What is fan fiction? What is fan fiction and does literature need it?

fanfic(from the English fan - fan and fiction - fiction) - a type of creativity of fans of popular works of art (so-called fan art in the broad sense of the word), a derivative literary work based on some original work (usually literary or cinematic), using his ideas of plot and (or) characters. Fanfiction could be a sequel ( sequel), background ( prequel), parody, "alternate universe", crossover(“interweaving” of several works), and so on.

Beta(Beta) - a person who reads fanfiction before publishing and helps make it better. Beta suggestions can concern both simple things like spelling and punctuation, and more complex ones - the characteristics of characters, the removal or addition of certain scenes, and so on.

Beta-reader, sometimes also called scale– beta, who is engaged in literary proofreading of the text

Disclaimer(eng. disclaimer) - a warning in which the author informs readers (and especially the copyright holder) that the fan fiction or site in question was not created for the purpose of making profit, and indicates who exactly owns the rights to the characters used.

Warning(English warning) - warnings about the content of a fanfic, if there is a possibility of rejection by readers for any reason (slash, OOC, AU, obscene language, character death, etc.).

Rating(English rating) - an informal system of definitions adopted by fan fiction authors in order to give the reader a preliminary idea of what to expect, as well as how suitable the content of the fan fiction or fan art is for certain age groups.

Typically the following scale is used (ascending):

G(General) - fan fiction that anyone can read.

R(Restricted) - fan fiction that contains sex, violence, and obscene language.

Sometimes the designations PG-15 or NC-21 are found - they fall out of the accepted list, meanings are similar to PG-13 or NC-17, respectively.

NC-21– the fanfic contains a detailed description of cruelty and sex, various perversions, both moral and physical. On most resources, such fanfiction is prohibited.

Pairing(English pairing) - the column is usually used for love genres of fan fiction that describe romantic and/or sexual relationships. This line in the header allows you to determine which characters will be involved in such relationships during the course of the action. Pairs are written using a forward slash (First character/Second character). Well-known characters in the canon are usually identified by their initials. Fandom lingo usually has words for known pairings.

Drabble(Drabble) - excerpt. Often just a scene, a sketch, a description of a character. Sometimes a drabble refers to a short (one hundred words) story that has a double meaning and/or an unexpected ending.

Types of fanfiction:

Based on the presence of a love line in the plot:

"Jen"(from the English general audience) - the love line is absent or insignificant, “just adventures.” The term comes from the abbreviation “general audience”, any audience, and goes back to the film rating system.

"Get"(from “heterosexual”) - a defining love line; the relationship between characters of different sexes is described.

"Slash", or “slash” (from the English slash - slash icon) - fan fiction in which there are romantic and sexual relationships between representatives of the same sex, fan fiction containing descriptions or references to homosexual behavior or feelings. According to legend, the term comes from the custom of combining characters with a slash in the pairing column.

Fem slash(eng. fem-slash) - fan fiction that describes romantic and/or sexual relationships between female characters.

According to the realities of the original world:

"AU"(from the English Alternative Universal) - there are significant differences or even contradictions with the world of the original.

"non-AU"(do not have special jargon) - there are no differences with the world of the original, or they are controversial or insignificant.

According to the correspondence of the character of the fanfic characters to their character in the original:

"OOC"(from the English Out Of Character) - there are significant discrepancies or even contradictions with the characters in the original work.

"In character"- there are no differences with the characters of the characters in the original, or they are controversial or insignificant.

Mary Sue(English: Mary Sue) - an original character, according to general opinion, who is the embodiment of either the author himself, or what the author would like to be (a phenomenon inherent only in women's fan fiction). A distinctly classic Mary Sue is not that difficult to recognize, as she is necessarily dazzlingly beautiful and extraordinarily intelligent. Traditionally, she has an extraordinary appearance - not just beautiful, but original and with a twist, as the author understands it. Mary-Sue's name is either the author's or the complex one original name. If the canon format allows, then Mary-Sue also has some incredible magical abilities. Appearing among the canonical heroes, Mary-Sue outshines everyone with her beauty and talents, arousing the respect of positive heroes, the envy of negative ones and the insane delight of all representatives of the opposite (and in slash, their own) sex. Then they begin an affair with those heroes of the canon who the author likes most, and finally save the world, discover ancient secrets, reconcile fundamental enemies, kill the main villain, etc. After saving the world, they happily marry the author’s favorite hero ... but for particularly “original” authors, they die a heroic death amid the friendly sobs of all the characters.

