Interview with Moonbeam Predilections, the creator of The Fanfiction Terminology.

Moonbeam Predilections is an important figure in the fanfiction community, she has participated in the trajectory of fanfiction since the 90’s, when fanfic left the paper and started to show its presence on the internet. She was the creator of Fanfiction Terminology, a glossary of terminology from the fanfiction community that many new fans, and even veterans of this world, turn to when they need to. It is free for use in research and studies. NEPF interviewed her about her history with fanfic and what are the important aspects to consider when defining fanfiction.

Glossary is available at the end of the post.

#1 - How did you first get into the world of fanfic?

My very first fandom was The X-Files. I had been an avid fan of the show since the premiere in 1993, faithfully watching it every Friday night. I did not know it at the time, but I was also faithfully shipping Mulder/Scully as well. In 1995, my father got the internet hooked up to our family computer. I had nearly always had a computer in the house as my father used them for work, so immediately dived into stumbling my way around the dial-up modem. My first three days online were spent in a chat room - where I promptly got involved in my first wank session, ha! - before someone mentioned The X-Files mailing list. This of course peaked my interest and so I typed in the DOS commands (it would be a few weeks before we’d get our first graphic user interface internet browser, Netscape being quite new at the time) to check it out.

At first I only read stories. After a bit, I started commenting back to the authors. I made friends. Eventually I tried writing my own story. It was 1996, I was a teenager. I, of course, wrote a Mary Sue fic. One of my new friends offered to beta-read and post the story for me to the mailing list. That friend was already what we’d call an ‘old timer’ today. She’d been active in fandoms since the 1970s and knew what she was doing. But she took the time to patiently usher in a young newbie. Within a few months, I was posting on my own (and had thankfully moved on from the Mary Sue fic) and getting my own feedback. It was amazing and wonderful!

After a few more months and reading a few crossovers, I started looking for other fandoms of TV shows I enjoyed watching. Gargoyles, Forever Knight, Highlander, seaQuest, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and The Sentinel all had thriving fandoms that caught my attention. It was The Sentinel that was my introduction to slash fic though, and I adored it! TS remains one of my most read fandoms, with me seeking out or returning to read about Jim and Blair over and over again.

That first friend who ushered teenage me into fandom? She’s still my friend today. We’ve never met in person (I’m Canadian and she’s Australian) and we’ve lost contact for years at times until rediscovering each other as our fandom paths recross, but our friendship is still strong. It’s my longest relationship outside of family. We don’t currently share any fandoms at the moment, but that doesn’t matter. We still talk about fandom, still recommend fics to each other, and still offer to beta for each other. Fanfiction was, is, and will likely always be a huge part of my daily life and I am very thankful for it.

#2 - From your perspective, what is the definition of the term fanfiction? For example, must fanfiction be written only by a fan, or can a critic also write it?

Fanfiction is a new transformative written work that is derived from an original canon source, such as a television show, book, or real life. It is based on the characters, concepts, and worldbuilding of the original canon source, but tells a different new story all its own. It does not effect the original canon source, but develops and grows into something unique from that base.

While we refer to the term Fanfiction to mean fan created fiction, and many of us who partake in it will call ourselves fans of the canon source, to be a fan does not mean blind acceptance. Indeed, many fanworks are about “fixing” things that occurred in canon that we find issues with. So yes, a critic can absolutely write fanfiction. A critic after all must care enough about the canon source in the first place to be critical of it, so aren’t they also technically a fan?

#3 - Are the countless renditions and continuations of something like “Sherlock Holmes” or “The Iliad” considered fanfictions? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely! There are probably very few truly original stories out there. Most of humanity’s ideas are based on previous stories, changed and adapted through the tellings. Religious texts, mythologies, great classics like Shakespeare work their way into the collective unconscious of society and form the basis of our culture. Almost everything could be described as fanfiction of a previous story, if looked at from a certain perspective. The difference is purely scope. Time and how culturally influential the story was.

#4 - Must fanfiction be non-profitable? Why or why not?

Yes and no. It depends on who is writing it, to be honest. An ordinary woman writing on her computer about her favourite characters for pleasure? God, don’t dare try to ask for money or you’ll be sued into bankruptcy. Even without actively seeking monetary gain, us normal folk always run the risk of getting on the bad side of some disgruntled creator or copyright holder. And most of us can’t afford the lawyers to defend ourselves. Declaring all fanworks as non-profit is often necessary just for the safety and survival of fandom as a whole.

But if a professional or famous person decides to create something like fanfic, a new twist to an old story? No problem, they can even publish to make a fortune! In fact, most do! Have you looked at many movies today? Basically all reboots and remakes… essentially fanfiction. But because they are professionally created, they are culturally acceptable and thus not defined as fanfiction. Even when the writing is terrible in comparison, who writes it is what gives it legitimacy.

