Slash 101
So you’ve found a gay pairing, what do you do now?
Welcome, young grasshoppers, to the exciting world of intense anal fisting.
Now that we’ve got your attention, let’s talk about what fanfiction is really about. Now some of you may be thinking, but Jumper and Scarf, I thought fanfiction really was about intense anal fisting. Your assumption, newcomers, is absolutely correct. Fanfiction, as we interpret it, is about things that would never ever, in a million lifetimes, happen in the actual cannon. This can range anywhere from your favorite character finding a puppy and legally adopting it to, you guessed it, intense anal fisting.
Congratulations, brave grasshopper. If you were unfazed by our gratuitous references to porn of the highest magnitude (i.e. still here), you are strong enough to be educated in the ways of fanfiction.
To start you off, here’s a rundown of some of the more commonly used terms that applicable in other situations or intuitive:
General Fanfiction Terms
- Big Name Fan – A fan everyone in the fandom is aware of. Usually impressive writers or talented artists.
- Canon – What actually has happened/ is happening in the show/movie/book/ect.
- Fanon – What is generally accepted as having happened without actually being canon.
o Example: Sherlock never does household chores.
- Headcanon – Your personal beliefs regarding characters or events.
o Example: My headcanon is that Lestrade is protective of Sherlock.
- Tropes – Commonly used plot devices. Often overused to the point of cliché.
o There’s only one bed (we’re just going to have to sleep together)
o We need to keep warm (It’s cold. We’re gunna have to cuddle.)
- Domestic fic – (Genre) Where characters, often in an established relationship, are engaged in ordinary household activities.
o Example: Sherlock and John have a Bond movie night.
- Dark!fic - (Genre) In which seriously fucked up shit goes down. Not in the ‘unicorns run wild’ sense, unless those unicorns stab babies, but in the ‘somebody’s about to get skinned’ sense.
- Dark!(fill in name) – Where the character mentioned is just seriously evil. Usually only used for a character who is not evil to begin with. You won’t find any Dark!Moriarty, because that is redundant.
- Warnings – The notifications by authors at the beginning of fics of content that might disturb some readers. Read them. Save yourself the pain of accidental Mpreg.
- Hurt/Comfort – (Genre) In which one character suffers anything from a common cold, to mutilation and is provided comfort by another character.
- Deaged – (Genre) In which a character is magical/scientifically changed back into a kid. Sometimes referred to as kid!fic, but we define that a bit differently.
- Kid!fic – (Genre) Where there are kids. It can be ‘character A has a kid’, ‘character B is babysitting a kid’, ‘character A and B are kids’. Sometimes deaged fic is placed in this category.
- Meta – (Genre) Fourth wall Hulk smash! It’s just seriously hard to explain this mind-fuckery.
- Fuck-or-die – A trope in which two (or more) characters are forced to have sex for reasons beyond their control, usually to save one or more characters’ lives. Whether this should be classified as non-con, dub-con or other is subjective. The gist of this trope is, “Oh dear, [insert reason here] has made it impossible for me to stop humping you – hope you don’t mind.” Examples include:
o Sex pollen
o Moriarty made them do it
o Drugs
- Mpreg – Male pregnancy.
- Crossover – (Genre) Two or more different fandoms in the same fic. Can be set in either, or a completely different, universe. Examples:
o Wholock (Doctor Who and Sherlock)
o Superlock (Supernatural and Sherlock)
o Doctor Supercock (Supernatural, Sherlock and Doctor Who.)
- First time fic – (Genre) This can be interpreted two different ways:
o 1) This is the first time characters A and B have had sex with each other.
o 2) This is the first time character A and/or B have had sex.
- Ace!(insert name here) – Where the character mentioned is asexual.
- Genderbend – (Genre) For whatever reason, character(s) are not the same gender as they are in the show.
- OTP/3 – Stands for One True Pairing. OT3 refers to the same relationship with three characters instead of two.
- Het – (Genre) In which the main pairing is heterosexual.
