Self Promotion 101: Pimp Your Fic

My parents raised two computer engineers, an apparel designer, a horticulturist, and me. And what did
I, the English major, end up doing when I grew up? Mostly sales and marketing, but I’ve always dreamed
of being a published fiction writer. Twenty-five years ago I read a book that said if you write your
dreams down, they will come true. So, I did. And I waited. Then I waited some more. Nothing happened.
Then, about a year ago, we got a Netflix account and before I knew it, I got sucked into the Fox
drama ‘Bones’ universe.

When the current season at the time ended, I had the same reaction that has compelled many viewers
and readers, serial game-players and Manga connoisseurs, to begin writing fanfiction. It went something
like this: “What?! Are you kidding me?! I can’t believe it! Nooooooooooooo!” Followed by lots of ugly
crying.

For days I walked around in panicked circles. “It can’t end like this!” I cried to anyone who would
listen. “These two characters are in love and they deserve to be together. We, the viewing public, want
to see them get together! The show needs more of this and less of that and perhaps this other character
should be resurrected from the dead and the other guy who’s in jail for manslaughter— well that should
turn out to be a really bad hallucination from some tainted sushi!”

You know how it goes; you’ve been there. Your experience may have been different, but your passion,
your soul’s absorption of the make-believe universe, at some point, compelled you to find a way to
become part of that make-believe universe. That’s when you learned about … FanFiction!

So, you read. And read some more. Or, maybe you never read, you just wrote. You wrote in a frenzy of
imagined conversations and furtive glances, blistering conflicts and feats of unimaginable valor. And
maybe you even wrote about sex. All kinds of phenomenal, acrobatic, multi-orgasmic, love-crazed,
phantasmagorical sex. Whew!

So, here you are. You wrote it, or like me, are still writing it. And you want more people to read it.
Because, well, you think it’s pretty dang good and so do both of your reviewers, right? So, how do you
get more readers to your story? You could yell, but on the internet, nobody can hear you scream ...
unless you make a video, and, well, good luck with getting people to click on that hyperlink. People don’t
like to be yelled at.

So, how do you do it? How do you draw the masses to your brainchild? Well, you put on your nattiest
full-length purple overcoat and every single scrap of jewelry you own, you gas-up your bouncy-trouncy

ride, and you hit the road. That’s right, you go pimping. You pimp that puppy like she were of alabaster
skin, raven hair, legs that go all the way up, hips that just won’t quit, and a bountiful bust-line that could
satisfy an army.

Some people prefer to call it gratuitous self-promotion, but lets face it people, if you wanna get heard,
or in this case, read, you gotta go pimp your fic. If you’re not comfortable with that moniker, then call
it ‘getting the word out about that fabulous story you wrote about a universe and cast of characters that
you’ve come to love like your own children or future children.’

Well, I am no pimp-master and there’s more than one way to get the word out, but I do okay. I’ll tell you
what ‘I’ do in the first five of ten easy steps for the neophyte, wannabe fic pimp. You’ll have to tune back
in next time for tips #6-10!

Tip # 1. Dedicate Accounts Exclusively to Your Fanfic Writing. Maybe you already have accounts under
your own name on facebook, twitter, tumblr, a blog, and the like. Create accounts dedicated almost
exclusively to your fanfic writing. Be your writing persona on these accounts and let that writer’s freak
flag fly, baby! If that means blocking some of your friends and family members, co-workers and your
pastor, so you can hang loose, do it! Out of the twenty-five adults in my family, only two are not blocked
from my MoxieGirl44 twitter account. One of those is my husband. I have a separate account that I
communicate with my family on. MoxieGirl44 is for me and my readers.

Tip # 2. Put Your Profile to Work. Your personal profile on your fic site serves one purpose: to introduce
yourself to your prospects and make them want to read your fic. Your profile is a sample of your
writing… so treat it that way. Be succinct and direct, friendly and honest. My profile immediately tells
the reader that, a) I am in love with the Bones characters and storyline, and that’s what compelled me
to write, b) this is my first attempt at fanfic and intended to be of rough draft quality, c) my dream has
always been to be a published fiction writer, d) these are my titles and what they are about, and e) I
hope they enjoy reading them.

