Five Things

:You may be looking for the interview series Five Things Said, an interview series published by the Organization for Transformative Works.
Five Things... is a fanfiction writing form or structure that originated in Smallville fandom in 2001 with the fic Five Things That Aren't True by Basingstoke. It became increasingly popular throughout the early 2000s, particularly as a format for challenges, and remains a staple of fic writing two decades later.
The format requires a set of multiple scenes that are related to each other in some way, without necessarily being in the same chronological timeline. The number of 'Things' may vary slightly depending on the work (see Evolution), but five is the most common number. 5+1 Things is an enduringly popular variant. 
Five Times is also a common variation on this format, 'Five times X almost happened and 1 time it did' being its most popular use. 
Fics that use this format frequently use the "Five X" phrase in their titles, or as a subtitle: 'Title; or five times something happened...'
As of Sept 2021, there were close to 30k works tagged with the "N things" umbrella tag for the trope and its variations on AO3.N Things AO3 tag
== Origins ==
While not labeled or defined as such, "Four Preludes, and One Short Epilogue on Han Solo or After the Empire Struck Back" by Marcia Brin (1981) in Carbonite Maneuver is a very, very early example of the form. The story is a collection of pieces exploring the possible fate of Han Solo, and was discussed in Han and Leia in Fanfiction.
Another early example is Five Easy Pieces and a More Difficult One, a Blake's 7 story written in 1999 by Nova. It is online here.
"Five Things" fic as we know it in fandom, however, can be traced back to 2001 and a Smallville story by Basingstoke, Five Things That Aren't True.ClarkLex mailing list, (Accessed 04 August 2008), posted November 30, 2001 It was read by Kita, who proposed the format as a challenge to fellow Buffyverse writersFive Things: A Fanfic Archive (Archived link). After reading a story by Basingstoke, Five Things That Aren't True, written for the Smallville fandom, Kita saw the possibilities and issued the 'five things that never happened challenge' to Jossverse writers. and penned Five Things That Never Happened (To Spike) as part of the challenge.The challenge seems to have been issued in 2001, as a January 2002 fic by Te references it as ongoing, but Kita's Spike fic contains post-s7 scenes, and therefore must have been published in mid-2003, after Buffy concluded. Writers from other fandoms took up the challenge as well, and the format quickly took off. In the words of Te:
In 2004, Basingstoke answered a fan's question and commented on her part in propelling this form of fiction: 
== Evolution & Variations==
With popularity came evolution of the form into multiple interpretations, the most common of which is five separate sections that all share a similar theme, such as snapshots of alternative universes, or other moments that never happened in canon, but may be five moments in an over-arching narrative. A popular form is "Five Things That Never Happened to X," in the vein of Kita's "Five Things That Never Happened to Spike". Another common variation is "Five Times X Didn't Do Y... and One They Did," e.g., Five Complaints that Ianto Jones has Thought About Registering Concerning Torchwood (and One that He Did) by strangecreature (9 March 2008).
Even in the early days of the form's popularity, writers were varying the number of "things" from five: typically the number did not go above five, but early variations with four, three or even two scenarios/sections can be found, such as eliade's Four Corners (January 2003); Trinity: Three Things that Didn't Happen to Lionel Luthor by Jayne Leitch (not visibly dated, but archived as early as February 2003), and Two Things That Didn't Happen to Oz (January 2003).
Another evolution begins with four or five snapshots on one theme, and a final snapshot that is different, which can either be known as 4+1 (thus adding to five) or 5+1. Examples of each include The Four Times Michael Almost Called Mia from Tokyo, and Once He Decided Not to Call in New York by aimmyarrowshigh, a The Princess Diaries 4+1 fic, or The Dust of a Hundred Cities by antistar e, a The Curse Workers 5+1 fic, summarized as "five postcards that are never signed, and one that is," or Five People Who Realized Catherine Is Fucking Awesome (and one person who already knew).
== Discussion == 
The number of fanworks produced and of rec requests for fics in this specific format prove how beloved the '5 X' trope is. a2zmom wrote in a 2005 reclist for Five Things fics:
 
However, it is sometimes viewed as a shortcut, allowing writers to post disconnected vignettes rather than writing 'complete' stories. Others see it as an overused format. See for example this 2017 discussion of the trope on r/FanFiction, entitled "Is the 5 Times trope lazy?"
== Challenges & Memes ==
There have been challenges that use the Five Things... format as long as the trope has existed, beginning with the first "Five things that never happened" challenge that was proposed by Kita in Buffyverse fandom. Other challenges in fandoms through the years have helped the trope to flourish.
