Dead Fic

A fanfiction whose chapters are spaced with wider updates each time. While this may be the result of a writer working for an overall better product, there is a higher chance of the writer getting derailed by work or personal life. Eventually the fanfic stops updating, and the reader is left wanting. The death knell comes when, rather than simply coming out with a new chapter, the author just assures the audience they haven't given up. Although rarely, rarely, the fic in question may update again - sometimes just so the author can state outright that it's a 'Dead Fic or on Permanent Hiatus. (Or in that matter leaving a note at the end of a chapter and telling what was supposed to happen.)
Granted, this happens all the time. After all, fanfiction is the province of amateurs, and when it's not a living, you have any reason to drop the fic — interests may change, life may take over, et cetera. But the pain implied in "Dead Fic" is a fanfiction that's superbly well-written, that enhances the canon it was based on, that was clearly the work of love and devotion, that is left to dwindle and die.
Some fans also regard these as Dead!WIPs (Works in Progress) or WIPs of Doom since readers are forever left hanging without closure.
Category: Terminology