Marty Stu, aka Marty Stu (eng. Marty Stu) or Maurice Stu (Maurice Stu) - the male hypostasis of Mary Sue. Appears to charm the heroine. Slightly less common than the average Mary Sue.

OFC(abbreviated Original Female Character) - “Original female character.” Typically appears in fanfic to romance a canon character. In Russian fandoms the abbreviation is more often used NJP– new female character. You have to be careful with NVPs - they always run the risk of turning into a Mary-Sue.

Respectively NMP- new male character.

"Genre"- a special note about the general “mood” of the fanfic.

General genres:

Action, Action (Action) - fan fiction with a dynamic plot, a lot of action, few mysteries and relationships between the characters.

Humor(Humour) - humorous fan fiction.

Parody(Parody) - a parody of the original work.

Dark or Darkfic (Dark, Darkfic) - a story with a huge amount of death and cruelty.

Deathfic- fan fiction in which one or more characters die.

POV(Point of view) - “point of view”, a first-person narration by one of the characters.

Smart(Smarm) - fan fiction in which one character makes it clear, in word or deed, how important friendship (without any hint of romantic or sexual relationships) with another character is to him.

Romance genres:

Romance(Romance) - fanfic about tender and romantic relationships. Usually has a happy ending.

Drama(Drama) - a romantic story with a sad ending.

Angst(Angst) is strong feelings, physical, but more often spiritual suffering of the character; fan fiction contains depressive motives and some dramatic events.

Fluff(Fluff) is a warm, unclouded relationship between the characters. Romance, romance and more romance.

Other genres:

H/C(Hurt/comfort) - "Carrot and Stick", a fanfic in which one character suffers in one way or another, and another comes to his or her aid.

ER(Established Relationship) - an established relationship between the characters.

PWP(Porn without Plot - literally: pornography without a plot; or “Plot, what Plot?” - literally: Plot? What plot?) - plotless porn, a simple minimal plot, where the main emphasis is on sex scenes.

BDSM(Bondage, Domination/Discipline, Sadism, Masochism) - sexual practice, including coercion, sexual slavery, sadomasochism and other actions associated with the deliberate infliction of pain or restriction of freedom in order to obtain sexual gratification

Smat(Smut) is a fanfic that describes nothing but sex between the characters. Typically rated NC-17.

Fanfiction(fan – fan, admirer; fiction – prose literature) – literary creativity, based on images from works whose copyright belongs to someone else.

Where

Fan fiction researchers do not have a consensus on the origin of this phenomenon, so you can choose the version that seems most plausible to you!

Perhaps the genre initially originated among fans of the original series “Star Trek” (aka “Star Trek”), including many girls from the scientific and technical environment. They organized fan conventions and published thematic magazines on their own with stories about the characters in the series, and a small but noticeable part of these stories concerned possible sexual relations between the main characters – Captain Kirk and Spock.

Or maybe the origins of fan fiction should be sought back in the 19th century, when devoted admirers of works about Sherlock Holmes created interest clubs and wrote their own versions of the detective’s adventures?

Why not call one of the versions of the origin of the genre adventure stories based on books and films that every child, including you and me, invented in childhood?

The invention of the Internet led to the emergence of convenient and accessible platforms for fans to communicate all over the world, and their number and cohesion have increased significantly. Fan sites have become a free platform that brings together people who want to read new stories about their favorite characters with people who are ready to write such stories.

The scale of the phenomenon

Do you think that an anonymous person on the Internet will never be able to truly become famous and achieve success? Are you sure that the creativity of fans is not needed by anyone except their narrow circle?