Also, if there is something distinctive about your fics that sets them apart, make sure to mention that.
This allows the reader to either self-select or self-eliminate from the get-go. Believe me, this is a good
thing. If they are not going to enjoy your writing, you don’t want them reading it and leaving a negative
review … simply because what you write is not to their taste. For example, I mention that my fics are PG-
13. This makes a difference for some readers.

One last thing: choose a profile pic you really like and never change it. It doesn’t have to be of you, but it
should be consistent. This is called ‘branding’. Use it in the profiles of all your social media. You want
readers to immediately confirm that they have found you when they search for you on facebook,
twitter, tumblr, fandom community sites, blogs, and anywhere else you will be talking about your love
of the protagonists in your fandom. It helps to have the same name everywhere you go, if at all possible.
On fanfiction.net and Bonesology, I’m MoxieGirl. Everywhere else, because that wasn’t available, I’m
MoxieGirl44. But everywhere, I have the same headshot avatar (unless the site doesn’t allow it), so
readers know they have found me.

Tip # 3. Create a Provocative Story Description. Be provocative, intriguing. ‘Ron has a crush on
Hermione, but doesn’t want her to know. Harry plays quiddich and catches the golden snitch’, isn’t
going to cut it. Try, ‘Harry and Ron fall into a dormant volcano that’s about to erupt for the first time in
1,000 years. Will Hermione get to them in time and what shocking secret will she learn if she does? Who
finds out about their misadventure and goes to extraordinary lengths to nearly get the trio expelled from
Hogwarts for life, dying in the attempt?’

Read the story descriptions of other writers and notice which ones make you want to read the story!
Then write a description like they did.

Tip # 4. Direct Your Contacts To Your Fic. A hyperlink to your writing profile or your fic should appear on everything you put out for the (appropriate) masses to see. Make the website address for your writing
profile, or your best fic, a permanent part of your email signature, your Twitter profile, your facebook
homepage, your fanfic blog, any fandom sites, and on any online articles are media where you make a
comment.

Tip # 5. Broadcast Your Updates. Whenever you make a change, ans especially when you post a new
story or chapter, let everyone know! Tweet about it, making sure to include a trackable hyperlink and,
just as importantly, a hashtag actively followed by members of your fandom. What’s that? For Bones,
it’s #Bones, or #BonesHitatus, or a variant of those. You can find out what hashtags are used by your
fandom by doing a quick search in Twitter using the ‘# Discover’ function on your twitter homepage on
the twitter website.

Be careful though, more than once or twice at a time is frowned upon. You don’t want people to block
you or report you for spam. Just drop a couple reminders every once in awhile and see what happens.
When you are first starting out, tweet directly to those who are your self-identified readers following
you. Once you get a substantial following, people will know to watch out for your broadcasts and this
will no longer be necessary.

Tune in next time for the next 5 tips:

Tip # 6. Tease, Tease, Tease
Tip # 7. Track Your Following
Tip # 8 Return the Favor
Tip # 9. Above All, Be a Gracious Recipient
Tip # 10. Become a Pundit

See you soon! Keep writin’ fanfic!

Author: Catherine Cabanela, Guest Blogger
Fanfic Writer, ‘The When and the How: A Bone to Pick, An Epic Bones Romance’

MoxieGirl on FF.net
MoxieGirl44 on Twitter

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Getting Over the Fear of Posting

First Post

You’ve tossed the idea around in your head a thousand times. You’ve read dozen of
fics; some made you afraid to try writing a story that could stand alongside it. Then there
are those fics you wonder how the author ever thought to pass it off in your fandom! But
you decide to take the dive.

You come up with the best story plot ever! Or, at least it’s awesome to you. You’ve
spent days writing the first chapter, using your favorite character as the hero and the
worst characters as the villains. The Terms of Use and Guidelines have been read and
agreed to. It all comes down to the click of a button and it’s done.

Two hours have passed and you can’t help but go back on the site and see if anyone
has read your first chapter of your very first fan fiction. Your heart skips a beat when you
see you’ve had 5 visitors and 20 hits to your tale; but no reviews. You read the chapter
over again, smiling at your accomplishment . . . that is until you find the three missed
spell words and two homonyms. And more time passes.

