TheForce.Net's Fan Fiction Archive

TFN Fanfic Lexicon
A comprehensive guide to terms in and out of Star Wars fan fiction.
All you need to know to be a saavy fanfic surfer.

"Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk."
-- Henry Jenkins, in Textual Poachers: Media Fans and Participatory Culture.

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
References

If you find any corrections or additions that should be made, contact us so that we can make those changes.
Please note that this lexicon is for information purposes only.
The TFN Fanfic Archive only accepts G, PG, or PG13 submissions.
Inclusion of a particular definition in this lexicon does not constitute archiving approval of that type of fanfic.

ABH. Anywhere But Here. Fanfic where the author puts 'you' exactly where you want to be, and told in second person point of view, ie. "You walk over to the Temple and Yoda whacks you on the leg with his gimer stick." ABH stories are usually NC-17. They are difficult to do well and have limited popularity. See also: RATING.

ACTORFIC. Actor fiction. Fanfic that involves real-life actors, musicians, politicians, etc. Generally considered a violation of privacy and an invitation for getting sued. Variants include Actor Slash and Real People Slash (RPS). See also: SLASH.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Also AU or A/U. Fanfic set in a universe which is different from the canon show universe. AUs are also known as What Ifs (What if Luke had joined Vader?), Elseworld (DC, Marvel fandom) and Uber (Xena fandom). See also: CANON; FANON; EXTENDED UNIVERSE; PARALLEL UNIVERSE.

ANGST. Emotional pain. Can add intensity to a story or turn it into one big whinefest. Angst may also refer to fanfic which have emotional pain as the main plot. In Star Wars fanfic, Obi angst and Anakin angst are quite common. See also: ANGSTFIC; H/C.

ANI/AMI. Short for Anakin/Amidala romance.

ANGSTFIC. Usually a first person point of view story where the character is severely depressed. Some angstfics may contain character deaths.

ANH. A New Hope, or better known as the first Star Wars movie, or Episode IV.

ANIME. Japanimation or Japanese animation, stereotypically big hair and huge eyes. Usually the animated version of popular manga. See also: MANGA.

ARCHIVE. A virtual web library of fanfic from multiple authors, usually collected from Usenet postings or mailing lists, after getting fanfic authors' permissions. Fanfic archives used totake every story on a newsgroup or mailing list; archives accepted everything. Now the prolific amount of fanfic makes archiving everything a nigh impossible task. Archives have submission guidelines on what is acceptable and have evolved to clearly indicate the story contents with keywords, and crossindex by title, author and character. Most major archives have one or more dedicated archivists to keep up with story posting to the web.

BABYFIC. Fanfic that has the main characters adopting or having 1 or more children of their own. Usually used to refer to a subgenre of Mulder Scully Married (MSM) fanfic.

BADFIC. Short for bad fiction. Badfic is often written by new writers, but can also be done by more experienced writers, deliberately, to entertain and inform readers about common cliches, plots or conventions that should be avoided. The term arose out of the XFiles fanfic community, which started a Badfic Hall of Shame. The idea for deliberate badfic itself originated from the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC). See also: BLFC; MARY SUE; MST.

B/D. Also B&D. Short for Bondage and Domination. Adult fanfic about mind and control games, sometimes with humiliation involved. See also: S/M.

BDSM. Adult fanfic containing bondage, domination, sado-masochism. Usually concensual unless accompanied by a warning. Term used in ratings. See also: B/D; S/M; RATING.

BETA READER. A fanfic editor who betas or test reads a story, giving feedback on plot points, characterizations, grammar, typos and generally providing encouragement. Invariably, fanfics undergo an improvement with a beta reader, because of the valuable outside perspective.

BETA VERSION. Also called first draft or betafic. Rough draft of a fanfic, the version sent to the beta reader for commentary.

