| Quite often fanfics will have various warnings, descriptions of genre etc that are in code, because people are lazy when writing on the net. And all fanfics have ratings. This is a guide to all the important ones. Not all of them necessarily apply to stories on this website.
Harry Potter-related Abbreviations
The Books
PS/SS: Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone
CoS: Chamber of Secrets
PoA: Prisoner of Azkaban
GoF: Goblet of Fire
OotP: Order of the Phoenix
HBP: Half-Blood Prince
DH: Deathly Hallows
Character Initials
H/HP: Harry/Harry Potter
R/RW: Ron/Ron Weasley
Hr/HG: Hermione/Hermione Granger
D/DM: Draco/Draco Malfoy
S/SB: Sirius/Sirius Black
Re/RL: Remus/Remus Lupin
Ratings
Ratings in fanfic go by the American movie rating system. They are rated for language, violence, sexual content and disturbing themes.
G: General. Language will be limited to a very very mild words or none at all. No violence. Romance (HET and slash) will be limited to descriptions of emotions and non-detailed kissing.
PG: Parental Guidance. Bad language will mostly be mild, but the occasional moderate word may be in there too. The use of language in the Harry Potter books and movies would mostly probably fit into this category. Violence will be mild-mildish. Romance may include some detail of kissing and references to sex.
PG-13: Suitable for people aged thirteen and over. Language will be mostly mild-moderate, possibly with the occasional strong word. Violence will be mild-moderate. Romance will contain detailed kissing and undetailed sex, and maybe some dirty jokes.
R: Suitable for people aged seventeen and over. Language and violence could be strong. Sex scenes will be moderate-strongly detailed.
NC-17: You must be over seventeen to read. This rating is almost alwasy used because the content is sexually explicit. There will be lots of detail. There can be use of strong language and violence too.
Broad Genres
Gen: General. This means that the fanfic does not fall into any of the other categories.
AA: Action Adventure. Think Indiana Jones. Fics in this category focus on plot rather then characterisation.
An: Angst. Emotional or physical suffering, anguish, longing, soul-searching, forbidden love etc. These fics are often depressing for the reader, and always for the character.
DRA: Drama. A fic dealing with strong emotions of some sort, not necessarily negative ones. Think soap opera.
FL: Fluff. Fics that are written to make the reader feel good. These stories are cute, soppy and idealistic. Quite simply, nothing bad happens.
Parody: Fics that purposely distort personalities, settings, plots etc, usually for the purpose of humor. Parodies are usually good natured and not meant to criticise.
Romance: Obvious.
Sillyfic: Fics with no plot and no degree of seriousness. They are written purely to get a laugh, and are often ridiculous. They can work well with parody.
Narrower Genres
AU: Alternate Universe. This does not mean that the character has travelled into another world or dimension. It means that the events in the story are completely separate from the events in the original text. For example, they might be set in a version of the canon world where a particular event never happened or happened differently (e.g. if Lily and James had never died, or if Sirius had been allowed to raise baby Harry).
BDSM: Bondage/Discipline/Sadism/Masochism. Pretty self-explanatory. These fics are almost always NC-17.
DK: Dark Fic. Often a sub-genre of angst and drama. They are almost always depressing and often have sad endings. Dark fics are usually character-driven stories, exploring the darker aspects of someone's personality or life.
DF: Death Fic. A story in which a major character dies. You have been warned.
FR: Friendship Fic. Stories about platonic relationships between the main characters, for example where a frienship is put to the test or where two friends become enemies.
FU: Future Fic. A fic that is set so far in the future from canon events that it has no direct connection to them or any of the same characters.
Hurt/Comfort: Can be a sub-genre of drama, angst and romance. These stories are about emotional healing and bonding. One character is hurt and the other makes them better. Usually have happy endings.
PWP: Plot? What Plot? These are often rated NC-17, and are written purely for the sake of a sex scene. No backstory, no build-up, nothing of what comes afterwards.
RF: Rape Fic. Self explanatory. Usually has at least some detail.
Smut: Features sexually explicit content. Almost always NC-17. Smut is meant to be porn, not erotica.
Slash: Homosexual relationships or situations (usually male).
Fem Slash: The female equivillant of slash.
HET: Hetrosexual relationships or situations.
Abbreviations and Other Terms
Canon: Information, events, settings and characters as they are in the original material, or which were created by the original author
ER: Stories that have to be read in volumes or multiple installments because of their scale. They can be very long and take years to write
OC: Original character. A character made up by the author of the fanfic, and which did not appear in canon.
OOC: Out of character. Where a canon character is drastically and deliberately different to how they are in canon. This refers to where they are continuously out of character throughout the story, not just in one scene. Usually the story does not offer any explanation as to why the character is so different.
POV: Point of view. Stories are usually revolved around the viewpoint of the main character.
Shipper: A fan of a particular pairing, either in canon or fanfic.
Suicidal content: Obvious.
Short story: A fic that is less than 10,000 words
One shot fic: A story that is completed in one installment
TBC: To be continued.
WIP: Work in progress. This is not a promise that the author will finish it. |