You check your emails but you’ve got squat. You change the notification on your smart
phone to push your email every 15 minutes. So what if your cell phone battery will
be dead within 4 hours. This is important! The day is almost over; 19 hours since you
posted your first fic and not a single review, not even to say that you suck. You are
ready to deem yourself a horrible writer, delete your fan fic profile, and hide under a
rock.

As you are trolling through your email you get the best notification ever.

[New Review] for (Insert Story Title)
You have received a new review from FanFicCrit
“It doesn’t suck . . . Update”

Then you get:

[New Story Follower] FanFicCrit is now following your story (Insert Story
Title)

Your faith in your writing is rejuvenated and just in time too. You’ve already started
working on chapter 2!

If You Write It, They Will Come
Let’s face it all fan fiction readers are simply obsessed with their characters. And it is
because of this obsession that they will seek out everything they can. Your fiction will be
in the mix that they choose from. Be sure to craft your summary to read as awesome as
your fiction. After all, this is your reader’s first glance at what you have to offer.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Other Writers
We all have that hero on our favorite fan fiction site: we have read all of their stories;
they seem to come up with the most unique plots, use the best characters, and rack up
hundreds of reviews. It’s great to have a role model but your writing should be yours!
Don’t worry if your story doesn’t read like any others; that’s the point. Your writing
should be as unique as you are.

You Too Will Soon Know the Tricks
What’s the best day to post on? How does a beta work? How do I design these pesky
story covers? What the hic does A/N, canon, O/S, PWP, and AU means?
There is so much to writing fan fiction, it’s no wonder it’s its own little world. There
are countless resources out there that can help you get over the fear of posting and
reposting and posting again. Awesome sites like You Write What!?! Can help you learn
all those abbreviations, plus show you how to pimp your own fics to gain readers, and
what’s the best day to post (I personally have no luck when I post on Wednesdays . . .
go figure). Don’t be afraid to join sites and read up on how to be become a great writer,
even if this is just a hobby. In time you will know these little gems too.

You’re Obsessed Now So Keep Going
You’ve gotten over the hard part. You’ve put your thoughts on display for all to see.
You may not have gotten a hundred reviews your first time out but guess what NO ONE
DOES! We all have to put in the time and energy and as you will see most of us laugh
at our own first fics. My first fic is far from unique . . . Bella the vampire and Edward a
human . . . oh yeah, that’s original. Not to mention, I used more clichés than should
ever be a loud in a single story. But just like every other multiple story writer, I pressed
on and with it I grew and I am still growing. You will improve and evolve as well.

The fear of that first post is like an initiation process for all fan fiction writers. Those
who get over the fear, get the reward . . . The Fandom Obsession! Now go forth and
write. If you’ve gotten pass your first post than go read your first story and reminisce
on how far you have come both in your writing and understanding of fan fiction. If you
are still considering taking the dive into fan fiction, fear not! Remember you are not
alone and we have all been in the same boat. The fear to post doesn’t really go away;
it just changes. You will always experience a nervousness of posting a new story, a

new relationship idea, or a different plot with unheard of changes (like killing off main
characters or making the bad guy the hero). But use that nervousness to fuel you. It
could mean you are onto something new and great.

So Fear Not and Happy Posting!!

Author: Challa Fletcher, Staff Blogger

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The Top 10 Mistakes New Writers Make

A little less than five months ago, I sat in front of my laptop, nervously chewing on my
fingernail, staring at the first chapter of my very first fic. It was ready to go — all I had to do
was hit ‘Post New Chapter’.

A series of doubts ran through my head as I hovered over the button, taking ragged breath
after ragged breath. What if I misspelled a word? What if there’s a paragraph out of place?
What are people really going to think of this chapter? Of this story in general?

With one last sigh, I finally took the plunge, said screw it and hit the damn button.

The decision to post my first story was definitely not a mistake, but the weeks following
were full of them. Yup, I did misspell that word. And no, people really didn’t like that part of
a chapter. Also, I won’t pretend that bad review didn’t hurt a little bit, and yes, it did make
me rethink the direction of my story for more than a few seconds.

I try to use spell-check, I try to proofread several times, I try to ignore the critical reviews,
and I constantly remind myself this is my story and not to change it for anyone. But the truth
is, I’m still a new writer — five months is nothing compared to others — and I’m still flying
by the seat of my pants most days. It’s an uphill battle and I haven’t quite reached the top.