BLFC. The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is an annual literary competition at San Jose State University which challenges entrants to write the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. Edward George Bulwer-Lytton was a minor Victorian novelist and the original author of the notorious line, "it was a dark and stormy night." See also: BADFIC; MARY SUE; MST.

CANON. Professional source material, or the official facts as stated by the original book, movie, or show episode. In the Star Wars universe, the 'holy text' or canon are the movies and the novelizations of the movies. This may include cut scenes. Everything else, such as the comics, the other novels, interviews, etc. are not canon. See also: FANON; ALTERNATE UNIVERSE.

CHALLENGE. A set of rules for a contest or game among a group of writers, often on a mailing list. Usually results in a flood of short humourous fanfic.

CHANSLASH. A slash story where one partner is under the legal age of consent. See also: SLASH.

CHARACTER DEATH. Warning placed in the header of a story in which one or more major characters dies.

CON. Short for CONVENTION. A fair or expo with dealers selling books, games, collectibles, fanart, and fanzines. Guests of honor such as sf writers, tv actors or writers give talks and sign autographs. Other activities include film showings, costume contests, award presentations, panel discussions, art shows, demonstrations and workshops. The largest con is the annual world science fiction convention, Worldcon. Star Wars fans can find local get togethers in Fanforce Events. Australia and the Netherlands are planning cons but no big SW cons in North America are on the horizon for 2001.

CONREPORT. Also CONREP. A personal report of a convention by a fan, about the program and their activities.

CROSSOVER. Also X-OVER and XO. Subgenre of fanfic using character or scenarios from two or more different sources. Often romantic. Ie. A Star Wars/XFiles crossover that pairs Han Solo with Scully.

DARK JEDI. Fallen Jedi Knights who become seduced by the power and ease of the Dark Side of the Force. Many of them were Sith masters as well, drawing strength from both sets of lore. Note that the existence of Dark Jedi is controversial and hotly disputed. Extended universe supporters state that being a Jedi is akin to religion, and if you've turned dark, you've stopped being a Jedi. Canon supporters disagree and state that once a Jedi, always a Jedi. See also: SITH; GREY JEDI; EXTENDED UNIVERSE; CANON.

DEVIL'S TRIANGLE. Used exclusively by Anakin/Amidala romance supporters who think the love triangle idea is a travesty and betrayal of all that is Star Wars. Any Amidala/Obi-Wan romance is regarded as an abomination. See also: LOVE TRIANGLE.

DISCLAIMER. A copyright notice attached at the beginning of a fanfic, acknowledging the real owners of the universe or characters and no financial gain is intended.

DRABBLE. A story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less. Up to 15 words extra are allowed for the title. Hyphenated-words-are-argued-about. The drabble craze started in British SF fandom in the late 1980s, and the term originates from a Monty Python skit: "Drabble. A word game for 2 to 4 players. The four players sit from left to right and the first person to write a novel wins." However to be playable, the 'novel' had to be cut short. Brian Aldiss became enthusiastic about mini-sagas of 50 words, and one writer even advocated 8 words, but eventually the Birmingham University SF Society decided on 100 words. Many respected SF writers joined in the The Drabble Project and the resulting collections were sold, all proceeds going to charity. Lately, drabbles have been drawing attention again, beginning in Doctor Who fanfic and then other bigger fandoms like Trek. Variants of 150, 200, or 350 words have appeared. However, the most common form is still the 100 word drabble.

EGOBOO. An EGO BOOst. Originally a letter, article or fanfic being published, but also being on a panel, or being talked about favorably in a conreport. Can be anything that produces intoxication and "a painless but unsightly swelling of the head." In fanfic, egoboo usually refers to flattering comments on your fanfic from a reader and is the 'currency' in which readers pay authors for sharing their stories. See also: FEEDBACK.

ESB. The Empire Strikes Back, part of the original Star Wars trilogy. Also called Episode V.

EXTENDED UNIVERSE. Also EU or E/U. Any Star Wars information derived from a source that is not the films. This list includes but is not limited to books, comics, toy boxes, computer games, etc. See also: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE.

