigated to a page that prompts you to fill in a bunch of information. As much as it is, it is absolutely best that you fill it in to the best of your ability. Even if you don’t see a particular IP, relationship, or tag that fits your fic, you are free to manually type what would. This would be something you’d need to do, if your fic is the first posted to Ao3 for that particular IP. It might take a few days, but site staff will eventually create the categories you used or otherwise re-categorize it into the correct one, if it exists. Until then, your fic will be found under “Uncategorized.”
Getting past all of that, at the bottom of the page is where you’ll actually input your work into a text box. It allows you to either directly type it in or to paste it in from your device’s clipboard. Please do yourself a favor and type up your fics via an actual word processor, such Google Docs or MS Word, and paste it in. Also, be sure to note the “format” selected, with Ao3 supporting uploads in Rich Text or HTML. I personally upload in Rich Text.
I Think I’m Ready To Get Started. What Else Should I Know?
You’ll definitely learn as you go along. If you’re reading, you’ll come to learn what types of fics you prefer. If you’re writing, you’ll get better at tagging, titling, and writing summaries, not to mention your writing skills improving. Sometimes, as you’re learning, and things might not be clicking yet, you might get some negative comments on your works, with some being constructive and helpful, and others being just mean. If you don’t want to deal with this, be sure to turn off the comments functionality whenever you post. That being said, when reading, if you like the fic you just finished or caught up with, it is common courtesy to leave a kudos and a kind comment. If you disliked something about it, consider commenting constructive criticism.
At the end of the day, if you find that fanfiction simply isn’t for you, don’t feel stressed about it. Not everyone likes it or its unique style, but consider giving it another try after a bit of time has passed. Also like everything on this planet, with time, the general state of Fanfiction changes.