So with all my own mistakes still fresh and bleeding, I figured who better to tackle the
subject of the top 10 mistakes new writers make than me? Like I said, I’ve made plenty, but
I also took a similar approach to my last blog post and invited a few fic-writer friends who’ve
been around the block a few times to share with me the biggest mistakes they made
themselves, not to mention common mistakes they see others making.

We’ll just forget about how many of these I may or may not fall under...

Lack of Planning

We’ve all been there. We’ve all had a plot bunny sneakily infiltrate our brains to the point
where we can’t think of anything else and absolutely MUST sit down at the computer and
get it out on “paper.” We’re so excited, and we’re certain this could be the best thing we’ve
ever written. In our excitement and our haste, we give it a quick proofread, think of a title,
whip up a summary and scramble to our posting site of choice and immediately publish it.

This happens with a lot of new writers and a lot of seasoned ones, too. You start a story,
post it, but then you realize you have no idea where you’re going with it. Many fics have fell
to an untimely, premature death because of it. The point is to make a plan. Set a goal.
Think out, write out, blurt out some kind of rough outline at the very least so you have a

focal point and know what your story and what each individual chapter is working toward.

Grammar, Punctuation and All That Entails

Not even sure where to start on this one. When I asked my fic-writer friends their biggest
mistakes, I was shocked how many responses I received that fell under this category.
Punctuation, grammar, tense changes, dialogue tags, POV changes, over-description,
under-description, lack of description, he-said-she-said, “don’t these people own a
thesaurus?” Phew.

Fixing and improving many of the things on the above list is a grueling process. Personally,
I feel these are the hardest mistakes to rectify because many of them are rooted in us. We’ll
never stop doing them if it’s already something we do because we’re probably not aware
we’re doing them in the first place.

Which segues perfectly into my next point...

Flying Solo

It’s a common term you hear flying around the fanfic world — beta. It’s the place a chapter
goes between you and your readers, a person you trust to call you out when you veer off
the plot, put commas in the wrong place, give you constructive criticism to help you
improve, and offer you a supportive and helpful ear when you need help brainstorming your
new chapter.

But many new writers decide to fly solo, whether by choice or blissful unawareness that
such a thing as a beta exists. Yet, here’s what I gathered — FIND. ONE. As Dragonfly76
put it, “I wouldn't have been able to finish my first fic (which was a monster) without my
betas and pre-readers. Since then, I have gained so much value from that relationship. It
has made me a better writer in many aspects both creative and technical.”

Rushing the Plot

This is one of those mistakes I’ve had to stop myself from making on several occasions. It’s
easy to get ahead of yourself - one, as a writer, you tend to get bored. You’d much rather
get to action-packed, ooey-gooey or angsty bits and skip over all the build-up and plot
development it takes to get there. And it’s easy to think your readers might jump ship if you
don’t get things moving and get them moving right now.

But here’s the thing — most readers WILL stick with you through the “boring” parts. They

have more patience than we tend to think, and would probably be more apt to peace out if
you throw a curveball plot twist in completely out of left field. Don’t let anyone fool you
because most readers love the build-up, so long as they know it’s working toward
something juicy down the road.

Reviews are NOT Everything

Oh, reviews. We have a love-hate relationship with them. Publically, we claim it’s not about
the reviews, but we’ve all sat in front of our email inboxes, staring holes through the screen,
refreshing every three seconds, waiting for that first notification to come in after we post a
chapter. Reviews are like straight-up crack — addictive, damaging, life-altering crack. When
we get them, we feel validated. When we don’t, we assume our stories are horrible and
therefore, we suck at life entirely.

Take a deep breath. First and foremost, HAVE CONFIDENCE in yourself and what you’ve
created. Even if you don’t get the reviews you hoped for, don’t let it define your work or you
as a writer. There are tons of stories out there with way fewer reviews than they deserve,
and many with way MORE than they deserve.

Letting Bad Reviews Affect You

Speaking of reviews, the love and encouragement for your story will usually pour in by the
dozens. You’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside, send a heartfelt thank you note and move on
to the next.

