Case Fic

Case fic (also spelled casefic) or case story is a genre of fanfiction with a focus on solving a given mystery or case. The term is also sometimes used as an umbrella term for any plot-heavy story, including genres such as mission fic or monster of the week. It may also be used to distinguish plot-heavy stories from genres such as relationship stories, character studies, porn without plot, and curtainfic. 
Case fics commonly utilize a two-plot structure, with a primary plot focusing on the mystery or case, and a subplot that focuses on character's interpersonal relationships. The structure of case fics often mirrors plot structures found in police procedurals, buddy cop shows, and medical dramas. 
Case fics may be different in tone to the source material, and often add additional plot elements not present in the original work, such as explicit sex, slash, or supernatural occurrences. 
Some fandoms use specific terms to describe case fics, such as "case file" or "X-File" in The X-Files fandom.
==Its Appeal, Structure and How It Differs from an Actual Episode==
In 2014, a fan talked about the structure and appeal of case fic, and why a good case fic didn't simply mimic an episode of the show itself: 
==Fandoms That Often Feature Case Fic==
Some fandoms have more case fic than others. This is due to the premise of the show, whether it be solving mysteries that are medical, magic, and/or have a focus of law enforcement or detecting.
Some examples are: Batman | Criminal Minds | Detroit: Become Human | Hannibal | Harry Potter | House M.D. | Lucifer | Lupin III | NCIS | Sherlock | Supernatural | Starsky & Hutch | The X-Files
==Frequent Tropes==
Examples of tropes that often occur in case stories include:
* Pretend Couples, characters going Undercover in a Gay Bar and "X made them do it"
* "murder" cases involving Presumed Dead characters
* characters going undercover as prostitutes
* supernatural crimes, often ones that involve vampires
==Fan Comments==
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==Example Fanworks==
===Fic and Podfic===
* Torch's X-Files stories Ghosts and Lovers were case-driven stories that explored mysteries much like those dealt with on the show, with the addition of homoerotic themes and explicit m/m sex (1997)
* Howlin' For You by Lenore (Teen Wolf, 2012): A college AU with strippers, crime bosses, and a mystery to solve.
* A Congenial Task, text by clachnaben and podfic by Sunquistadora (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 2014): Amy & Rosa participate in the oldest casefic cliché of the century by having to pretend to be dating in order to infiltrate a gay bar.
* Professional Couple Only by saltyfeathers (SPN, Destiel, 2015): There's a haunted apartment building in Vermont, and the ad says "Professional couple only". Dean and Cas rise to the occasion.
* All the Best and Brightest Creatures by wordstringe (Sherlock, 2016): Sherlock sent Jim Moriarty to prison for killing Carl Powers at age ten. This is the story of the consequences.
* Criminals & Forensics is a collection of Frostiron crime AU case stories by STARSdidathing (2016)
* (Podfic) Spider's Web by sisi_rambles (Boku no Hero Academia, 2018): When a series of seemingly random attacks all over Musutafu leave civilians and heroes alike Quirkless, Inspector Midoriya is put on the case. [...]
* The Guests of Cloud Recesses by cafecliche (Podfic) by Rhea314 (MDZS, 2020): [...] (Or: there's a ghost in the Cloud Recesses.)
* The Shape of Me Will Always be You by MissDisoriental (Hannibal, 2021 - podfic by Andthe_cellebration, podfic by Kess)
* Bring Him to His Knees by Musyc (Harry Potter, Draco/Hermione, 2021): Draco is on the case of a murderer, but to investigate, he needs a fake relationship - and a kink club play partner. [...]
* Last Night Courtney by courtney-deserved-better (Total Drama, Alejandro & Courtney, 2021): When Alejandro (a fake psychic detective), Courtney (his business partner), Noah (a detective who refuses to believe in psychics), and Izzy (a coroner who probably shouldn't be a coroner) wake up with no memory of the previous night and an unidentified body, they have to retrace their steps to find the killer— which may be one of them. Fusion fic with Psych.
===Recs & Thematic Lists & Challenges===
*Recs tagged Casefic at Fancake
* LiveJournal thread on ds_recfinders featuring many Due South case fics
* SPN Case Fic Bang (2016-17)
* works tagged with "casefile" on x-libris which feature over 300 X-Files case fics, including Profiler!Mulder ones
==Meta==
=== How-To Guides ===
*How Do I Write a Case File? by CindyET (2001)
* by zoemathemata, SPN focused (2011)
* Casefic Workshop Archived version by Sage (2012)
* by agelade, also intended specifically for SPN fandom (2014)
*How to Write a Casefic - BBC "Sherlock" Edition by Jolie_Black (2016)
* by inkstainedcoffeecup, written for Castle fandom (2016)
* How to Write Investigation: A Guide to Doing The Casefic And Maybe Only Suffering a Little by TKodami, written for Superbat Big Bang participants (2018)
=== Other Meta ===
* by thewardlowcollection, a collection of fic recs and murder mystery guides, collected for the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries fandom but the guides are broadly applicable (2019)
* -- discussion on r/FanFiction (2022)
==Archives & Links==
* Case Fic tag on AO3
==References==
Category:Glossary