Enjoy!

It was a fairly informal party.

Ship: Not a sea-going vessel, but a romantic/sexual relationship (though Nimbus gifted us with a wonderful thread on this here forum titled "What's your favourite ship?")

I was a poor noob back then. Now I think twice.

We can be asshats sometimes. But it's all in good fun. :)

Now, that's the second time I've heard the phrase Asshat and it is only on the internet I've heard it! Perhaps that should be in the glossary index! Though I think I have a reasonable idea of what it means.

It was a fairly informal party.

And a short one, it would appear.

Indeed.

Yeah, someone like Virtuella might know all manners of useless things.

Randy too, because I've been around since fanfic was written on . . . paper. Paper made from mashed baby dinosaurs.

Let me elaborate and comment on your list, V:

OC: original character, which ironically means a character not part of the original work, but rather a creation of the fanfic author. They come in two flavours, OFC and OMC, i.e. girls and boys. For an original character who does not take part in a romance with a canon character, I use simply OC. To me, OFC or OMC means there's going to be some lovin' going on.

AU: Alternative Universe, i.e. a story based on the premise that something is significantly different from the original work. Writing what would happen if Vimes had stayed in Ankh-Morpork in Jingo would be a cool AU. In the old days, this was called Mirror/Mirror after an episode of Star Trek in which the crew traveled into an alternate universe. Now that fandoms have expanded and M/M means something else entirely, it is not used.

Gapfiller: A story that explores aspects of the original work which are glossed over or only implied by the original author.

Oneshot: Short story I disagree with this usage. To me, 'oneshot' means a piece of work not related to an author's other visions of the fandom universe. In other words, it stands alone. My story, Bittersweet, would be an example of a oneshot, since it doesn't mesh with my official treatment of the POTC canon. Now, I see people using the term to describe short, one-chapter stories, but they aren't really familiar with the semantics of the word.

Ficlet: A short oneshot, usually less than 100 words long

Drabble: fanfiction work of 100 words length.

Slash: Story that includes male/male realtionships (or female/female, this is usually called femslash) This is from the '/' between the old K/S (Kirk/Spock). As a purist (see above with 'oneshot') i think this should apply only to sexual relationships between two canon characters not paired in the source material. But people use it to describe any same-sex relationship, as in "Our archive forbids slash," so who am I to swim against the tide?

~O~

And now, some more fannish jargon for you:

Mary-Sue/Gary Stu: a character so incredible perfect as to be laughable. They are always incredibly beautiful, incredibly smart -- to the point where they upstage the canon characters -- and everybody in the story loves them and is in awe of their general wonderfulness. This is the intent of the author, for whom the Sue is a thinly disguised version of him/herself inperfect form (or god forbid, a love object) but the reader eventually wishes s/he would fall off a cliff. Some famous Sues/Stus from fiction are Ayla from Jean Auel's Earth's Children series, Anne Rice's Lestat (get a room, you two!) and Stephenie Meyers' Edward Cullen. A Stu played for laughs was Dr. Richard Stone, the impossibly perfect second husband of Marttin Tupper's ex-wife in HBO's Dream On. We never saw Richard, because he was always off ministering to starving children in Africa or accepting the Nobel Prize.

Self Insert: See above. Unless you're really careful about it or play it for laughs. Our own Ignoble Bard did this in A Texas Gayboy in King Thranduil's Court, which is a brilliant send-up of the Sue genre.

GIME: Girl in Middle-earth. Modern day girl falls into Middle-earth, usually to shag Legolas.

Bamf: Modern day person ends up in a fictional universe. Not LOTR specific.

PWP: Porn Without Plot. Two people shag, with much purple prose. You could insert the name of any canon character from any fandom without materially changing the story.

Lemon: Sexually explicit story.

Yaoi: M/M, with an exaggerated dominant/submissive element.

And finally, for Ham . . .

Asshat: Someone who has their head where the sun don't shine.

I don't think the core idea of the Mary Sue is perfection, I think it's the way she warps canon.

I don't think the core idea of the Mary Sue is perfection, I think it's the way she warps canon.

Partly. One of the objections to them is the way they hog the limelight.

However, the term originates from a satirical StarTrek fanfic, about Ensign Mary Sue Parker(?), who was lovely, brilliant (Star Fleet's youngest commissioned officer), desirable (she had a romance with someone), so popular that they all were falling at her feet, and she died heroically while saving the ship and all aboard. That author hit every stereotype.

I object to the term myself, because not every original character fits the bill.

Indeed, but I've seen quite a few that were not images if perfection, but stilled hogged all the attention.

Incidentally, I've written a Mary Sue that is rather popular.

Incidentally, I've written a Mary Sue that is rather popular.

Are you really sure she was a 'Sue', though? Yes, she was a romantic interest, but one hopes she was a believable character.

She is a Sue by some definitions and not by others. She is very definitely the self-insert character that allowed me to "get" the canon character I fancy.

Thank you all! The glass through which I see is made clearer. Now to find one to drink out of, while I seek to make Philip Holtack (my alter ego in Ankh-Morpork) somewhat less of a candidate for Patrician. Vetinari wouldn't stand for it anyway, and herein lies an intriguing plot point. He is not being reelased on probation and an angel (having brought a Gonne into the Discworld and used it) without being closely observed, oh no. I think, as a guest at Ramkin Manor, he will take care to smarm up to Sybil and he will take an instant and abiding interest in swamp dragons. He will soon realise he is in a liberally run but still efficient open prison, at the Patrician's request. Willikins will be watching and will actively deter him from leaving the premises without either Sam's explicit permission or a Watch escort. Other friends he has made - even Assassins - will be invitied to visit, but he will discover something interesting and disconcerting about Jocasta. And of course there are the other members of Seven Platoon who fell through onto the Discworld...

I still think he should get together with Jocasta.

Randy, when the Rant thread eventually runs out of space, could its successor be called, 'Arse, Arse and Arse again: The Rant thread Mk II'

Hm. The effect would be different, though. FFN is not nanny-filtering "arse", apparently.

No, but it has a nice ring to it. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck doesn't work.

*snort* I wondered what the asterisks were... ;P

*automatic response* Thats what she said. ;P

Randy, could we have a thread called 'Admiring creation: the thread of beautiful places (and people if you so wish, though that ones more an afterthought)'

Am I the only one who wishes they had light/dark option for the forums as well.

I request a random or food fantasy (dreaming of food) thread.

We had a recipe thread, but it fell victim to the Thanksgiving purge. Let me think of a good title and I'll resurrect it. And you can be random in the spam thread if you want.

Could we have a thread for favourite actors/actresses (not just based on looks).

Could we have a thread for favourite actors/actresses (not just based on looks).

Is there some ugly actress you're particularly fond of?

No, its just that I didn't want people to automatically gravitate to the best looking actors and actresses.

No, its just that I didn't want people to automatically gravitate to the best looking actors and actresses.

I was teasing, I know what you meant. There are a lot of good character actors out there who don't get enough recognition. But what would we discuss?

Actors that we think are talented. *shrugs*

Actors that we think are talented. *shrugs*

Then go for it I say!

Actresses.... A discussion forum on All Time Sexiest French Actress. perchance... after long deliberation my list, drawn from several decades of time and space, might run

i) Stephane Audran;

ii) Annie Girardot;

iii) Catherine Deneuve;

iv) Jeanne Moreau;

v) Miou-Miou;

vi) Isabelle Huppert;

vii} Bardot;

viii} Bulle Ogier;

ix) Emmanuelle Beart.

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