But then you get that first bad review. In the case that it’s not a fellow writer trying to provide
constructive criticism to help you improve, this usually comes in the form of unnecessary
critiquing or even the inappropriate, anonymous flame. It might just be one, but you likely
won’t forget it. In fact, it very well might make you question everything about your story, not
to mention ruin your day, just because one person didn’t have the tact to keep their mouth
shut.

Buck up, buttercup. Don’t let it. People suck, and that will never change. I’ll let my friend,
Niamh, close this one out: “The sooner you learn to take the good with the bad, and
remember that there are people who will patiently wait to see where you're taking them
before they get all gutsy with the keyboard, the better your story will be.”

The Need to Please (trying to please readers)

Moving on, I’ll step up to the podium and admit this is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes

I’VE made as a new writer. I feel this incessant need to please people in various aspects of
my life, which probably stems from the fact I hate people being angry or frustrated with me
for ANY reason. Sadly, I’ve come close to letting this cross over into my writing as well.

This is where you really have to step back and remind yourself, repeatedly if necessary,
much like I have, that this is YOUR story, and the more you try to please every single one
of your readers, the less it becomes so. If readers don’t like the way you’re handling things,
developing your characters or advancing your plot, they are more than welcome to push off
and write their OWN story. Also, even if readers don’t agree, it doesn’t necessarily mean
they won’t stick with you and trust where you’re taking them, even if they’re not a huge fan
of the means to your end.

The Green-Eyed Monster

Why can’t we all just get along? Good question. Much like the real world, you will encounter
a variety of personalities who write for the same fandom as you. These competitive
personalities won’t always be supportive and they won’t always be encouraging. As a friend
of mine put it, jealousy is a bitter pill, and there always will be someone out there who thinks
their work is better than yours and might come up with “theories” to explain your success,
i.e. riding on the coattails of your friends in the fandom and capitalizing on their success via
association.

As my friend also put it, no matter what anyone might say to you about who you know or
why you may have or have not won awards for your writing, pay no mind. The jealousy and
the anger that goes with it can eat you alive. Do this for you, and don't allow anyone to have
that kind of power over you.

All Smut, All the Time

As we all know, one of the beauties of fanfiction is giving us those more, ahem, tender
moments we never got in the canon stories. Traditional, slash, femslash, BDSM, poly, you
name it — there’s something out there to satisfy every sexual appetite.

As a new writer, though, just don’t be fooled into thinking sex is the ONLY thing readers are
interested in.

Granted, that IS going to be the only thing SOME readers are interested in, but there are
authors out there who fill that niche just fine and it doesn’t have to be you, unless you want
it to be. If that’s the case, more power to you. If not, just keep in mind when someone tells
you “this is the slowest moving story they ever read” (read: where the hell is the smut?),

there are many more readers out there who are just as interested in intriguing characters
and a unique plot as they are lemons.

Not Getting Involved

There is a big old world outside of FF.net, which to me, is the least personal, socially cut-off
place you could possibly post your story. It works to gain readership and it definitely gets
you reviews, but for the most part, you’ll find your tenure in the world of fanfic writing to be
more fulfilling if you branch out and find other places to share your work.

There are smaller, more personal “communities” scattered around the Internet willing to
give your story another home. These are communities where you won’t get lost in the
shuffle of hundreds of thousands of stories, communities whose members will support you,
encourage you, promote you and offer you friendships you probably won’t gain over at
FF.net. My first story is posted in three of these places, and it goes without saying this was
probably one of the best decisions I’ve made as a new writer.

But being there isn’t enough. Get involved. Start a discussion forum, weigh in on other
topics, throw out a hello in the chat room. Cultivate those relationships and don’t be shy.
You won’t make friends being a wallflower, and once you stop, you’ll truly be getting the
best out of this experience.

Author: Megan aka @Meliz875

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Fanfictionary

Wouldn’t it be nice if Webster came through, picked out all the confusing/foreign/
over-our-head fanfic terminology, and wrote up a special dictionary just for fanfic
writers and readers to use?

<insert dreamy sigh here>

A girl can dream, right?

I’m sure we’ve all wished for something to help decipher the sometimes-confusing
jargon associated with a story at one time or another. While Webster may be in
no hurry to help us out, there’s still some hope! I took to Twitter and Facebook
to ask writers and readers alike what some of the most confusing acronyms and
terms in the fanfic world are. You may recognize some of these terms from YWW’s
original Fanfictionary piece from March. With any luck, a few of these terms will be
new to you, and this list will help make the world of fanfiction a wee bit easier to
understand.

