In a previous blog post, I talked about common fan fic terms, but in order for you to fully
understand their meaning and use, I think a few examples are in order. As such, I’ve
selected a few fics I enjoy 1 that would do the trick:
Title: Pokedex OneShots
Fandom: Pokemon
Author: Ysavvryl
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5968447/1/Pokedex_OneShots
Author’s Summary: A collection of short stories based on the Pokedex entries and
whatever else happens to be in my mind. Vast range of genres, characters, and settings.
Any Pokemon can be valuable if you care enough to give value to it.
Tags: Not applicable (n/a)
Notes: Each of the various short stories focuses on one or more individual species of
Pokemon, with many showing the author’s headcanons 2 .
Title: Tales From the Back Pages
Fandom: Marvel comics (specifically Spider-Man and Fantastic Four)
Author: Traincat
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8590750
Author’s Summary: Peter Parker was born with his words. Johnny Storm’s been sure his
will be said sarcastically since he was a child. Everything else more or less happens
according to plan. A first words soulmate AU. 3
Tags: Alternate Universe—Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Notes:
-This story provides an example of an author’s OTP 4 —in this case, the pairing of Peter
Parker and Johnny Storm. Even though the pairing is not canon.
-As noted by the tags, this takes in a particular type of AU that focuses on the idea of
soulmates. Like many soulmate AUs, it uses the concept of identifying one’s soulmate
through special markings (in this case, the first words your soulmate will say directly to
you).
-Title: Yesterday Upon the Stair
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Author: PitViperofDoom
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337607/chapters/19098982
Author’s Summary: Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not
bad enough to be the Quirkless weakling, he has to be the weird Quirkless weakling on
top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined
not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually Quirkless.
Even before meeting All-Might and taking on the power of One For All, Izuku isn't
Quirkless. Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.
Tags: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Panic Attacks, Body Horror, Character Death
Notes:
-The tags I included above are those that could be considered trigger warnings 5 .
-Other tags are present, but they don’t work as trigger warnings, and so I didn’t think they
were needed.
-This story is part of a series.
I realize that not all of the terms I covered in Part 1 have examples in this post. The terms
Author’s Notes and Fandom probably don’t need to be explained, and I would rather not
touch Mary Sue 6 fics if I can help it—their lack of flaws is a big part of why they tend to
be heavily despised. While I did consider providing an example of an RPF 7 , I ultimately
decided I wasn’t comfortable enough with doing so.
Before I end this post, I’d like to take a moment and suggest you try writing one or two
fics of your own. If you submit them to me, I may feature them in a future post.
Until next time, stay tuned!
*****
1 For the record, each of these belongs to their respective authors, and I am only using
the basic summaries and/or tags.
2 Headcanon: Personal beliefs about certain parts of canon material
3 AU: Alternate Universe
4 OTP: One True Pairing
5 Trigger warnings: used to warn people about certain types of sensitive content, such as
drug abuse or high levels of violence
6 Mary Sue: An original character, often based on the author of a fan fic, who lacks any
major flaws and/or acts as a way for the author to play out a fantasy. Mary Sue characters
usually become romantically involved with a canon character.
7 RPF: Real Person Fic (A fan fic written about real people rather than fictional
characters, usually focused on actors, musicians, or other celebrities)