#5 - What was your motivation to create “Fanfiction Terminology”?

In the beginning, my website was just my posted stories. Then I added in other pages like archive recs and story recs, whereupon I started getting questions from readers about what the words I used meant. So I made a basic glossary, just a few terms simply defined. The questions continued, even increased in number until they came regularly. (It helps that my site pops up quickly in Google Search results.) It was kind of organic the way the Fanfiction Terminology page grew as it did, not so much deliberately designed. Bit by bit, one suggestion or question at a time, dozens more terms got added or edited until I just sought out any missed terms myself to try and cover everything I could think of. By the early 2010s or so, it was fairly complete. Only a handful of new terms have been added in the last few years, and those mostly are newly evolved terms that simply didn’t exist ten years ago.

#6 - Why do you believe there is such big prejudice against fanfiction?

Two reasons come to mind, in my opinion. One, the mainstream view people have that fanfiction is only badly written amateurish porn, unaware or uncaring of all the amazing other genres and works that exist. And two, that fandom is predominantly a past time of the female persuasion, and thus not as worthwhile as works created by the male-dominated spheres of Hollywood or the traditional publishing industry - much like, for example, how romance novels like Harlequins are viewed with less prestige than other genres even though many are as or more deeply researched and well written as their more macho competition.

How or if we can ever counter either of these misconceptions, I don’t know. But I doubt we’ll ever escape the prejudice against us until we do. Luckily, even the most cursory exploration into most fandoms reveals the true richness and depth we offer and for those willing to try can make all the difference.

#7 - What platforms do you use to read fanfiction? From your time in the community, what changes and what migrations have you witnessed from one platform to another (for example: after the tumblr guidelines revision)?

I mainly read on AO3 (Archive of Our Own) these days, because there aren’t many other sources left. I’m an old timer and have seen many migrations as fandom evolves, sites dissolve, and time passes.

When I first started out in the early 1990s, I read and posted fanfiction on mailing lists, which were essentially just group emails for distribuition. Eventually, enterprising fans collated the works on those lists into fandom-specific archives like Gossamer (The X-Files) or multifandom archives like Fanfiction.net. Some were curated archives managed by owners or moderators, whose rules could change (like FFN banning explicit works), others became automated to allow writers to post directly to the archives themselves.

Then came the trend of every author making their own home website. Sites would link in ’webrings’ to make finding them easier. Many sites were made on free hosts like Geocities (or myself on Angelfire, heh), which was great until Geocities was abruptly closed down. That led to massive deletions and loss of works. The Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive was crucial for record keeping of many old and lost stories, but even it couldn’t capture everything. Crossposting across multiple platforms also ensured survival and quickly became the norm.

Then came the rise of the blogs like Livejournal in the early 2000s. Livejournal dominated fandom for probably 10 years or more, full communities developed everywhere within it. Crossposting to fandom archives still occurred, but the fans themselves had never before interacted so closely between author and reader as they did in the comment-focused blog format of LJ. The fandoms thrived! Then inevitably, the platform went through challenges (Strikethrough, 2007) and was sold to new owners. Fandom was driven away. But from LJ’s free source code emerged Dreamwidth and other clones, safe haven for fandom to retreat to. Until finally some smart people said the heck with it, why should we live at their whims? Let’s make our own space! And voila, the birth of AO3.

It took time to grow into the powerhouse it is today. Other platforms came and went. Some fans tried Tumblr after LJ, only to get censored. Others tried sites like Wattpad, which try to make money off them. Those of us who used Delicious bookmarks scrambled to move our thousands and thousands of recs in the Great Delicious Migration of 2011, with many finding a home among the then tiny Pinboard when its owner explicitly welcomed us. (I have huge respect for Maciej Ceglowski, who invited us to tell him what features we of fandom wanted most, watched us in awe as we collectively created the color-coded and indexed monster Google-document of DOOOM! in two days, and then actually did his best to accommodate our fanfic-based needs. Pinboard is still my preferred fandom resource for new story recommendations.)

#8 - Do you consider fanfiction literature? Why or why not?

This is the librarian in me answering this one, because the term literature actually has a very specific meaning that in fact very few fiction works ever fall into. Literature is a written work with such profound themes that it remains relevant for decades, centuries, or even millenia. There is a very big difference between literature and fiction. Most published books do not qualify. James Patterson, for example, while one of the most successful fiction authors in existence will never be considered close to literature. However, Harry Potter is already recognized as a classic and with its effect on culture may one day soon reach literature status.

Most fanfiction definitely does not. Not to say that some fanfic isn’t as well written, or even better written, than some classic literature… but the quality of the rhetoric is not all that separates literary fiction from other genres, it’s the universal exploration of the human condition. True literature is, as a librarian defines it, comparatively rare.