AH: All-Human
While the characters in the original work may have had supernatural powers
(vampire, werewolf, fairy, etc.), the characters in an AH fanfic are all living,
breathing humans.

A/N: Author’s Note
These are commonly found at the beginning of a chapter. Author’s use these to
communicate with readers, whether it be to thank them, inform them about a
special outtake or upcoming events, give out a content warning, or announce
something about a contest, compilation, blog update, or the like. These may pop up
at the end of a chapter on occasion as well.

Angst:
I could write all day about angst, as it’s my favorite genre, but I’ll just say this – angst
stories hurt. The characters in these stories often feel excessive amounts of pain
and anger. These stories often deal with serious issues such as abuse, substance
abuse, self-harm, infidelity, and many more topics. If you’re lucky you might find
one of these that ends on a happy note, but I usually don’t recommend going in to an
angst story expecting the best outcomes.

AU: Alternate Universe
In an AU fanfic, the majority of the story elements are far removed from the original
story. For example, if the original story was set in the 1940s in Santa Monica, CA,
an AU version of it might be set in New York City in 1990. The characters in AU
stories are generally the same as the ones from the original fic, but they might have
different personalities or appearances.

Beta:
A beta is the fanfic equivalent of an editor. A beta reads an author’s chapters, fixes
any spelling errors, grammar errors, or general structural errors, and then returns
the piece to the author to post. Sometimes betas work with an author to re-structure
a plot if the author has deviated, or to help develop the characters more if the author
hasn’t done this very well. While the author is responsible for creating the story, I
like to think of the beta as the one who puts a little extra sparkle on it before it goes
public.

Canon:
A canon fanfic story contains one or more elements from the original story. Common
examples of canon items are relationship pairings, physical appearances, and
character personality traits. In addition, the setting, backstory, and elements of the
plot can also be canon as well.

Crackfic:
A crackfic is a completely crazy story. The characters do things that are off-the-
wall and often funny, the plot makes no sense whatsoever, and more often than not
readers sit back and wonder “what he/she smoking crack when writing that?” after
finishing the story.

DED:
DED is simply the way some people refer to “dead.” I’ve seen some reviews where
people say, “I’m DED,” or “This chapter left me DED.” I would guess it could have
both positive and negative connotations, depending on what it was in the chapter or
scene that made someone feel that way.

Fandom:
Fandom refers to the collective group of people who are all fans of a particular film,
book series, TV show, comic book, cartoon, etc. Fanfiction authors are typically
members of the fandom that their story is based off of.

Favorite Story/Author:
This is a function on most of the major sites where authors post their fanfiction
work. On FanFicton.net, for example, you have the option to add an author to your
favorite’s list or add a story to your favorite’s list. These lists are public, and other
writers and readers can pull them up off of someone’s profile. Placing authors
or stories on your favorites lists makes these items easy to access in the future.
Authors get email alerts when they or their stories are favorited.

Follow Story/Author:
This is another function on most of the major sites, although it’s also known
as ‘alerting’ a story or an author. There is no public list of stories or authors a
person has followed/alerted. When you choose to follow a story, you will receive
email alerts when the story updates. When you choose to follow an author, you will
receive email alerts when the author posts a new piece of work, or when he or she
updates any existing pieces of work. As with favorited items, authors receive email
alerts when they or their stories are favorited.

Hard Limit:
In the fic world, a hard limit is a story element that prevents the reader from
starting the story or finishing the story. Examples of hard limits are character
deaths, slash relationships, rape, abuse, or non-canon pairings. It’s always a good
idea for an author to disclose any potential hard limits in the story’s disclaimer or
the first author’s note.

HEA: Happily Ever After
A HEA fanfic story has just that – a happily ever after! HEA stories may have a bit of
angst woven in at different points, but when all is said and done, boy has met girl
(or boy) and they live happily in their big house with the white picket fence and 2.5
children (or furry substitutes). Love typically prevails in a HEA story, although it
may be friendship or family ties that prevail instead. If you decide to read this type
of story, you will be smiling at the end.

