From the “Fluff” to the “Angst”. The most popular Fanfiction genres

When we talk about genres people often think about the most common ones such as adventure, romance, comedy, horror, etc. Those ones are also applied in the world of fanfiction and some webs as Fanfiction uses them to classify the stories. But there are other genres that are more attached to the fanworks world as for example slash, fluff, PWP… Today, we’re going to see some of those genres.

Alternate Universe

Alternate Universe (or AU) fanfics are the ones in which at least one of the canon elements is changed. For example, a Star Wars fanfic in which Anakin didn’t become Darth Vader or where all the characters are vampires.

Angst

The angst fanfics are those that try to cause the reader to feel anguix and are usually based on the suffer (physical or emotional) of the main character.

Crossover

As I explained in the first post of this blog, crossover are the fanfics that mixes at least two canons. This is for example, a Naruto fanfic in which some of the characters go to the Frozen world.

Fluff

Fluff (or WAFF -Warm and Fuzzy Feeling-) are a kind of fanfic which main purpose is to make the reader feel happy. The content of the stories are usually romantic or comedy.

Hurt/Comfort

We consider hurt/comfort fanfics those that involves angst but with comfort at the end.

Podfic

Podfics, also called audiofics, are the audio recordings of a fic made by at least one person.

PWP (Plot?What Plot?/Porn Without Plot)

With PWP (Plot?What Plot?/Porn Without Plot) we are referring to fanfics in which the point of the story is sex.

Slash/Femslash

They both mean that the stories includes a relationship (sexual or only romantic) between two characters of the same gender. Slash is used for male/male pairings and femlash is used for female/female pairings.

Smut/Lemon

Smut and lemon means the same and refers to the explicit sexual content.

Songfic

Songfics are fanfics in which a song (or songs) adquires a big relevance. The lyrics are included in the story and this can be because…

• The plot is based on a song (usually the lyrics are interposed between the lines of the narration).
• The character/characters sing.
• There’s a song playing (radio, tv…).

If you liked this post and you’re intrested into starting in the world of fanfiction (either as a reader or as a writer), I would like to invite you to read this wonderful post by Joanna Smith in wich you can find the best places to begin this adventure.

I’m saying goodbye for today. See you next week!