A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest,often as a part of a social network with particular practices,differentiating fandom-affiliated people from those with only a casual interest.
Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex. While the term "slash" originally referred only to stories in which male characters are involved in an explicit sexual relationship as a primary plot element,it is now also used to refer to any fan story containing a romantic pairing between same-sex characters. Many fans distinguish slash with female characters as a separate genre,commonly referred to as femslash.
Among science fiction and fantasy,comic book,and media fans,a Big Name Fan (BNF) is a member of a fandom who is particularly well-known and celebrated for their writings in fanzines,semi-professional magazines and blogs;or for other contributions such as art and fanfiction. Some BNFs have also contributed to the franchise itself. They may have fans of their own,who praise them and seek out their work.
A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of writing,typically literature,who gives feedback to the author from the point of view of an average reader. This feedback can be used by the writer to fix remaining issues with plot,pacing,and consistency. The beta reader also serves as a sounding board to see if the work has the intended intellectual or emotional impact on the target market.
In subcultural and fictional uses,a mundane is a person who does not belong to a particular group,according to the members of that group;the implication is that such persons,lacking imagination,are concerned solely with the mundane:the quotidian and ordinary. The term first came into use in science fiction fandom to refer,sometimes deprecatingly,to non-fans;this use of the term antedates 1955.
Fanfiction has encountered problems with intellectual property law due to usage of copyrighted characters without the original creator or copyright owner's consent.
MediaWest*Con is one of the largest and longest running media-based fan-run conventions in the United States. It is held annually over Memorial Day weekend in Lansing,Michigan. The convention emerged in the late 1970s,beginning as T'Con in 1978 and 2'Con in 1979 before taking on the name MediaWest*Con in 1981. The convention remains the world's largest gathering of Fanzine writers,artists,and publishers,and for decades was the event where most new science fiction and fantasy Fanzines were released. The annual "Fan Quality Awards" for Fanzine excellence,known as the "Fan Q's",have been given out at MediaWest*Con since 1981. In addition,the convention's art show has been the principal location for the display and sale of published Fanzine art and illustrations.
Fan labor,also called fan works,are the creative activities engaged in by fans,primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works,visual or computer-assisted art,films and videos,animations,games,music,or applied arts and costuming.
A Mary Sue is a type of fictional character,usually a young woman,who is portrayed as free of weaknesses or character flaws. The character type has acquired a pejorative reputation in fan communities,with the label "Mary Sue" often applied to any heroine who is considered to be unrealistically capable.
Fan fiction or fanfiction,also known as fan fic,fanfic,fic or FF,is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor,unauthorized by,but based on,an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters,settings,or other intellectual properties from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing and can retain the original characters and settings,add their own,or both. Fan fiction ranges in length from a few sentences to novel-length and can be based on fictional and non-fictional media,including novels,movies,comics,television shows,musical groups,cartoons,anime and manga,and video games.
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit,fan activist organization. Its mission is to serve fans by preserving and encouraging transformative fan activity,known as "fanwork",and by making fanwork widely accessible.
Transformative Works and Cultures is a peer-reviewed open access academic journal published by the Organization for Transformative Works. The journal collects essays,articles,book reviews,and shorter pieces that concern fandom,fanworks,and fan practices. According to Humanities,Arts,Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC),the journal "supports the [Organization for Transformative Works's] mission to promote the legitimacy and sustainability of non-commercial fan creativity by providing a forum for innovative criticism in fan studies,broadly conceived."
Archive of Our Own (AO3) is a nonprofit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users. The site was created in 2008 by the Organization for Transformative Works and went into open beta in 2009 and continues to be in beta. As of 1 January 2025,Archive of Our Own hosts over 14,220,000 works in over 69,530 fandoms,including those related to real people. The site has received generally positive reception for its curation,organization,and design,mostly done by readers and writers of fanfiction.
Omegaverse,also known as A/B/O or α/β/Ω,is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction,and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans,which are divided into dominant "alphas",neutral "betas",and submissive "omegas". This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic,erotic and sexual contexts.
Karen L. Hellekson is an American author and scholar who researches science fiction and fan studies. In the field of science fiction,she is known for her research on the alternate history genre,the topic of her 2001 book,The Alternate History:Refiguring Historical Time,and has also published on the author Cordwainer Smith. In fan studies,she is known for her work on fan fiction and the culture of the fan community. She has co-edited two essay collections on fan fiction with Kristina Busse,and in 2008,co-founded the academic journal,Transformative Works and Cultures,also with Busse.
Francesca Coppa is an American scholar whose research has encompassed British drama,performance studies and fan studies. In English literature,she is known for her work on the British writer Joe Orton;she edited several of his early novels and plays for their first publication in 1998–99,more than thirty years after his murder,and compiled an essay collection,Joe Orton:A Casebook (2003). She has also published on Oscar Wilde. In the fan-studies field,Coppa is known for documenting the history of media fandom and,in particular,of fanvids,a type of fan-made video. She co-founded the Organization for Transformative Works in 2007,originated the idea of interpreting fan fiction as performance,and in 2017,published the first collection of fan fiction designed for teaching purposes. As of 2021,Coppa is a professor of English at Muhlenberg College,Pennsylvania.
Fan studies is an academic discipline that analyses fans,fandoms,fan cultures and fan activities,including fanworks. It is an interdisciplinary field located at the intersection of the humanities and social sciences,which emerged in the early 1990s as a separate discipline,and draws particularly on audience studies and cultural studies.
Beginning in the mid-2010s,significant discourse emerged within fan spaces such as Tumblr and Archive of Our Own (AO3) regarding the ethical implications of portraying taboo and abusive sexual content within shipping fanfiction. "Shipping"—the depiction of a romantic or sexual relationship between fictional characters—has long been a staple within fanfiction. The lack of censorship emerging from spaces such as AO3 allowed for the portrayal of disturbing or taboo dynamics within fan works,including incest,abuse,rape,and pedophilia.
Tolkien fan fiction is fantasy fiction,often published on the Internet,by Tolkien fans,in enormous quantities. It is based either directly on some aspect of J. R. R. Tolkien's books on his fantasy world of Middle-earth,or on a depiction of this world,especially in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series or other film depictions of that world. A wide range of types of writing have resulted,such as homoerotic slash fiction and several strands of feminist storytelling.
Mpreg,short for male pregnancy,is a trope in fiction in which male characters become pregnant. Commonly found in fanfiction,particularly in slash fiction,mpreg explores themes of gender,identity,and societal norms. It has also appeared in mainstream media,where it is variously used for comedic,dramatic,or fantastical purposes.