Lemon:
Simply put, a lemon is a sex scene. The details are juicy (hence ‘lemon’), there is
often graphic and explicit sexual content in the scenes, and well-written ones leave
readers in a hot mess looking for more. Occasionally an entire story is considered
a lemon because it consists of content that is purely sexual in nature. Lemons are
often very popular – sometimes even craved – by fanfic readers.

OOC: Out of Character
This means that the characters in a fanfic piece behave in ways that are different
than how they behaved in the original fiction piece. For example, Edward Cullen is
quite chivalrous in the Twilight series. An OOC fan fiction piece might feature him as
arrogant, abusive, or just plain an asshole.

PPS: Please Post Soon
This is an acronym often used by readers in their reviews, and sometimes when
communicating with an author on social networks like Twitter or Facebook. We all
know how it is to fall in love with someone’s story. When a reader is eager for more,
PPS is their way of asking the author to share more – soon!

Pre-Reader:
I’ve often seen the terms “pre-reader” and “beta” intermingled, but to me (and
to some others in the fic world that I talked to), a pre-reader is in fact a different
thing. While a beta goes through and makes corrections to the story itself, a pre-
reader exists to provide nothing but creative feedback on the writing. A pre-reader
will read a chapter and then discuss any ideas he or she has in terms of the plot,
characters, backstories, or details with the writer. A pre-reader offers creative input,
maybe even helps the author with parts of a story at times. While a beta may do all
of these things as well, pre-readers generally don’t do any of the crossover tasks of a
beta.

R&R: Read and Review
R&R is a term used by an author. I’ve typically seen it in the Author’s Note at the
beginning of a chapter. Essentially, this is the author’s way of asking readers to not
only read the chapter, but also to review the chapter after they’ve read it.

Reviews:
Reviews are comments that readers can post for each chapter of a story. Reviews
are public, but reviewers have the option to leave anonymous reviews if they wish.
Anonymous reviews aren’t always positive, however, and are frowned upon by
some people in the fanfic community. Reviews can be good, bad, or downright ugly
at times. Reviews are also a way that authors gauge the popularity of their stories,
which can be both a positive and a negative thing in the big scheme of things.

Slash:
A slash story contains a homosexual relationship. Usually one of the members
involved in the relationship is a canon character from the original fiction work.
Slash involving two males is generally referred to solely as “slash,” while slash
involving two females can be known as “slash,” “femmeslash,” or “femslash.” Slash
relationships can be a hard limit for certain readers, so it’s a good idea to indicate in
a disclaimer or A/N that the fic contains one.

UST: Unresolved Sexual Tension
Ever read a fic where two characters are clearly sexually attracted to one another,
but they do a beautifully constructed dance around one another for the first five
or six chapters? Those five or six chapters would contain quite a bit of what we in
the fanfic world call UST – unresolved sexual tension. UST is typically not acted on
immediately, and leaves readers wanting more and chomping at the bit to read the
next update. UST involves a lot of buildup, maybe some casual flirting and an almost
kiss or two. The characters in question may be involved in relationships with other
people, but still have a lot of UST between them. Readers are often eager to see
these characters act on their desires – if the author decides to let them!

Views:
Views refer to the total number of times a page is visited by a user. For example, if a
story has 5,000 views, then that means the page was accessed 5,000 times. In other
words, the story was viewed 5,000 times, although these may include repeat views
for a single page by a user or could be a new view on a single page from different
users.

Visitors:
A visitor is a person who views multiple pages on the site. For example, if a user
accesses a story, reads the first chapter and likes it, then proceeds to read all 18
additional chapters and read the other three stories an author has posted, that user
would now be considered a visitor. A story may have hundreds of thousands of page
views, but only a few thousand visitors, as only a few thousand people actually read
the story and actually navigate through the pages.

This is only a relatively small collection of the terms that are used on a daily basis in
the fanfiction world.

Hopefully this post can help fanfiction newcomers get their toes wet and start to
understand more of what is meant by the different words and acronyms authors
and reviewers alike use on a regular basis.

Got any more terms you’d like to see defined? Simply leave a comment here and I’ll
comment back with the information I come up with!

Happy writing – and reading!

Author: Nikki Storebo, Staff Blogger
Fanfic writer, 'Hot Commodity' and other Twilight goodies.
Blueeyedcherry in the fandom.
RPExaminer on Twitter.

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