You are wrong!

Writing fan literature in last decade From a shameful “stigma of shame” on the reputation of a novice author, it rather became a “sign of quality.” The reason for this is partly that some authors who started out as fan fiction have become international stars.

Perhaps the most striking example is E.L. James, whose 50 Shades of Gray grew out of a Twilight fan story. Of course, to comply with copyright, the writer had to remove matching names, vampires and other details that clearly revealed the original source, and she subsequently removed the story itself from the Internet.

Also, constantly published writers do not hesitate to use fan ideas for their subsequent works. For example, Rainbow Rowell was inspired by fan fiction for her book Fangirl to write the sequel Carry On.

Scientific recognition

A couple of years ago, Anna Jamison, a professor at the University of Utah, published a stunning study entitled “Fan Fiction: Why Fan Fiction Is Conquering the World,” which was written with contributions from representatives of many fandoms (fan communities dedicated to a particular work).

Her research summarized previously written books and articles by academic fans that explained the behavior of fans of certain works with scientific point vision. Scholars who have paid attention to this topic include anthropologists, psychiatrists, and, more recently, literary critics and philologists (for example, Professor Jamison is also an expert on Kafka's work).

They studied various aspects of fan creativity - the social, emotional, aesthetic uniqueness inherent in fan fiction.

Here are just a few of the topics covered in these works:

slash and homosexual pairings,

(two characters in the original work who are involved in a romantic/sexual relationship, usually denoted by a slash in the fanfic description, for example: "Kirk/Spock")

features of organization and hierarchy in fan communities,

individual fandoms and their unique features.

Fighting copyright holders

These books, however, contained little actual fan fiction: even a collection not printed for sale by a university press would have been impossible five years ago, because the corporations that owned the copyrights to the original works threatened to sue if fan fiction was published.

Likely, lawsuits they would have lost, because such a non-commercial publication, with the indication of the original source and its authors, is completely legal, but the point was the very fact of the threats. Now some corporations view fan fiction as free advertising, while others have simply given up because the Internet is too big to control.

If the situation had not changed, the huge communities of ficwriters would not have been possible. (fan fiction authors) with its internal solidarity, conflicts, memes, publishing standards, if only simply because copyright owners could sue the authors for actions that discredit their reputation, given how much erotic and homosexual content there is in fan fiction.

One of key points A paradigm shift occurred in 2007 with the opening of the online fan fiction archive Archive of Our Own, which became the main publication site for a variety of fan works (including songs, comics, videos).

This resource has become an “island of safety” for people united by common goals and tastes, working for free, unofficially, often anonymously. For these reasons, such resources have been able to provide much better resistance to copyright holders than their commercial rivals.

Why do people write fanfiction?

Coppa, a professor of literature and theater at Muhlenberg College, helped found the Archive. Her almanac “Fan Fiction Reader” brought together stories that, in her opinion, can give an idea of this phenomenon: relatively short works within the framework of well-known fandoms, with a dose of eroticism, but without outright shocking perversions. Coppa also wrote an introductory essay covering the themes of fan fiction. The stories in the book are fascinating, they are interesting to read, even if you are not familiar with the characters, these are deep, high-quality works.

They could easily be remade into stories that are not associated with a specific fandom. But in this case, the internal jokes, understandable only to fans, would be lost, the motivation, the atmosphere, which are half of what makes the story so cool.

Here we come to interesting question, which is not even about whether fan fiction can be good according to generally accepted literary standards (of course it can!), but about what and what fan fiction is especially good at.

Writing fan fiction based on your favorite book is like going back to a restaurant you really enjoyed, or learning how to cook the food they serve.