EZINE. E-lectronic fanZINE; Also less commonly, NETZINE. A publication whose primary medium is electronic. See also: FANZINE.

FAN. Short for "fanatic". Originally used to indicate a fan of science fiction (SF), especially someone who attended cons. The word had negative connotations, as fans were people were seen as social misfits who were told, "it's only a show" and admonished to "get a life". Nowadays, with the continuing convergence of media and culture, a fan can be anyone who buys collectibles, books, reads or writes fan fiction, creates fan art or fan music and socializes with other fans. Among SF fans the plural is correctly fen, but this is rarely used. See also: FANDOM; FANFIC.

FANDOM. A collective term used to describe all fans and their activities. Ie. Star Wars fandom gave rise to the "Fandom Menace" that created the fever pitch excitement and famous lineups in the wait for Episode 1. The origins of science fiction fandom lie in the 1930s, when correspondence between fans hit critical mass and a few clubs were created. See also: FAN; FANFIC.

FANFIC. Short for FAN FICTION or FANFICTION. Sometimes also referred to as simply FIC. Unauthorized, not-for-profit fiction about copyrighted characters, or the use of original characters in a copyrighted universe. Fanfic can be in the form of vignettes, short stories, novels, scripts, or poetry.

The origins of fan fiction probably lie somewhere near the beginning of time, along with human storytelling. All fiction is derivative; there are few truly original plots, and everything else a variation on those themes. Shakespeare often drew on old legends and myths for his plays. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales inspired John Lydgate to write a continuation "The Siege of Thebes" in the 1400s. Lewis Carroll's work, Alice in Wonderland prompted 200 writers, including Christina Rossetti, Frances Hodgson Burnett and E. Nesbitt with their own versions. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice spawned a number of unauthorized sequels and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories gave rise to the Sherlock Holmes Literary Society with members like Ronald Knox and Dorothy Sayers. They in turn, inspired the creation of the 'Great Game', where fans willingly suspend their disbelief and pretend that Sherlock Holmes was a historical person and Doyle a literary agent for Dr. Watson.

More recently, fanfic was collected by Amateur Publishing Associations (APAs), shared by post through fanzines, and sold at conventions. The first Trek zine was in 1967. As time passed, fanzine authors like A.C. Crispin, Peter David, and Susan Garret became professional authors. Internet access became more widespread in the 1990s and this had a dramatic effect on the amount of fanfic online. Fanfic, traditionally the purview of science fiction lovers, now appeared for various other genres such as sitcoms, medical, police, and law dramas, soap operas, movies, comics, video games, literary books and even pop singers.

Until the explosion of XFiles fandom, fan fiction was generally disdained because the reasoning was, if it was good, it would be published professionally. The old school of thought was "People who write SF for fanzines learn little besides how to write bad sf for fanzines". Today, this is no longer true. Published writers have been known to write fanfic for fun, and as more people join online communities of interest on the net, more fanfic writers will appear and gain followings. See also: FAN; FANDOM; FANZINE.

FANON. Fan created fact that nearly all fans take for granted as true but is not supported by the official source. In some circles of Star Wars fanfic, "An-Paj" the Healer with his many wives has nearly become fanon, or that Qui-Gon's Master was Yoda. See aso: CANON.

FANZINE. Also ZINE. Amateur magaZINE published by FANs. Originally fanzines were more like club newsletters. Fanzines include editorials, poetry, articles, fan art and fan fiction. The quality of fanfic in fanzines is usually greater than on the net, due to editorial control, but most fanzines are one-shot publications or produced irregularly. The growth of net fiction has diminished the importance of paper fanzines, although occasionally one will still see a story removed from net circulation and submitted to a paper fanzine for publication. Tension exists between online fanfic and fanzine communities because of this and various other reasons. See also: EZINE.

