A Beginner's Guide to Fanfiction and other assorted madness
Q: This may seem like an exceptionally dim question but... what is 'fanfic'?
A: Fanfiction, fanfic, or fic, as it is often abbreviated to, is simply that. Devotees of a TV show write stories about its characters and post it on the web for the enjoyment of their fellow fans. It's a way of exploring aspects of the characters and the show in general that the fans feel the producers have glossed over or neglected. It's also a way of continuing the plot of a show in the unbearable abyss between episodes airing. Often, fanfic is especially feverish during the summer months when the show is off the air in the US. Thus, the fans specualate in excrutiating, torrid detail about the hiatus exploits of their favourite characters. For example, Buffy/Faith slash writers might well imagine that Buffy kept a tearful bedside vigil over Faith's comatose body in the break between seasons three and four, reciting Sappho's poetry and her undying love. Others might think Buffy died her hair and appeared in a remake of Dangerous Liaisons...
Q: Okay, I understand this fanfic thing, but what is 'slash'? Is it something to do with, ahem, golden showers?
A: Well... it can be. In the sick, depraved minds of some writers. The origins of slash can be found in the Original Series of Star Trek, when (mainly female) writers wanted to explore the emotional aspect of Kirk and Spock's obviously deep friendship. And so it continues to the present day but with new pairings and new shows (Oz/Xander in Buffy for example). Lesbian slash is much less common but it appears to be expanding on the net - one only needs to look at the example of Xena: Warrior Princess. The flowering of femslash in the Buffyverse occured mainly in the third season, thanks to the gloriously sexually overt Faith who seemed to spend the whole time making sexual innuendoes and flirting relentlessly with buttoned-up-to-the-neck prude Buffy. Later, the canonical relationship between Willow and Tara lent more fuel to the fire. Significantly, Faith was the first to notice Tara's attraction towards Willow. The girl has gaydar, give her a medal. There was also the alternate universe vampire Willow (first seen in 'The Wish' and then 'Dopplegangland') who was clearly bisexual. Hell, she even made a pass at herself!
Anyway, the term slash is derived from the '/' symbol used by writers to separate the character codes (more of which later) in the header of their stories. However, the term slash usually designates any piece of fiction written by the fans of the show that involves two (or more) members of the same sex indulging in varying degrees of frisky behaviour. Sometimes it's erroneously used to describe sex between characters of the opposite sex, but that's just ignorance, darlings. That sort of fic is usually termed 'het' (short for heterosexual).
Q: You mentioned character codes. Huh?
A: Character codes are the quick and handy way of finding out if your favourite characters will be 'having at it' in the story. Basically the code corresponds with the first initial of the character’s name. The most common abbreviations used, though they can vary, (dammit, we need unifomity!) are :
? - a surprise, for those who enjoy the suspense
other - an original character (can often veer into Mary Sue territory)These are the main characters, but there are obviously many more characters in the Buffyverse. Sorry if we missed your favourite out. The codes are separated by slashes and therefore a story involving say, Joyce and Giles would be J/G.
Q: So, like, I've heard about this Mary Sue chick. Is she a skank 'cuz everyone seems to hate her?
A: No offense to any hapless soul christened with the name Mary Sue, it's nothing personal but a Mary Sue or Marty Stu (the male equivalent) is, without a doubt, one of the cardinal sins of fanfic, no matter what show you're writing for. Hello, Mary Sue, goodbye plot. Basically a Mary Sue is a story in which the author places him/herself in the action to live out his/her fantasies in all their gory detail.
This can take a number of forms: a writer might directly include themselves as a character in the story without even trying to disguise their identity. For example, Faithtastic might put herself in a story where she is a normal yet stunningly attractive person (with violet eyes and fiery red hair, natch) called Pam whom Joyce falls madly in love with. Or the author might create a 'persona', a seemingly fictional character who is more beautiful, stronger, faster, cleverer, funnier and more sexually stimulating than any other character in the story. Again, using an example, Dolores might have Joyce telling Pat from the book club how utterly insatiable and skilled in bed Bertha (Dolores' persona) is. Usually the writer gets to molest his/her/its favourite character, giving them multiple orgasms. You see now how sadly deluded and ultimately pathetic this is?
This act of rampant narcissism is greatly frowned upon, and any budding slash writers should resist the temptation. Apparently the term Mary Sue derives from a tale from the Star Trek: The Original Series fandom, starring a character called Mary Sue who dies tragically but not before she single-handedly saves the ship from certain destruction and wins the heart of emotionless, aloof Mr Spock (and probably most of the rest of the crew too!) So there you go.
