Fanfiction in the EARLY days
The 18th and 19th introduces "Pastiches", or more commonnly known as "parodies", leading to many writers-professionally and otherwise-to pay homage to their favorite novella, musical, and even artwork. Parodies text in particular, were often published in literary journals, or sometimes as standalone books(cite needed). Similar to all things historical, humanity repeats again when the concept of "Fanzines", a word play on the words fans and magazine, pop up in the mid 20th century thanks to the Star Strek Fandom(Orme, A 2025).

Websites
Fanfiction & Fandom Links

Fandom Specific

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Abstract
Define: Technical communication

"The term “technical” is often stereotypically attached to western technologies and workplaces, referring to the development and documentation of “high tech” innovations and tools: software and new media, artificial intelligence, western science and pharmaceuticals, and so forth.While these contexts, innovations, and tools absolutely require technical knowledge and literacies, they are much more widespread than this and used by many more people (and in many more situations) than those affiliated with or employed by “high” tech." English-2210G-M13, Canvas.

Fanfiction, although not offically categorize as a form of technical communication. Fit all criteria needed, as it is highly techinical and require specialized knowledge in order to navigate the complex source material, acronymns, jargon, and tagging system. For reference, fanfiction writer, and reader operate within a specific "canon", the source material which provide the mainframe for the characters, worldbuilding, timeframe, culture, and sometime language in which the story take place. As such, it is a high probability that author and audience of the "fic", already have a background in that aspect, and wouldn't be confuse if the blue British police box is actually a space-time, half sentient traveling vehicle(Doctor Who 2008).

Lexicon

Over the years, authors and readers of fanfiction have developed a lexicon unique to the fandom community, in an effort to distinguish certain genres and topics from one another. One of the most infamous tags, "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat", was derived from a scene in Arrested Development, where a character named Michael finds a bag labeled "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat"—and upon opening it, discovers a dead bird (Fanlore, 2022).

This slang, which originated on April 14th, 2015, became an iconic piece of jargon in the fanfiction community. It is used as a warning tag to alert readers that dark or disturbing topics will appear as tagged. Variations of this tag exist, such as:

  • "No Beta, we die like men"
  • "No Beta, we die like [insert character who died]" (e.g., "No Beta, we die like Sirius Black")

Meanwhile, other older terms such as "lemon" and "lime" have shifted over time and are now generally grouped under the broader umbrella of "smut".

Additionally, here are some common pieces of fanfiction jargon you may come across. (Note: this is only a small selection; the full list is far longer!)

  • Fluff – A lighthearted, feel-good story.
  • Hurt/Comfort – A character (or multiple characters) is hurt, and then comforted.
  • Hurt/No Comfort – A character is hurt, with no resolution or comfort provided.
  • AU (Alternate Universe) – The story takes place in a universe different from canon.
  • AU-CD (Alternate Universe, Canon Divergent) – The story diverges from the canon plot, often branching from a specific point.
  • Humor – Written to be funny.
  • Crack – Humor taken to the extreme, often parody or over-the-top jokes.
  • Slow Burn – Romance develops very gradually, often with characters oblivious to their own feelings.
Ratings

Most sites will include ratings, not in the case of how much you like the story, but rather what age group is suitable to read it. Cites like wattpad are very lacking in terms of rating, as there are only two options: Suitable for all Ages and 18+ content.

While fanfiction.net and archive of our own.org seperate them into four categories:

Teen And up Audience, General Audience, Mature, Not Rated, and Explicit.

Additionally, these sites have the option to include and exclude certain warning tags such as:

No Archive Warning Apply, Creator Chose Not to use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage coitus, Non-con, and ect.

References in APA7 Format