#9 - In your opinion, what are some of the qualities and flaws of the fanfiction/fandom community?

The sense of community itself is both its best quality and its biggest flaw.

By which I mean that fandoms can tend to be very insular. This is great, in that they foster strong relationships among members and with the canon source. We feel that sense of belonging to a fandom and rejoice in it. Participating by reading/writing fanfic just invests us deeper into the fandom community. We are not alone, but part of something wonderful. It’s fulfilling and healthy, for some of us the best social interaction we’ll ever need.

Unfortunately, that same membership in a fandom community can also lead to downfall. From factions dividing fans over pairings or other interests, the wank and flames, even to just overinvesting in something that’ll eventually come to an end. How many fans do you know who picked their online pseudonym from a specific fandom? Tons, of course, but for how many is that name still relevant and not outdated? Far fewer. Some people need the validation of social approval, but there will always be those who disagree or just don’t like you/your work. Criticism may be welcomed by some, but there are many others who find it hurtful and may lash out in return. What happens in fandom affects a person’s real life because fandom is a, often very important, part of their reality. Good or bad.

#10 - How do you think fanfiction has affected popular culture and mainstream media throughout the years?

Honestly, I rather wish the two would stay farther away from fanfiction. Inevitably, even when the interaction is meant in good faith, pop culture and mainstream media only end up negatively portraying fanfiction and those of us in fandoms. We become a joke, a target, or viewed with disdain or disgust. (“Fifty Shades of Gray”, the terribly written bad Twilight fanfic that inexplicably attained world renown when its author stripped the names and published it, did fanfiction as a whole no favors. If anything, it has tainted us all under the same brush in the mainstream mind as nothing but amateur porn. Something we may not ever truly recover from.)

Mainstream media does not understand fandom or the passion of the people involved and so rarely knows how to respect us. Even when they try, inserting “fan service” moments into their media for the audience, most of the time it winds up being over the top mockery that makes me cringe. Nor is pop culture above exploiting fandom to make a profit. It’s happened multiple times and always leaves the fans feeling used, uncredited, and disrespected while the Powers That Be get richer off of our ideas.

Fandom is a powerful force when it comes together. Fans mobilized toward a goal can absolutely affect the real world. We’ve brought back cancelled shows (the Serenity movie of the ignominiously cancelled Firefly tv series) , driven plot or character changes, and dragged obscure gems (like the original Star Trek) that would have been forgotten to time into the mainstream pop culture. But we rarely get respect for it. We are, after all, just crazy fans. And mostly female ones at that, which unfortunately in this patriarchal-based world makes our contributions worth less by default.

#11 - From plagiarism to original work, where do you believe fanfiction stands? Does the presence of Alternate Universes (AU) or OCs (original character) make fanfiction more of an original work than fanfiction itself? Where do you believe the line between the two is drawn?

I believe the defining characteristic separating fanfiction from an original work is the characters themselves. You can take a set of characters and drop them in even the most widely different AU, and as long as the characters stay in-character they will be recognizable and probably make for a great story. But if the characters are written such that they bear little resemblance to their origins? Then even the most recognizable environment will still feel like I might as well be reading original fiction. And if OCs are your preference, might as well try coming up with your own worldbuilding too as to avoid claims of laziness or plagiarism. The characters are the hardest part, they are what make or break the story.

FYI, this is not to say OCs have no place in fanfiction. Not true, some of the best stories have beautifully fleshed out original characters even in major protagonist roles. But the canon characters included need to remain in-character, no matter what. Out-of-character canon characters might as well be OCs, but are usually perceived as worse.

#12 - Lastly, what are your personal favourite fanfiction tropes or genres, and why?

Well, I describe myself as bifictional (gen, het, or slash!) and multifandomational (over 150+ fandoms) for a reason. I like a lot of things!

I love crossovers immensely, even when I don’t know all the included fandoms, because they offer the best outside perspectives. I prefer angsty stories to funny ones, and slow burn novels to short oneshots. I adore realistic consequences in relationships (not everything need be Happily Ever After) and especially appreciate competency in characters (BAMFs are awesome!).

Lately I’ve quite enjoyed the trend of Omegaverse stories with Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics. I like the parallels to our patriarchal reality and the challenges to the status quo thereof. The best Omegas are the ones who don’t submit or give in to be oppressed, who stand up for their rights. Women like us face many of the same challenges, so A/B/O stories often resonate deeply. (Slash pairings as a whole tend to be preferred because there are truly few well written non-caricature female characters in canon sources, making relatable het pairings more rare.)

Glossary:

Wank - repetitive online debates with no signs of consensus.