Examples:
* Five Things on strangeplaces.net archives what appear to be many of the early responses to Kita's original challenge, dating back at least as far as January 2002, with most published during 2003. They are multifandom, showing the range of fandoms that the format had already spread to by this time.
* Five Times a Character I Love Did Something I Didn’t Like, a Marauders writing meme on LJ (2006). Example entry by magnetic-pole (other entries also listed). 
* The Five Things Challenge on sga-flashfic, held in 2008 in honour of SGA season 5. (The challenge took place on Livejournal and stories were later archived on Dreamwidth).
* The Five Times Fanfiction Challenge, and Artemis Fowl writing challenge hosted in 2008. 
* Five times, one time challenge hosted on FF.net (2020)
== Further Examples ==
=== Fanfiction===
* Pentacle Road by Te (X-Men, 2002) Five things that probably aren't true about Raven Darkholme, aka Mystique. Five points in time.
* Five Things That Never Happened (To Spike) by Kita (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 2003; original URL offline, archived June 3, 2003)
* by prof_pangaea (Sherlock Holmes, 2005)
* Family Business: Five Things that Never Happened to Dick Grayson by Lucy Gillam (Batman) (Accessed 4 August 2008, now offline, archived url)
* Five Moments of Clarity: Ianto Jones by misspamela (Torchwood) (Accessed 4 August 2008, now locked)
* Five Times Ray Kowalski Was Ashamed of His Dick and One Time He Wasn't by J.S. Cavalcante (Due South, 2008)
* People Who Repair Quantums, or Five Planets The Enterprise Never Visited by ignipes (Star Trek: AOS, 2009)
* Five Times Sirius Walked in on James and Lily (And One Time It Was Remus) by gyzym (Harry Potter, 2010)
* I am a constant satellite (five times Cal touches Gillian and one time he doesn't) by Aimee5 (Lie to Me, 2012)
* Derelictions of Duty by Regann (Teen Wolf, 2012): (Or, 5 times a Beacon County Sheriff's Office employee witnesses the unique relationship between Stiles and Derek but neglects to tell the Sheriff and 1 time he witnesses it for himself.)
* Completely unaware (you make me smile) by deblond (One Direction, 2013): Five times everyone thinks that Harry and Louis are dating (and the one time they are).
* Four Meals That Re-l Shared With Vincent and One That She Didn't by Moonsheen (Ergo Proxy, 2014)
* For My Own by youaresunlight (Supernatural, 2015): Five times Castiel regrets dating a movie star, and one time Dean proves him wrong.
* five times clarke and lexa aren't sure if they're a couple or not by nutmeg101 (The 100, 2016)
* Five Times They Weren't, and One Time They Totally Were by Anonymous (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 2016)
* A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma by supercalvin (Merlin, 2017): Or. Five Times Merlin Made Little Sense and One Time He Made No Sense At All
* a city wall and a trampoline by kafkian (Good Omens, 2019): 5 times Crowley knows he’s in love with Aziraphale + 1 time he knows the reverse.
* by Rabentochter (MCU, frostiron, 2021): Or: Five Times Loki smelled Tony Stark’s Cologne, plus One Time where he didn’t.
* 5 Times Keith Surprised the Galra and 1 Time he Surprised the Humans by awkwardturtleduck (Voltron: Legendary Defender, 2018)
=== Rec Compilations=== 
* Fic Recs: Five Things by a2zmom, an early reclist that attempted to round up all Buffy the Vampire Slayer Five Things fics
* Sherlock 5 + 1 Fics Fanfic Recommendations at fanfictionrecommendations.com
* stucky-ficrecs reclist of 5+1 stories 
* bakudekuficlibrary reclist of 17 5+1 stories
* 5 and 1 Themed List of Sterek fics
* sabrecmcstonyficrecs reclist of Steve/Tony 5+1 fics
* , a list of fic recs by Inevitably Johnlocked (2016) 
* , a Doctor/Rose masterlist by DoctorxRose Fic Rec Lists (2020)
* Recs tagged (Five) Things at Fancake
== Archives ==
* Five Things BtVS/Angel archive containing 158 stories as of 28 March 2010. (Original URL offline; Archived on February 20, 2018)
* 5 Things tag at Archive of Our Own.
* Five Times, Starsky and Hutch collection at Tagging Bay City
* Tags that contain five things at Ao3
==Notes==
== References ==
✪ This article was featured on the Fanlore main page in 2021How To & About
*About Featured Articles
*How to Nominate
Past Featured Articles
*2024
*2023
*2022
*2021
*2020
*2019
*2018
*2017
Featured Article Nominations
*2024
*2023
*2022
*2021
*2020
*2019
*2018
*2017
Category:2021 Featured Articles
Category:Fiction WritingCategory:2021 Featured Articles