Q: How come all the stories have a rating, like NC-17?
A: That's to ward off young, impressionable minds from material that might corrupt their carefree naivete. Or to point them in the right direction to the pornography. One or the other. Basically, these ratings provide a guideline as to how explicit the 'acts of lurve' are in the stories.
Most of the stories on this site range from PG-13 (12 Certificate in British terms) to NC-17 (equivalent to 18 Certificate in the UK) so these are the ones we'll explain. In a PG-13 fic one would expect to find some level of violence but no more than one would see in an average episode (this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer after all, not Buffy the Crochet Player). Same goes for language and sex. Stepping up to R, more explicit scenes of violence and sex and stronger language. There may also be disturbing scenes of rape, torture, Celine Dion, etc. Finally, NC-17 is the rating for the stories aimed exclusively at adults. Graphic depictions of sex, violence, expletive use. Most PWP (see below) fall into this category. If you aren't over the age of majority where you live (which can vary drastically) then you shouldn't be reading an NC-17 story. And if you do, you’re very naughty children. Unless you come from Denmark, in which case you can read away.
Q: What's with all this silly 'aching sex' stuff? Why don't they just use the anatomical name?
A: Well, mainly because writing "he inserted his erect penis at an angle of..." blah, blah, you get the picture, is not erotic, in any way imaginable. But then again, neither are many of the comically icksome euphemisms that writers sometimes utilise. Mainly, writers use euphemisms to avoid their fics appearing clinical, or to avoid using names for the sexual organs that some people find offensive or uncomfortable. So, for example, one might use 'man-milk' for semen, 'tumescent rod' for penis, 'pulsating nubbin' for clitoris, and, our personal favourite, 'mammary glands' for breasts. Hours of fun can be had thinking up alternative names for body parts.
Q: PWP? Enlighten me.
A: Stands for Porn Without Plot or Plot? What Plot? This is a staple of fanfic, and can often be verrrry good. Oh yes. It can also be heart-wrenchingly, distressingly horrendous. Whichever, such stories don’t even attempt to find a plausible explanation for Joyce burying her face into Faith’s bosoms, and simply get them having rough, animalistic sex.
Q: Okay, so what other kind of stories are there for the more intellectually-minded?
A: If you're a miserable bugger, you might enjoy Hurt/Comfort fanfic (also known as Angst fic). Sometimes this can be very good. Sometimes this can be crushingly awful. Angst is fiction that involves great pain, generally emotional, mixed in with a little sex. Sometimes even both at once. For instance, Joyce finds Hank’s death unbearable, so she weeps and wails and has a breakdown and finds solace in the arms of Wesley. Often unbearably depressing. Sometimes unintentionally hysterical.
Other types of fanfic include sillyfic, usually parodying the show and usually without any socially redeeming value; songfic, a fic that uses a well-known (or not as the case may be) song as inspiration and integrates it into the story; filks, rewriting the lyrics to a song to apply to the show, often done to humorous effect; and poetry, which is self-explanatory because we're not getting into a discussion about blank verse versus iambic pentameter. There are also crossovers. This is when characters from two different shows meet in one fanfic. (NB generally characters from Angel appearing in a Buffy fic do not constitute a crossover, but characters from the X-Files would.) Just remember to include a disclaimer for both of the shows. Speaking of which...
Q: Sheesh. What's with all this legal stuff? It's just a freakin' story!
A: Because you Americans greatly enjoy suing each other’s asses off, we’re all required to put a disclaimer before the epics that we write which says we don’t pretend to own the characters and that we don’t intend to make any money from them, and basically crawl to Fox/whoever. This is a necessity so unless you want to be on the receiving end of some legal action (and we're not talking Lilah or Lindsay from Wolfram and Hart screwing you senseless...) then you must include disclaimers in your fics.
Q: Uh... anything else I should know?
A: Oh, yes, one last thing. If any of you wonderful people that have visited this site have or are planning to have sites of your own, please be aware of fanfic etiquette. This covers many areas, but basically remember two things. If reviewing, no flaming (i.e. saying that the story is absolutely terrible without explaining why you feel this way (in other words just being mean, like the infamous Terror Squad site) and, secondly, no archiving (uploading to display on your site) of any of the stories on this site, or any other site for that matter, without receiving the authors' persmission first. Very bad form, what.
Here endeth the lesson. Have fun, and avoid Mary Sues...
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