DOS - List of Microsoft DOS operating system commands.

Netscape - type of browser.

Mary Sue - perfect character, without flaws.

Slash fic - type of fanfic that contains a homosexual love relationship. The female version would be FemSlas.

Beta or Beta Reader - person who helps the fanfic writer by reading and correcting the text before it is posted.

Canon - everything that is present or established in the original content.

Fix it - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain an attempt to fix something that is considered 'wrong’ in the original work. Example: death of a character.

Fanworks - Any and all transformative work done as an exploration of original content. Ex: fanfiction, fanvids, fanart and etc.

Mainstream - dominant trend or fashion.

Arlequins - any series of romantic novels of simple stories of straight couples.

AO3 (archive of our own) - non-profit open archive site for fanfiction and other fanworks, created in 2008 by the Organization of Transformative Works.

Gossamer - Better known as The Gossamer Project (The Web Project) was an archive group that, all combined, contained the vast majority of X-Files fanfics on the internet.

Multifandom - that is part of or contains several fandoms.

Fanfiction.net (FF) - The world’s largest fanfiction archive site, created in 1998.

Webrings- search optimization tool, which organizes sites by theme, creating a circular interconnection structure between sites.

Geocities - site where The internet archive is located, created in 1996, and discontinued in 2009.

Wayback Machine - The Internet Archive’s database that has archived over 613 billion web pages since 1996.

The Internet Archive - non-profit bookstore of thousands of books, movies, software, music, websites, etc.

Crossposting - the act of posting the same thing on different platforms to increase its visibility and avoid loss of content if an unexpected situation occurs on a site.

Live Journal - site where users can maintain a blog, journal or diary, and interact with other users. It was created in 1999 and was commonly used for fanfiction posting.

Τhe Strikethrough - An event that took place in 2007, when Live Journal deleted all user journals that contained words from an extensive list. Censorship was vast and deleted a lot of content for seemingly small reasons, such as containing the word “crime” in a story. This made many of its users look for a new platform to post their fanfics.

Dreamwidth - Online journaling service based on the original Live Journal service code, created in 2009 by former Live Journal employees and discontinued in 2011.

Wattpad - platform that allows sharing of stories, commonly used for fanfic posting.

Recs - abbreviation for the word “recommendations”.

Great Delicious Migration of 2011 - Delicious was a service that allowed you to bookmark, save and, above all, tag (mark with a certain word, a common way of organizing fanfiction) content in a completely controlled manner by users. After the company’s purchase in 2011, users were hampered by the site’s new reforms and rules, opting out of the site in a mass migration of sorts.

Pinboard - site that offered a service with the same concept as Delicious and charges around 25 dollars a year to the user.

Maciej Ceglowski - creator of Pinboard

DOOOM!, The Giant Reference Document of DOOM! - Multi-part document created by fans of the DOOM video game series, containing a glossary of references and terminology from the game world.

Fanservice - delivering something to fans in the original content, prioritizing only the fandom’s will, regardless of whether such a thing fits where it’s inserted.

Powers that be - phrase used for individuals or groups that have power or authority in some way over something.

Alternate Universe - fanfic tag that marks stories that uses characters from an original content and places them in a world different from canon.

OC (original characters) - Original Characters is the fanfic tag that marks when there is an insertion of a new character that does not exist in canon.

Bifictional - word derived from the junction of the words bisexual and fanfiction. It means liking all sorts of romance categories in fanfic.

Gen - fanfic tag that marks a story that doesn’t contain any kind of romance.

Het - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain heterosexual love relationships.

Slash - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain lgbt+ love relationships.

Crossover - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain the coincidence of characters and worlds from different original content.

Angst - Angst is the fanfic tag that marks stories that contain a theme of emotional or physical torment.

Slow Burn - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain canon characters who fall in love gradually and naturally, usually taking a long time to get together.

Oneshots - fanfic tag that marks stories written completely before posting, without prequels or sequels, and formatted in a single chapter.

Realistic Consequences on Relationships - fanfic tag that marks stories that show realistic consequences of canon characters’ actions in a relationship.

Happily Ever After - better known today as Happy Ending, is the fanfic tag that marks stories with a happy or satisfying ending.

BAMF - short for Bad Ass Mother Fucker is the fanfic tag that marks stories that contain a character who is particularly impressive, usually smart and difficult to defeat.

Omegaverse or/and Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain the dynamic where characters can be Alphas (dominant, authoritarian and respected people), Betas (ordinary people, usually common workers) or Omegas (submissive people, minorities and inferior). The tag is commonly used as an allegory for today’s society, but mirrored in the werewolf community.

Translated by Julia Abrahão

Find Moonbeam’s blog here!

Find The Fanfiction Terminology here!