FEEDBACK. Thank-you email sent to authors expressing appreciation for their story; may contain critique. Feedback praising a fanfic author can motivate some to be more prolific and in others, simply swell their egos. See also: EGOBOO.

FILK. Parody of an existing song with different words. Or folk music with a SF theme. The term may have originally been a 1953 typo by Karen Anderson in a SAPS zine for "folk singing". It is also believed, by others, to be an abbreviation for "filthy folk singing".

FILKER. Someone who performs filk songs.

FIRST TIME. Romantic fanfic which have the main characters getting together for the first time. Often passionate and explicit.

FLAME. Rude email or feedback. See also: NEGOBOO.

FLUFF. Lighthearted short fanfic.

FORCE. The Force is a mystical energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.There are two polarities to the Force: light and dark, and living and unifying. The light side of the Force is for knowledge and defense while the dark side is what we call evil, and is a place of anger, fear and agression. The dark side of the Force is quicker and easier to master, but it has severe disadvantages in that it consumes and controls one's actions. See also: LIVING FORCE; UNIFYING FORCE; WILL OF THE FORCE; MIDI-CHLORIDIANS.

GEN. Short for 'general'. Conflicting use. Slash writers usually use this term to indicate fanfic suitable for all ages, but it can also be used to refer to fanfic with heterosexual adult relationships. See also: SLASH.

GENRE. A type of story, ie. romance, adventure, angst, humor, VIGNETTE etc. Can also mean a more specific type of story, such as Ani/Ami (Anakin/Amidala) stories in Star Wars fanfic. See also: JA; LOVE TRIANGLE for different subgenres.

GREY JEDI. A concept brought up by Lucas in referring to Qui-Gon Jinn. Some fans have taken it to mean that Grey Jedi do not see in terms of Light or Dark. Instead, Grey Jedi perceive that all else, including the Republic, and the Jedi Council, are secondary to serving the Force itself - no matter what the consequences - "I shall do what I must." This has inspiraed the creation of the Order of the Grey RPG (role playing game), similar to a roundrobin. Refer to GreyJedi.com for more details. See also: ROUND ROBIN; RPG.

H/C. Acronym for Hurt/Comfort. A subgenre of fanfic where one vulnerable partner suffers emotional or physical abuse or pain, and is then comforted by the other partner. In adult stories, the comfort often leads to sex. The main plot element is reaction to the character's pain, which can be quite intense in some stories. This type of plot may be used in slash fanfic or to provide the beginning to a hopeless romance. Some critics have speculated that the massive appeal of this subgenre to its mostly female audience may fulfil a need for nurturance. Hurt/Comfort is similar to angst or torture fic; the most common example of this in Star War fanfic is Obi-torture, where young Obi-Wan is hurt and needs to be rescued by Qui-Gon. See also: ANGST.

HEADER. Info at the top of a fanfic clearly stating the content. Standard header info states the tv show or media, including crossovers, and rating, romantic pairings if any, language, spoilers, story summary/teaser and violence warnings if applicable.

HET. Short for "heterosexual". Fanfic about a romance between a male and a female. Term used by slash writers. See also: GEN; SLASH.

HUGOS. Hugo Awards. Fans vote for their favorite science fiction in various categories, including novel, short story, movie, fanzine, fan writer, and fan artist. The Hugos are presented at the Worldcon every year. See also: CON.

IDIC. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination. Phrase meaning openmindedness. Originally, a Vulcan philosophy from Star Trek positing that beauty, growth and progress all result from the union of the dissimilar; a synergistic effect that individuals alone cannot replicate. Sentient beings should learn to celebrate differences and acknowledge similarities. IDIC is symbolized by a circle with a triangle through it, where the circle indicate the infinite, nature or woman, and the triangle represents the finite, art or man or some other opposite.

JA. Short for Jedi Apprentice. Refers to the series of books about the young Obi-Wan and his training to become a Jedi Knight. Started by Dave Wolverton and continued by Jude Watson for young adults, the JA series has widespread appeal among adult readers as well. JA fanfic has two main characters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.