- Femlslash – (Genre) Lesbians, bro.
- OFC/OMC/OC – Stands for Original Female Character, Original Male Character, and Original Character respectively.
- OOC – Stands for Out Of Character.
- RPF – (Genre) Stands for Real Person Fiction. In which actual people are shipped and/or slashed. Example:
o Martin Freeman/ Benedict Cumberbatch. This will not appear on our blog.
- WIP – Stands for Work In Progress. We will never rec these intentionally, but often an author will add an epilogue to a previously finished work.
- Verse – A universe created by an author that has various differences from the canon. Consists of a compilation of fics.
o The Paradox Series
- Gen – (Genre) Fics in which the main characters are not involved with one another. There may be relationships, but it is not the focus of the story.
- AU – (Genre) Stands for Alternative Universe. Fics in which characters from a fandom are taken from the canon universe. Examples:
o Sherlock is a librarian.
o Sherlock is a lobster.
- Fandom – The thing you obsess over. Fandoms can be books, movies, shows, bands, pretty much anything except individual people. Because that is stalking.
- Non-con/Dub-con – Commonly used warnings. Non-con means non-consensual sex, aka rape. Dub-con means dubiously-consensual sex, aka rape.
- PWP – (Genre) Stands for Porn Without Plot or Plot, What Plot? Basically just sex.
- UST – Stands for Unresolved Sexual Tension. A feature in many fanfics.
- Fluff – (Genre) Happy stories with happy endings. There is not a drop of angst to be found in the sunshine filled bastards.
- Squick – Usually used in the phrase “that squicks me out”. Basically, it’s that slimy, creepy, disgusted feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you read something that’s just OFF. Example:
o “Dude, tentacle sex is just one of my squicks.”
- Oneshot – Single chapter fic.
- Drabble – A very short fic, usually about 300 words or so.
- Pre-slash – Gen with hope.
- Case!fic – (Genre) Fic in which the main characters investigate or are otherwise involved in a case.
- BAMF!(insert name here) – Where the character mentioned is just seriously BAMF. If you don’t know what BAMF means, for the love of God spend some time on Urban Dictionary.
- Clothing porn – In which a particular article or outfit instills strong feelings of lust. Example:
- Comment fic/Kink meme – Comment fics are fics based on prompts given to authors often through kink memes.
- Self insert/ Mary Sue – Self inserts are the brain-children of misguided authors who feel their fics would be improved if they were actually in them. Often self inserts are Mary Sues. What’s a Mary Sue, you ask? Well, Mary Sues are supposedly flawless characters who have all the answers, beat the main characters at their own games, and are totes bangable. Pretty much the most annoying character ever.
- NSFW – Stands for Not Safe For Work. This means don’t read it at work, or anyplace else where someone might happen to peer over your shoulder and realize you spend your free time reading about intense anal fisting and tentacle porn. Or just, you know, sex.
- Magical Realism – (Genre) Ok, I’m going to level with you. Scarf just decided to make this a genre.
- Established relationship – (Genre) Fic in which the two main characters are already in a relationship, and have been for some time.
Sherlock Specific Fandom Terms
- Milk!fic – (Genre) fic in which John goes out to get the milk and inevitable gets kidnapped/ beaten/ mugged/ recruited by the military for a top secret organization/ meets the object of his future affection and Sherlock’s future scorn/ punches the chip and pin machine/ whatever the fuck else and Sherlock regrets not getting the damn milk himself.
- Deus ex Mycroft – In which shit goes down and Mycroft saves the day. Usually with the aid of his connections to the entire British government or an umbrella.
- Homescest – Sherlock/Mycroft.
- Cumberbitches – People who would give an arm to sproing Benedict Cumberbatch’s curls. Aka the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Freebitches – People who want a pocket Martin. Aka. Benedict Cumberbatch.
- Book/ACD canon – Canon of the original Sherlock Holmes books written by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Now that you have some basic vocabulary down, go out, new fangirls. Read, squee, and above all, ship.
*sniffs* They grow up so fast.