This is a starting station, a kind of incubator. Writers who start with fan fiction receive the necessary mixture of approval and criticism that can inspire them to commercially publish "real" books.
Hard stories serve as a kind of " safety valve": in creativity, a person expresses secret desires, which are much less manifested in his real life.
Fan creativity can be a way of criticizing the source text, where, for example, by changing a character's race, the fan shows how the story would have changed. In the book, Coppa draws an analogy on this matter with modern productions of Shakespeare.
Fan fiction, attracting attention, allows its authors and readers to think about abstract life issues that require reflection.
The reader is much more interested in reading the reasoning of his favorite heroes than some unknown characters whom the author has just invented.
By portraying characters that people already know well and whose future adventures they already want to read about, non-professional authors can find a receptive audience of unfamiliar and open-minded readers. In the history of our civilization, there has never been a more direct path for aspiring writers to potentially interested readers.

“All stories are true, even the ones you make up as a child,” says a character in Doctor Who fan fiction by KaydeeFalls.

But not all stories are interesting to other people. If you can rework your memories, thoughts or fantasies about moving, changing gender, retiring into a story about Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, perhaps people who care about Batman and Robin will care about your thoughts and life experience.

BY THE WAY. In Russia, you can read other people’s fanfiction and post your own fanfiction on the websites: https://ficbook.net and http://fanfics.me. Harry Potter fans should check out the website http://hogwartsnet.ru. Fans of the Twilight saga will find like-minded people at https://twilightrussia.ru.

Ficwriting often hides the author's name and gives him an inspiring sense of equality among all writers in the community. The perception of the newcomer as a "brash upstart" remains far from the world of commercial publishers and prestigious novelists, an attitude more likely to be described by the slogan of the avant-garde poets of the 70s: "Plow to change the language and never become famous."

Ficwriters can be compared to American indie rock before Nirvana, with the only noticeable difference being that fan fiction is written mostly by women.

If you are used to reading old-fashioned prose collections, and at the same time are open to the idea that fan fiction is a new and important part of literature, having unique advantages, you'll be captivated by The Fanfiction Reader collection even before you read it. However, people who live and breathe ficwriting see it differently.

We hope that after this article many readers will visit sites with fandoms that interest them, and perhaps try not only reading fan fiction, but also writing themselves!

That's why we have a competition.

Write a fanfic on the theme of the Game of Thrones books and send it to your email [email protected].
Volume – 3000 characters.

There is no sadder story in the world,
What is the story about Fikbook and people who do not understand
genres.

Many people know how difficult it is for young authors to choose characteristics for their work. They confuse genres and warnings. As a result, many readers may see fantasy instead of science fiction, banter instead of humor, and so on.
“Well, newcomers, what can we take from them?” - you can say. However, it happens that some top authors make such stupid mistakes. Today I will help everyone understand what OOS and AU are, what is the difference between them, and will consider some of the questions that authors have about these warnings.

Part 1. What are OOS and AU?
How many times have they told the world:
It's time to change genre descriptions,
But everything is not for the future...

So, it’s not in vain that I started with this brilliant poem without rhyme. For a long time, users have been complaining that the explanations for genres are compiled in such a way that more than half of newcomers cannot understand what’s what.

Today the definition of AU on the Book of Fanfiction is:

“AU is a story in which characters from the world of the canon find themselves in another world or in other circumstances that are in no way connected with the canon. This could also be another fork in canon events."

"OOC - Out of Character, "Out of Character" - a situation in which a character in a fic does not behave as one would expect based on his description in the canon"

As they say, without half a liter you can’t figure it out. Some beginners will re-read, parse every word, look on the Internet to see what’s what. Others will get drunk, drop everything and point out genres. Then the readers reading this masterpiece will drink. Why does this happen? The answer is obvious - everything is too loaded and it is quite difficult to perceive such information. Now I will try to give a short and understandable definition that is supported by the human brain.

AU – the fanfic changes the canon (significantly or slightly).

OOC – the character of at least one character differs from the character of the canon character.

Let's say the canon talks about a certain Vasya who lives in the world of III. He's a superhero. Brave, courageous, as befits a hero. Always saving the world from the evil Kolya.

AU:
“You will live in hell!” Kolya whispered.
His eyes burned with hatred and anger. He saw in what agony his eternal rival died. I saw everything I had dreamed of seeing for so long.
- Now I will take over the whole Earth! - Nikolai cried, bursting into laughter.