JEDI CODE. The creed, or system of beliefs of the Jedi. The basic catechism is: "There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no chaos; there is harmony. There is no death; there is the Force." Some other fundamental principles include: "Ever seeking knowledge and enlightenment, a Jedi never uses the Force to gain wealth or personal power." and "A Master can take but one Padawan at a time."

LEMON. Fanfic containing pointless erotica, usually between two female characters, although not always the case. Originally an anime term.

LIVING FORCE. The Living Force is what allows Jedi to be sensitive to other living beings, to be intuitive and read other people's minds. When properly attuned to the Living Force, a Jedi lives 'in the moment', also known as the 'here and now'. When Qui-Gon admonishes Obi-Wan in Episode 1 to be "mindful of the living Force", he is telling his student to let go of forebodings from the distant future, and to focus on the present and what needs to be done. The interested reader is referred to the article The Living Force by E. Durack, the Jedi Creed and the Jedi Academy for further discussions on the nature of the Force. See also: FORCE; UNIFYING FORCE.

LoC, LOC. Letter Of Comment. Usually used in reference to detailed feedback printed in a fanzine. See also: FANZINE; FEEDBACK.

LOVE TRIANGLE. An angst ridden situation where two people are in love with the same person, or one person is involved with another, and the third suffers unrequited love for one of them. The love triangle plot is a time honored literary tradition; King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot is one famous love triangle. Star Wars Episode 2 is widely rumored to have a love triangle with Anakin, Amidala, and Obi-Wan. See also: DEVIL'S TRIANGLE.

MANGA. Japanese comics, which make up 40% of all publications in Japan. There are mangas specifically aimed at adult men and women, as well as teen readers. See also: ANIME.

MARY SUE. A character who is a thinly disguised version of the author. A major warning sign is the new character who becomes romantically involved with one of the main characters and/or saves his life. First coined in 1974, the original Mary Sue was a beautiful half-human, half-Vulcan who rescued Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. According to Paula Smith, "the truest mark of a Mary Sue is not how she's described or what she does, but the effect the sheer fact of her existence in the story has on the other characters in the story. If program characters start worrying endlessly about her, or go all gooey because she's just so darn cute or smart...the girl's a Mary Sue." Male equivalents have been named Maurice Stu, Marty Stu and Gary Stu. Concerned authors should consult the Star Wars/Star Fox Mary Sue Litmus Test.

MIDI-CHLORIDIANS. Microscopic life-forms that reside within the cells of all living things and help us communicate with the Force. They are a part of us as we are a part of them and neither one of us can exist without each other. Individuals with a high midi-chloridian count have a greater ability to contact and control the Force, but true attunement with the Force comes only from intense concentration and study. Interested readers are encouraged to visit TFN's Midicholoridian Study for a more indepth treatment of this topic. See also: FORCE.

MIND WHAMMY. An irreverent term for the Jedi Mind Trick, which allows the Force user to control the thoughts or actions of the subject. Usually found in humorous fanfic. Whether the Jedi Mind Trick always requires hand movements or not, is in dispute.

MST. Acronym for Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (MST3K), a US tv show which dissects bad movies line by line with mocking commentary. MSTing or misting a fanfic, involves doing the same thing and the satirical, acid comments are called 'riffing'. MSTing is controversial. Some call MSTing no better than flaming, others consider it a an art form in and of itself. See also: BADFIC; MARY SUE.

MULTI-UNIVERSE. Also MULTI-FANDOM, sometimes MULTI-MEDIA. Usually used in reference to a zine or archive that include fanfic from more than one fandom. A multi-fandom archive for example, can contain Star Wars, Star Trek, and XFiles fanfic.

NEGOBOO. Negative egoboo, criticism or flaming. See also: FLAME, EGOBOO.

NJO. New Jedi Order. Refers to the series of books set in the New Republic, 2 decades after Return of the Jedi, where Luke struggles to rebuild the Jedi Order.

