The Fanfictionary - M

[eiahmon]

M

Words that appear in bold are explained elsewhere in The Fanfictionary.

Mainstream - The unaltered, Canon version of a character.

Maintext - A canon romantic or sexual relationship that takes place as the creator intended with no interpritation necessary. The opposite of Subtext.

Manon - Manon refers to adaptations made by movies to a fandom. Manon is considered more reliable than Fanon.

Mary Sue (A. K. A. Avators) - Oh no, the dreaded Mary Sue. The term has a broad range of definitions as the meaning of the phrase changed over time, but it basically means a self insertion on the part of the author. The phrase was coined, I believe, during the 1970's when a Star Trek fanfiction appeared with an original character by that name, though it wasn't until 1974, when a parody poking fun at Mary Sues in general appeared, that the phrase came into common use. Mary Sues have existed since at least the 19th century, and their use is generally frowned upon by the fanfiction community, though many authors see them as necessary baby steps into writing made by a beginning or novice author. There are multiple types of Mary Sue, most of which I will not cover here, though I will mention the two biggest types.

1 . A simple self insertion by the author that plays no major role in the story. This kind of Mary Sue fades into the background, has nothing special about her, and doesn’t try to take over the plot. More common than one might think as some authors and TV show writers have either admitted to creating one or the fans have guessed as much.
2. The more annoying Mary Sue is the most common. This Mary Sue is the one that is: more beautiful than Castlevania's Maria, more powerful than Hellsing's Alucard, is meek and shy and modest despite being more powerful and more beautiful than anyone else, and often either has some weird, ridiculously impossible to pronounce name or an unbelievably common one. Both kinds of names are close to, or, in the case of the common name, flat out the author’s name. This kind of Mary Sue is also the one who: joins the Saiyuki party and repeatedly saves their necks, turns Seymour Guado away from his destructive path, and saves Lord Darcia from insanity. She is also the one who will: inherit some insane powers that no one else in the canon has and manage to control them without ever a) knowing she had them and b) using them before, manage to defeat some insanely powerful villain that no one is the canon could even hope to touch before, and fall in love with, and have that love returned by, some loner like Sanzo, no matter how unlikely. No matter how powerful, intelligent, wise and whatnot the canon characters are, this Mary Sue with top them. She is often also plagued by a tragic past, yet her abusive childhood, life on the streets, and tragic, disfiguring accident doesn’t seem to affect her personality in the slightest. (Especially since there usually isn't any sign of any scarring from said abuse or accident ANYWHERE, nor does she possess any street smarts.) She is either continuously: cheerful and perky, no matter what the circumstances, tough and without the need of any help from anyone, or a whiny, defenseless brat. Very very annoying.

Male Mary Sues are known as Gary Stus and Marty Stus, though they are less common. They are usually quiet, brooding, and dark, yet brave and handsome at the same time.

Megacrossover - A Crossover involving characters and elements from several Fandoms at once.

Metafic - A fic that Breaks The Fourth Wall, where the characters speak directly to the creator of the canon, usually demanding to know why they have been neglected, killed off, or otherwise abused. Common as Parody and Sillyfics.

Me-Mist - A MSTing of one's own work.

Meta-MST - A Misting of a Misting. They do happen, particularly when a fanfiction author that has been lambasted takes offence.

Middle Chapter Syndrome (or MCS for short) - This is what happens when a fanfiction author, usually one who is writing a series or a trilogy, writes poor work to get the characters from one heavily plotted section to the next.

Mirror - A fanfiction where the canon is written through another character's eyes. It can also refer to a chapter in a fanfiction that has the same scenes as a previous one, but is again from the point of view of another character. The second definition can be very aggravating when you've been waiting for an update to a WIP, and when it finally appears, it's a Mirror.

Missing Scene - A fic that explores a gap left in the canon by the original author or creator. Usually One-Shot or Drabble.

Misting: (A. K. A. MSTs, MSTings, etc) - A genre of fanfic based on the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K for short). Usually involves a group of people (either the characters from MST3K or original characters) that are forced to read bad fanfiction by a mad scientist (or scientists) bent on using it to take over the world. and the only way they can get through it and keep their sanity is to make fun of (or Riff ) the fic. Many can be found at SVAM (or Shinji's Vault of Anime Mistings. though the name may have been changed recently).

Mook - A fanfic that has a relationship between two characters that is so cute it's sickening. To be considered Mook, the characters have to be sweet, romantic, and completely head over heels for each other.

Moviefic - Any fic that is based off of the movie adaptation of a canon instead of the original source material.

Mpreg - This is thankfully rare in most fandoms other than Harry Potter, though (creepily enough) I have seen a few in Real Person Fanfics. Mpreg is short for Male Pregnancy and is exactly what the name suggests - a man is pregnant for various reasons by various methods, though magic is usually responsible.

Muggle - A less harsh term, with more pity than scorn, for a Mundane. Derived from J. K. Rowling's term for a non-magical human.

Mundane - A term that refers to the "real life" outside of a fandom. It can also be used as an insult towards anyone who doesn't like your fandom.

Muse - A fictional character that most fanfiction writers claim inspired them. Sometimes it can be a real person, sometimes it just refers to the writer's overactive imagination. Muses can be nice, but they can also irritate the hell out of a reader when the Muse and the writer have a long "conversation" at the beginning of a chapter or, even worse, in the middle of a chapter. Sometimes the conversation is longer than the chapter itself.

Parts I, J, K, & L -- Parts N & O