Original Fiction

The term original fiction is often used in fanfiction-writing fandom as an antonym of fanfiction. Some people use it to mean any professional fiction, but some fans feel that the term original does not suit professional fairytale retellings, media tie-ins, and other similar profic.
Whether fiction about real historical figures counts as RPF, "original fiction", plain old historical fiction, or something else is a matter of debate. The Archive of Our Own considers the latter examples to belong to RPF fandom.
Many fans consider original fiction to be, by definition, not a fanwork. However, for many other fans and entire sectors of fandom original fiction is just one type of fanwork that exists alongside fanfiction. This is especially true in Spanish,The livejournal community léeme despacio mixes fanfic with original fic (rules say "Ya no sólo hablamos de fan-fics, hablamos de cualquier género literario que querais tocar.", which means "We're not talking about only fanfic, but any literary genre you want to use.").The livejournal community recs_ftw accepts recs on any fandom and original fiction, as it says in the rules ("Fanfic y RPF, RPS, y los queridos originales. ¡Todo es bueno a la hora de recomendar!" or "Fanfic, RPF, RPS, and beloved originals. When you're rec'ing, it's all good!"). Portuguese, German-speaking,The Freie Arbeiten category in fanfiktion.de, which includes subcategories for prose and poetry. and Japanese-speaking fandom communities, and in Original Slash and Original Yaoi communities. Jane Austen fandom A Novel Idea, Derbyshire Writers' Guild parallel forum.The Original Stories subforum at the A Happy Assembly fanfiction board. is another community where original fiction is treated similarly to fanfiction.
== Grey Areas of "Original" Fiction ==
Very few stories qualify as "original" fiction, in the sense that the author created every setting, concept, or story trope that appears in her story. For instance, almost all realistic fiction is set in a real city, often in a very particular timeframe. Yet, although an author did not invent Moscow's Red Square before having her characters walk through it, this does not mean her story will not be considered original fiction.
Similarly, concepts such as elves, vampires or wizards are used by many fantasy authors, and are not "original" inventions; however, the usage of such concepts does not disqualify a story from being "original fiction."
== Original Fic vs. Profic vs Fanfiction==
Some fans feel that original fiction is an inapt term for fanfic's opposite—fanfiction can be incredibly original. Profic, short for Professional Fiction, is an alternate term, since one possible defining trait of fanfic is its amateur status. The two terms are not perfect synonyms though. Treating them as such discounts all the original fiction that is available for free on the internet or stashed in a drawer without the writers selling the stories to a professional publisher. The term profic also includes media tie-ins. 
Many fans consider some AUs in FPF or RPF fandoms to be very little different from Original Fiction. See Filing Off The Serial Numbers for a discussion of how these three types of fiction can intersect.
Original fiction is often not considered a fandom, although a piece (or related pieces) of original fiction may serve as canon for fan activity. The exception to the 'not a fandom' understanding may be original slash. Original slash is homoerotic fiction which is written in the style of slash. In journal-based fandom circles, the walls between slash original fiction and original fiction in general are coming down. There are challenges like Origfic Bingo and Original Fiction Big Bang that are formatted exactly like their fannish cousins, and draw participants from the ranks of fanfiction writers and fan artists. In 2010 there a kink meme opened,original_kink profile accessed October 30, 2010 prompting some to think that Original Fiction is its own fandom.
In fan communities where "original" is just one flavor of fan activity, there is little controversy over its inclusion. Original fic often has its own section on fanfic archives. Sometimes this will be an entire sector of the archive; other times, one of the "fandoms" included is original fiction. Often, fans will transition from writing fanfic to writing original fic of the same variety and back again. For example, the participants in Shousetsu Bang*Bang are usually yaoi fanfic writers.
===Inclusion of original fiction on AO3===
In 2010, Archive of Our Own asked for opinions on hosting original works at the archive. The response was long and vigorous.
 