NON-CON. Also N/C. Non-consensual sexual act, ie. rape.

NOROMO. Anti-shipper. A disbeliever in a romantic pairing. See also: SHIPPER.

OBI-TORTURE. A type of story where Obi-Wan goes through pain and suffering, either emotional or physical and must be rescued. See also: H/C; ANGST.

OT. Original Trilogy. Refers to Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. See also: PT.

PADAWAN. A young student of the Force, paired with a mentor-teacher, or Master. Sentient beings strong in the Force were brought to a Jedi Temple, were they became trainees or initiates. When chosen by a Jedi Master, the initiate became a Padawan learner.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE. A parallel universe never comes into contact with the original universe and has major differences. Ie. A story where Vader was female. In contrast, an alternate universe (AU) is one that splits from the original universe. Ie. A story where Qui-Gon didn't die. In Star Wars fanfic, Parallel Universe is rarely used. Alternate Universe is the term used to describe anything different from the original movies. See also: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE.

PARODY. Humorous imitation of an original work.

PASTICHE. Material that imitates previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent. An example of a pastiche is the Simpsons. The term is rarely used except in reference to Sherlock Holmes fanfic.

PLOT BUNNY. Also sometimes PLOT DEMON, SNIPPET or OUTLINE. Fanfic plots or ideas. Fanfic writers swap, adopt or exchange plot bunnies. Inspired by a quote from John Steinbeck: "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

PREQUEL. A literary, cinematic, or dramatic work that precedes, introduces, or leads up to a later work. Episode 1 is a prequel to the original trilogy of movies that includes Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

PRO. Short for "professional". Refers to those who make most of their living by writing; does not include anyone who has ever been paid for a story.

PT. Prequel Trilogy. Refers to the Star Wars trilogy that includes The Phantom Menace, or Episodes 1-3. See also: OT.

PWP. Plot What Plot or Porn Without Plot. Fanfic about the relationship between characters, with little or no larger plot. Usually romantic and explicit.

ROUND ROBIN. RR for short. A story written in installments by multiple writers, often in a mailing list, discussion forum or message board. One writer contributes one chapter, another writer contributes the second chapter, etc. Also known as "pass around" stories in some Star Wars fanfic circles.

RATING. Fanfic ratings are based on the American Motion Picture Association codes.

G.? General, appropriate for any age group.
PG. Parental guidence suggested. Swearing, more adult themes or other topics not appropriate for a general audience.
PG-13. Implies sex or violence.
R. Restricted. Swearing, nudity, violence, or other topics not appropriate for those under 17.
NC-17. No Children under 17. Graphic depictions of sex or violence, for adults only.

ROTJ. Return Of The Jedi, part of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies. Also called Episode VI.

RPG. Role Playing Game. Not a computer game, but a combination of an interactive novel and a game. One player, called the Game Master or GM, designs adventures, while the other players take on the roles of various characters and write them according to the rules. Requires a rule booklet, and special polyhedral dice, D6 (six sides) to D20 (20 sides). RPGs can be thought of as an intense version of the roundrobin, with more monitoring. The interested reader should check out Starwars-RPG.net. See also: ROUND ROBIN.

SHIPPER. Short for relationShipper. A fan who believes in a romantic relationship between a certain pair. Originally from XFiles fandom, shippers were originally a fringe group who fervently believed that Mulder and Scully "belonged together". The term Shipper has now spread into other fandoms, and one can see fanfics described as 'shippy' to describe their romantic bent.

SITH. The descendants of an ancient race of Force-sensitive, insect humanoids and Dark Jedi. The Sith learned to harness the Dark Side of the Force to perform many heinous acts. The interested reader is encouraged to examine The Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia for a more complete entry and background. Note the origins of the Sith are disputed by canon supporters. See also: DARK JEDI; FORCE.