What do we have? According to canon, Vasya should have won this battle. But the author decided to give preference to Kolya. Total: Any change to the canon is an AU.

OOC:
“Vasya, Vasya, Kolya will destroy the city if you don’t come to our aid now,” Anna said in a panic.
“I can’t, I’m lazy,” Vasya mumbled, continuing to switch channels.

That is, according to the canon, Vasya had to fly to save the world, since he is a brave and courageous hero. But the author decided to make him apathetic, passive and lazy. Total: Changing the character's character is OOC.

Part 2.
I love Fikbook everything, but with a strange love,
My reason will not defeat him...

You are now reading the second part of this article. Here we find out what the inhabitants of Fikbook think about OOC and AU. In order to create this part, I had to interview nine people: three of them were YAshki, three betas and three authors. They answered the same questions. And now I will present to your attention the results of the study.

1 question: What is the difference between OOC and AU?
Starting question standard, which many YAshki failed (two in number). The authors and betas coped with this task. But I would like to draw your attention to the fact that some betas made grammatical errors in their answers, and they were so elementary that they couldn’t be more elementary.

Now let's look at the answers of our beloved Yasheks.

Quote: “Well, I don’t even know. I haven’t been here long at all and I think OOC is when the canon is out of character. That is, it behaves differently, and AU is when the canon ends up in another world or, well, I don’t know...=.=(if it’s wrong, please correct me)” (beta’s note: *nervously drinks valerian, guessing the age of the author of the quote*)

After reading this quote, readers clicked on the cross in the upper right corner of the screen and began to pray to Christ, Allah, Buddha, Yaril, just in case.

Firstly, the abundance of errors is amazing. Secondly, I would like to ask everyone something from my dear reader who has not yet closed this article. Did you understand something? And one more question: what happens to the canon? Where does it end up?

At this point, we forget this YA like a bad dream, and begin to consider issues related to OOC and AU.

The first question we will consider is: “ Is it worth specifying the AU genre if the fanfic belongs to a time period that is not covered in the canon?

I think not everyone understands what is meant. To do this, let's remember some American films. We are shown events from the heroes' childhood, and then transferred several years into the future (for example, fifteen years later). These fifteen years are not covered in the canon. And if you decide to write about this time in the lives of the characters, then you will probably think: is it worth making an AU? On the one hand, you do not change the canon, but on the other hand, you can add new characters or add some events that will not affect the canon in any way.

The opinions of those surveyed varied greatly. Some argued that the AU genre must be present here, others were categorically against specifying this genre. But the majority still doubted.

From all the variety of answers on this topic, it became clear that the absolute majority believes that if you do not violate canon events when creating such fan fiction, then you don’t have to indicate this genre.

The second question was: In what cases can you use the AU genre in the originals?

Only a few were unable to formulate a clear position on this issue. Almost everyone who was surveyed answered unequivocally. Many people think that the genre should be AU if the hero ends up in another world created by a ficwriter. They also claim that unrealistic events must be present (meaning “The World of Might and Magic”). But with such an explanation, the question arises: which canon is broken? After all, the originals are a canon invented by the author. Why not celebrate the fantasy genre, mythical creatures, and so on? This opinion leaves many questions. But there was one answer that completely satisfied me.

Quote: “In my opinion, in the Originals you can put an AU if the action takes place in OUR world (not Fantasy) and, for example, some event did not happen/has happened. For example, in the Second Patriotic War victory was not ours (God forbid, of course)..."

Agree, the explanation is more rational than fantasy. We have a kind of canon - certain historical events that we reinterpret. There is no way to do without AU here.
This concludes the AU and moves on to the “most favorite” warning of all readers – OOC.

The next question to be considered is: Are unusual pairings always OOC?

And regarding this issue, opinions differ.

Why are unusual pairings always OOC?

Many readers are sure that an unusual pairing is always OOC. Because of this it is even enough good work, well-written and beta-checked a hundred thousand times, can have a rating much lower than works that are essentially “plotless porn”, but according to popular canon pairings.

