Fanfiction is a genre of writing that allows fans of a show, book, or otherwise fictional word to weave their own stories inspired by the tales of the original authors. The world of fanfiction is vast, with millions of stories to find and absorb.
If you’re new to the world of fanfiction, diving in can feel a bit like walking through a foreign country. There are terms and abbreviations aplenty, and it’s easy to get confused if you’re trying to find something to suit your personal reading tastes. With that said, becoming familiar with these terms is a little like learning a foreign language; if you expose yourself enough to it, it starts to make sense.
For now, a sentence like “an angsty canon-divergent AU idfic for my crossover OTP to AO3” probably sounds like some kind of bizarre code. But if you break it down, it’s really pretty simple.
Common terms in Fanfiction
To make things a little easier for any newcomers to fanfiction, let’s take a look at a list of common abbreviations and terms that you’re likely to come across and might leave you questioning. Alphabetically seems like a safe way to do this.
Now that we’ve been through some of the most common terms, let’s revisit that bizarrely coded sentence from before: “An angsty canon-divergent AU idfic for my crossover OTP on AO3.”
Put simply, this sentence describes a fanfiction on Archive of Our Own that was written for the enjoyment of the writer, featuring a turbulent romantic relationship between two characters from different canons in an alternate universe, breaking away from the timeline of the original story.
The above list is not entirely exhaustive, and there are other less common terms that you may come across while browning AO3 or FF.Net to find something to read. The ones listed here are those you’ll face most often and will help you discover stories with the themes you’re interested in.