 
 
I'm not saying it has to be now. I'm not saying that there aren't very good arguments against hosting original work. All I'm saying is that we may be too self-centered to consider what this may mean for the Archive's future user base, and you know what? I'm more afraid of stagnation and exclusion than of different fannish modes of expression.
AO3 chose to include original fiction in the Archive, under the fandom tag "Original Works," but the wording on what kinds of original fiction are allowed is vague.
The AO3 Terms of Service FAQ says:
In 2017, when the topic of Yuletide including The Course of Honour, an original slash novel post on AO3, anons on yuletide_coal debated and wanked their hearts out. Three anons discussed why they think The Course of Honor and works like it count as fannish and how it differs from self-pub work:
==Examples of Fannish Original Fiction==
===Zines===
A number of original fiction zines have been produced within fanworks-producing fandom. These have been created and distributed in the same manner as zines containing fanfiction--by the same publishers and writers at the same cons and through the same mailing lists and adzines. (Other types of zine such as SF fandom zines and Riot Grrrl zines may also contain original fiction, but without a link to this type of fandom.) Some zines contain a mixture of original and fanfiction.
* Amaranth (original fiction zine) (1991)
* Imagination (1998 original fiction zine)
* Flight Log of the Atlantis -- original science fiction (1990s)
* Mail Order Bride, a novel that uses the characters (and circumstances?) of Company Business in Mail-Order Bride (trope) (2008)
* MAS-Zine - original slash and yaoi (2000-2004)
* Obsession - Jane Ellicott
* Turn of a Friendly Card (1994), Achates' Quest (1995), Sea of Solaris (1997) -- a novel series (Professionals with the serial numbers filed off?)
* Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization (1932-1933)
*Shadows (Original Fiction zine) (1979)
*The Space Corps Scandals (1981)
=== Archives ===
* Fur and Fantasy's Realm of the Muses - fiction archive for multifandom furry fanfiction and original fiction.
* Fanfiction Archive - included a category for original fiction.
* Impregnorium - an erotic story archive focused on unprotected sex and pregnancy.
===On AO3===
* Burn by Edonohana -- A f/f story that uses the identity porn trope with entirely original characters
* Don't Read The Comments by copperbadge -- A f/f story where a woman receives the ability to delete any internet comment at will. The work is tagged queer themes.
* Breeding Rave by appalachian_fireflies - A slash work focused on the Alpha/Beta/Omega trope. One of the most popular original works on AO3.
* the moon asks a question by dirgewithoutmusic, currently the most kudosed original femslash fanwork on AO3
*The Northern Caves by nostalgebraist
===On Nyah! Fanfiction===
*The Slave Series by dalla32, a slavefic, involving AMTDI and forced marriage which results in mpreg, popular among Brazilian slasher
** O Escravo (The Slave) -- A story m/m that uses many tropes in the midst of a universe science fiction and alien royalty, with entirely original characters. 
** O Escravo II (The Slave II) -- sequence of the previous story, using the same tropes, science fiction and alien royalty, with entirely original characters.
===On Tumblr===
*Antler Guy and Neighbor Steve
==Further Reading==
===2002===
* Fanfic vs. Originalfic 
* Fanfic Writers. Gah. I Hate You All. 
===2003===
* Fanfic has ruined my life by anaxila 
* On Track, off my Rocker 
===2004===
* Fanfic and Original Writing by Magpie/sistermagpie
* Fanfiction & Pro Fiction & Slash by carenejeans (Sep. 14th, 2004)
===2008===
* , by mmmorpheusq, July 19, 2008
* , by sarahtales, August 9, 2008
* by Keith R.A. DeCandido, 06 April, 2007. (Accessed October 12, 2008)
===2012===
* Fanfiction: A Tale of Fandom and Morality by Has (March 2012)
===2016===
* Apparently now is the time for uncomfortable truths because I’ve just had it.; a short essay by seancrosslin on how LGBT-focused original fiction is perceived on tumblr (particularly in media fandom) (~July 2016)
==See Also==
* Filk is another area of fandom with a lot of fanworks on original topics mixed in with ones based directly on commercial media properties.
* Gamer Fic generally features not only entirely original characters but may also have little or no connection to commercially produced game settings.
==References==
Category:GlossaryCategory:Original Fiction