What arguments are given in their favor by those who believe that unusual pairings and OOC are brother and sister?

Quote: “... an unusual pairing is always OOC, because, based on the definition of “OOC,” I can say that the hero behaves differently than described in the canon. Agree, if Lucius falls in love with the Mudblood Granger, it will be OOC, since the canon says that Malfoys hate and despise Muggles and their magical children..."

A weighty argument - you can’t say anything. But now let's give the floor to those who believe that unusual pairings are not always OOC.

Quote: “We can’t say that an unusual pairing is always OOC. You can combine the incompatible even without using this warning. For example, find justify. It could be some kind of common feature the heroes (for example, love for animals), on the basis of which they will build their relationships...” (beta’s note: I didn’t correct it in context, but still, to combine the incompatible)

Another weighty argument, as you can see.

In fact, both sides are right. If we take as an example the case described in the first quote, we will certainly understand that it is impossible to do without OOS. But if we assume that we are pairing people who are similar in spirit and interests, then we can do without this warning. So it all depends on how different the characters are.

And the last question that I addressed in my article is How to make OOC attractive to the reader?

It's no secret that we don't like environmental protection, to put it mildly. After all, everyone knows those same sugary fanfictions of Yashek with Mary Sue, which can calmly trample on our favorite heroes, in which a girl with an angelic character turns into a bitch, etc. But OOS, as you know, can be completely different.

“... you can make OOC attractive only when it is in moderation, when OOC gives a special charm to the fanfic,” says the beta. But no one likes strong OOC. I don’t think anyone will like it when their favorite brutal character turns out to be in their hands “ a skilled craftsman” is some kind of weakling. But nevertheless, OOS did not deserve to be so scared of by authors and readers.

“I think this depends on the audience itself. Some people like OOC canon characters, the other part can’t stand it when their favorite hero is changed even a little. I, personally, try to stick to the canon of characters, because the majority of my audience approves of this...” says the author.
In fact, this is what many people do on Book of Fanfiction. After all, losing an audience is like death for any author. There are, of course, brave men on our resource. But usually they are bullied and, as a result, they leave the Book of Fanfiction.

I would like to end the discussion with a quote in defense of the OOS:

“Everyone has different interests, and some people like it when the hero has a character opposite to the canon. I think if someone doesn’t like those kinds of digressions, OOC won’t be attractive to them, no matter how hard you try.”

Conclusion: OOC and AU have essentially become pariahs among genres and warnings on the fanfiction book, which is quite unfortunate. But even these genres will find their reader.

A work written by fans as a continuation of the story of the heroes or to reveal some atypical direction of this story. Fan fiction can be found based on all famous works of literature, cinema, TV series, comics; they are created based on the plots of cartoons or anime.

Usually created by fans for entertainment, so that the story of their favorite characters does not end when the book or movie ends, or in order to change some plot lines and character stories. Fan fiction is created by people of different ages and in completely different genres: prose, in the form of a mini-story or a significant work comparable in volume to a story or even a novel. Fan fiction has only one thing in common: the love of authors and readers for the created world.

Fan fiction, as can be seen from it, is a non-independent work, that is, it was created based on the plot of another author using his heroes, their characters and storylines. Fan fiction does not violate copyright only if its author waives all rights and does not derive commercial benefits from the distribution of his works. It is better that this waiver of rights be written out in the header of the fanfic, that is, immediately under its title and short .

There, in the header, the author of the fanfic usually indicates its rating - for the convenience of readers. The tradition of ratings in fan fiction came from Western countries, where ratings for works of literature and cinema began long before the adoption of a similar law in Russia and the CIS countries. Therefore, in the ratings of fanfictions, out of old habit, Western ones are put: G - for all categories of readers, does not contain obscene language or subtext, PG - for children under parental supervision, PG-13 - not recommended for readers under 13 years of age, R - for readers up to 17 years old only in the presence of parents, NC-17 - not recommended for readers under 17 years old.

