“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”
– Edgar Allan Poe –
My Fanfiction Terms
What If | Story Ratings | Citrus Ratings | Genres
Welcome to the Terminology to your time to read this glossary before you journey over to the complete fanfiction list. Make sure you’ve also read the ground rules, navigation and FAQ as these several points connected to the information found here. Their several chapters to this guide including one about fanfiction terms, reviews and criticism while the final chapter is link and download section as several of my stories have their terminologies and glossaries which can also be found in a story download section.
What If
Many fan fiction readers and authors love/like and hate/dislike the What If genre because some writers completely disregard the canon of official work by or approved of by the creator or when it involves the story line of a well-known movie or video game, played out by original characters or by characters from another series. But some of us, writers specifically write this kind of fiction instead of textbook fan fiction in order to explore issues which were not fully addressed in canon, and may present a meticulously researched canon universe which then veers away from actual events in ways which logically proceed from the changes the writer of the fanfic introduces. Others do see how characters would have acted outside their canon universe, what if they have the same history but in an other world, would they have done the same thing?
Now to avoid a common mistake made by many readers and writers, both starting/beginning and experienced. AU does not mean that the writer can acceptably and drastically alter the personalities of (major) characters, their has to be a good reason given why they do, well unless it’s supposed to be crack. On the contrary, the point of AU fan fiction is that the characters’ personalities remain as much the same as possible, and the only changes are those which would rationally be caused by the differences from canon. AU is not meant to radically change the story just so the author can add a Mary Sue, Gary Stu or another type of wish-fulfillment character.
AU/AT/AR/AH
An AU/AT/AR story is one that makes major changes to the canonical storyline or premise, such as killing off a major character, changing characters’ motives or alliances, annulling major events or changing the setting.
They may also involve a “what-if” experiment in which the author wishes to explore what might have happened if a certain canon episode had turned out differently—if, for example, Romeo had not stepped between Mercutio and
Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet or if Harry Potter had sorted into a different school house.
❦ Alternate Reality
The world is the same, but some basic (or most) of canon facts are different.These stories take place the established canon universe before veering away at a crucial moment, following a similar concept to many entries in Marvel Comics’ What If series and DC Comics Elseworlds series. Using the example of Naruto, it explores different reality where Sasuke doesn’t leave to Konoha in his quest for revenge, Naruto was born a girl, Sakura has Kekkei Genkai and Kakashi is on time.
❦ Alternate Universe
In simple words means the world is completely different from the canon. The physics, geography, technology etc. are different, e.g. no magic in Fairy Tail, no Ki in Dragon Ball.
A popular in this category is the high school (or/and college) sub genre, where the canon characters are written as students in real world’s school. For example a Bleach Universe where their are Shinigami, Quincy and Hollow instead it’s high school drama with star crossed romances of students between three rivaling schools.
❦ Alternate Timeline (AT)
Stories that take place in another time than the canon when the canon is in present time (for example:
A Harry Potter fanfic that takes place in Renaissance England instead of the in the nineties, ), or is changing the time line itself. Special case of it is Time Trav (TT), where some character travel back or forth in time.
❦ All Human (AH)
AH (All Human) – used in fan fiction based on texts which have supernatural beings, but the characters are portrayed as human.
❦ Crossovers
The third option are stories which involve characters from one universe recasts them for characters from another universe and playing out the second universe’s story line. For example replacing the cast from Harry Potter with the cast of Avatar the Last Airbender. The story can either be played out in a Harry Potter or AtLA themed universe, a example of the latter, where the houses are called Nations and the names Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin replaced with the Water, Earth, Fire and Air.
❦ Predictive Fiction
This type of alternative universes can arise inadvertently in fan fiction when the source is released in serial form, such as BtVS a multi-season television series or a book series Harry Potter, so that fan works are written before further canon arrives. These “continuation” fan fiction, but became AU as soon as the new canonical material appears
❦ Time Travel
Time Travel or/and Reality Warping,
Story Ratings
❦ B – All Ages Admitted. There is no content that would be objectionable to most parents.
❦ K or G – Contains content suitable for children from the age 6 and older. This means mild action violence (without serious injury). If you are of the ages 9 year and younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read.
❦ K+ 0r PG – Contains content suitable for children from the age of 9 and older. This means minor action violence (without serious injury), mild coarse language and may contain milder swear words, brief smoking, crude or suggestive humor, short and infrequent horror moments. If you are of the ages 9 year and younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read. Their is no adult content, topless men may be mentioned but topless women are not usually acceptable unless in an educational or scientific context or if the nudity is only briefly mentioned.
❦ T or PG-13 – Contains content suitable for teens, 13 year and older. This can means some violence, minor coarse language, suggestive adult themes, and may contain references of other details such as: intoxication, drug abuse and discrimination. If you are of the ages 13 year and younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read. This is a rating between T and M, as well as my version of fanfiction.net M rating.
❦ OT or M-15 – Contains content suitable for teens, 15 year and older. This can means contains violence, coarse language, some minor sexual content, and may contain of other details such as: intoxication, drug abuse, discrimination and mention of rape. If you are of the ages 15 year and younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read, this is a rating between T and M, as well as my version of fanfiction.net M rating.
❦ M or R – Contains explicit adult content is only suitable for 18 year and older. This can means contains violence, sexual content, adult profane language, and may contain other details such as: rape, intoxication, drug abuse, discrimination, torture, and other extreme violent scenes. If you are of the ages 17 or younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read.
❦ MA, NC-17 or E – Contains adult graphic content is only suitable for mature adults. This can means contains violence, sexual content, adult profane language, and may contain other graphic details such as: rape, intoxication, drug abuse, discrimination, torture, and other extreme violent scenes. If you are of the ages 18 or younger, easily offended by any of the content listed do not read. I will not be held accountable for the consequences of who happens to fall upon this novel.
Citrus Ratings
The Citrus Rating is something I made up with my friend Ruri and is what I use to categorize the amount of sexual content in my stories and chapters. It’s kinda an extra safety measure for my readers so they know what they’re about to read. This does not mean the story does not mean it has no plot beyond the sex, as is generally assumed because I personally always try to add some kind of plot to my stories.
❦ Citron or Orange
Citron can be considered the mild version of “lime”, where the characters fool around, but without any penetration or/and sex. Stories of mine which contain citron are thus about (heavy) petting, kissing, etc.
❦ Lime
Lime can be considered the toned-down version of “lemon”, it contains sexual content in form of characters graphically fool around, but without any vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, as opposed to a lemon’s penetrative aspects of sexual intercourse, anal sex, or oral sex. Stories of mine which contain lime are thus about non-penetrative sex, and only heavy petting, outercourse, dry sex, and dry humping. Although I do make expectations for fingering, and although rarely oral sex.
❦ Lemon
An anime, manga, video game based fan-work that depicts sexual acts. It can range from mild to extreme adult scenes. Lemons are usually rated 18+ and are not recommended for minors. The term is actually derived from a hentai anime in 1984, “Cream Lemon”,
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