SLASH. Fanfic featuring people of the same gender romantically involved, often written by females. The term originates from a splinter group of Trek fandom that wrote Kirk/Spock stories, 'slash' being the (/) between the names of the characters. Slash is also known as "alt" or "alternative" fiction in Xena and sometimes Buffy fandom. Note that the (/) between any two names indicates a romantic pairing, ie. Anakin/Amidala or Leia/Han fanfic.

S/M. Also S&M, SM. Sadism and Masochism. Involves pain and humiliation. See also: B/D.

SMARM. Nonsexual love and comfort between two characters. Often found with H/C and associated with slash. See also: H/C; SLASH.

SONGFIC. Fanfic inspired by and based on the lyrics of a song. Often sappy, melodramatic pieces that seek deep meaning in the pop song of the moment.

SPOILER. Info that reveals and "spoils" important plot points that the reader has not yet seen. Put in the header of a fanfic, it indicates a story which uses events in a recently aired episode of a tv show, or movie. See also: HEADER.

SQUICK. To be disturbed at a personal level; turn-off.

SUBTEXT. In fandom, any canon action that implies sexual attraction between two characters. Subtext exists only in the minds of the viewers and is most often used in Xena fandom.

TBC. To Be Continued

TEASER. Summary of a story, usually put in the story header, to help readers decide whether to read further or not. See also: HEADER.

TPTB. The Powers That Be. The writers/directors/owners of the original show or source material. Often used in a sarcastic way.

TMI. Too Much Information. Almost always sexual.

TPM. The Phantom Menace.

TROLL. Rude person who posts flames or deliberately inflammatory comments. See also: FLAME.

UNIFYING FORCE. The cosmic part of the Force, in which you can see the future and find your destiny. Sometimes visions provided by the Force can be shockingly vivid, and at other times, like peering down a path with infinite forks. Different futures will be achieved by different actions, and the path to them is not always clear from one's present position. See also: FORCE; LIVING FORCE.

UST. Unresolved Sexual Tension. Chemistry between characters who are not romantically involved in canon. Coined by XPhiles to describe Mulder and Scully but the term has migrated to other fandoms.

VERGENCE. An intense concentration of the Force associated with inanimate objects or places, and more rarely, with a living being. These beings have high midi-chloridian counts, and can touch and use the Force with little or no training.

VIGNETTE. A short slice-of-life fanfic, usually having to do with character development.

WILL OF THE FORCE. The feeling that a certain course of action is 'right' and fulfills a higher purpose. It refers to the nudgings of the universe, to put Force sensitive listeners on the path most likely to result in the greatest good for all. It may be difficult to follow since personal interests are secondary to the larger, more universal interests of the Force. A Jedi should be attuned to both the Living Force and the Unifying Force to know the true will of the Force. See also: FORCE; LIVING FORCE; UNIFYING FORCE.

WIP. Work In Progress, or a rough draft. Fanfic where the ending has not yet been written, or which has not been betaread. See also: BETAREADER.

References:

FANAC Fancyclopedia
A (Very) Brief History of Fanfic by !Super Cat
"Digital Land Grab" by Henry Jenkins
In the Beginning Was Ronald Knox
A History of Fan Fiction by Michaela Ecks
A Glossary of Fanfic Terms by Kielle
Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fan Fiction by Melissa Wilson
The IDIC Page by William S. McCullars
The Living Force by Elizabeth Durack
The Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia
Official Star Wars Site - Lucasfilm!
Mary Sue Essays, Rants and Notes From All Around Fandom
Too Good To Be True: 150 Years of Mary Sue by Pat Pfleiger
Badfic: The XFiles Hall of Shame
Rei's Anime and Manga Page
Star Wars books from Del Rey and Lucasbooks
Star Wars Novels in Chronological Order

Nitid: Thanks to JediGaladriel for the definition of "Devil's Triangle" and clarification of "Dark Jedi". If you find any corrections or additions that should be made, contact us so that we can make those changes.

Last update: Feb 23/2001