A logical question arises: ? Why work so hard to create fan fiction if the author does not receive royalties from its distribution, like real writers. Isn't it better to create something of your own and try to publish your own work? However, authors in stormy seas literary works not so easy to notice. Therefore, not everyone succeeds in achieving popularity. Fan fiction gives such authors the opportunity to quickly find their readership and fame.

In addition, not all fan fiction creators aspire to become professional writers, so for them, writing works based on their favorite novel or movie is nothing more than a hobby. However, there are other cases where fan fiction writers used their first steps in literature to successfully launch their writing careers. The most striking example would be the name of Erica Leonard James, who, having created fan fiction based on the famous book series, eventually turned it into an independent work, Fifty Shades of Gray, and became a world famous author of novels.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Today we’ll talk about fan fiction – a phenomenon that is officially over fifty years old.

And if now the reader is encountering such a concept for the first time, it is only because this topic has always been relevant for a relatively narrow circle of people - fans of one or another fictional universe.

What are fanfictions and where to look for them (FikBook)

Fanfiction is a type of amateur written work created based on some work of art. It is based on the original book, cinematic, game, comic universe (including anime).

The term fanfiction itself is jargon. By origin it is a phonetic calque with English language. In turn, the abbreviation fanfic expands into “fan fiction”, which translates as “ fan fiction».

In the English-speaking space there are more short options words – fic (fic) and ff (FF). The corresponding ones are used in special communities here too, so they are also worth remembering.

The term was first used before 1965, but then it was about a different meaning. Fan fiction was an independent piece of science fiction written by a non-professional. However, very quickly the abbreviation acquired a modern meaning.

As for the phenomenon itself, its roots go much deeper - right up to the “Testament of Cressida”, and this is the 15th century.

If you are interested in the topic and have a desire to plunge into the world of alternative continuations and branches of some “universe,” then I advise you to start with the site FikBook .

The video below describes how fandom is created on the FikBook website and how to figure it all out.

Types of fan fiction

To understand how fan fiction is made and what it is, it is best to take time and read several such texts. This will be especially interesting for those who are already interested in any original world– be it the England of Sherlock Holmes or the Marvel Universe.

The fact is that such works are created by some members of the fan community for others, which means familiarity (and preferably detailed) with the source is implied by default.

Often fan texts are signed with specific terms that correlate with their place in the classification. Knowing their meaning, it will be easier to choose a fanfic to get acquainted with. Let's look at the main varieties.

By volume Fan fiction is divided into 3 types:

Drabble is a sketch that often contains no more than a hundred words. An excerpt, a thought on the original theme, a scene taken out of context, or just a portrait of a character.
Ficlet is a short, complete text. Like a play in one act.
Vignette is also a short text created to verbalize feelings, thoughts, or describe a small scene.

There are also classification according to plot fanfic:

Continuation is a continuation of the original work, the author’s universe does not change, everything happens according to its laws.
Dark, from Darkfic. The story is told from the perspective of the party that acted as an opposing force in the original work.
Angst is a depressing story that describes the drama, experiences, and suffering of the characters, primarily spiritual ones.
Deathfic. Be prepared for the fact that the author of such fan fiction will be George Martin (yes, your favorite character will die).
Hurt/comfort. In these sketches, one of the characters saves another from suffering - physical or spiritual.
Established Relationship - a text dedicated to the established relationships of characters.

The following distribution is based on the method creating a fan story:

Сrossover – in the creative process, facts from several fan universes are used, fandoms are united (we’ll talk about what fandom is another time).
Filk is a song based on the source.
Profic – “professional literature” - these are commercial texts created by writers or developers based on cult series. They are copyrighted and distributed for money. We are talking about something unique in the world of literature.
Round robin – grouped text. Several authors take turns writing it, each with their own fragment.

Brief summary

The topic of fan fiction is quite extensive. Interested people also offer their own – more precise and detailed – classifications. You need to understand that a phenomenon that goes back centuries and has been actively developing over the last half century cannot be described in one article.

But if the reader would just like to touch his favorite universe, the world of fan fiction is open, he will gladly accept another author...

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

You can watch more videos by going to

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