Zines and Stories
This is a general run down on
what zines are.
It's not intended to be a complete definition.
Zine
Zine (pronounced zeen) comes from
both fan magazine and fanzine.
A zine is a collection of stories,
poems, filks, and art put together in book form and sold to other fans. The books are
usually 8 1/2 by 11 inches, but there are some smaller ones printed in digest size,
and larger ones in legal or A10 size.
Everything is gathered together by
the editor or publisher of the zine. Usually stories, and sometimes poems, filks, and art,
are manipulated in some way to fit the format the editor is using for that publication:
double column type, size of paper, color or black and white paper and print, or whatever.
When a zine is determined to be 'full' (usually what the editor or publisher can afford to
print, or a set number of pages), copies are made and put together in book format. The
zine is then sold to other fans eager to read more about their favorite characters or
universes.
The editor and/or publisher usually
makes very little for their efforts. Normally, the price of the consists of the cost to
actually print and produce the zine, and mail it, plus an extra dollar or two for the
editor's trouble, which is not nearly enough to cover the actual cost of producing a zine.
Zines usually have a limited run,
maybe 100-200 copies, sometimes less. After that, no more of that issue is printed. There
are some zines that are in print for many years, but those are rare since the demand for a
zine will usually go down as people move on to other fandoms or when most of the people in
a fandom have that issue of the zine.
Here is kind of a potted history of
zines for you. It's by no means complete (That would take too long!), and some of the
dates might be off by a couple of years.
Zines started in the 1920's and
1930's as the monthly, quarterly, and yearly science fiction and fantasy digest magazines
popular at the time. The evolution of the fan zine took a slightly different course from
there.
Starting in the 1960's, when such
fandoms as Star Trek, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. started to emerge, fanzines similar to
the ones we know today started showing up at conventions.
At first zines were typed on
typewriters, and mimeographed or copied, then stapled together and given to friends or
sold. As time went on, computers, scanners, comb binding, wrap around binding, color
covers, color interior art, and etcetera came onto the scene, until zines became what they
are today. There is even a current movement among some folks to put zines on disk as a
cost cutting measure.
Zine Ed or Zine
Editor
The editor of a fanzine solicits
authors and artists for the zine. She may take a story or whatever and puts it into the
zine as is, or she may edit for a variety of things. An editing list might include:
grammar, spelling, content (especially if it's a gen only zine, or a slash only zine),
time lines, plot holes, and anything else a professional editor might do. The editor is
also in charge of layout, typesetting, the positioning of art and filks, titles,
table of contents, cover art and lettering. Finally, the editor binds the and gets it
ready for distribution and may make some sort of flyer telling potential buyers what's in
the zine and its cost. In other words, all the nitty gritty work of putting a zine
together. Many times the editor is also the publisher of the zine.
Zine Publisher
The publisher is the person who
distributes and sells the zine. Many times she's synonymous with the zine editor.
LOC: Letter of
Comment
A feedback letter sent to the
author commenting on her or his story. The LOC may either praise or decry the story. It
might be one line, or several pages long.
Permission to
Publish
This is a very important part of
putting a zine together. Before you may include the work of any author or
artist in your zine, make sure you have their permission to include their work in your
zine. Please remember that the story, filk, illustration, cartoon, or whatever, belongs to
the author or artist. It is not free for the taking regardless of whether or not
you find it on a web page or buy a copy of it at a convention.
Publishing something without the
permission of the author or artist is one of the fastest ways of getting yourself
blackballed from a fandom. It is the biggest no-no in fandom, second only to stealing
someone else's work and publishing as your own.
Anthology zine
This is the most common type of
zine. An anthology zine consists of stories of various lengths and types from several
authors.
Novella or Novel
Zine -- sometimes called a Stand Alone Zine.
The novella is a zine length story.
In other words: one story by one author. The zine may contain a main story and a sequel or
companion story or stories all by the same author.
Most zine editors define a novella
as any story between 120 and 150 pages in length. (Sorry, an 80 page story is not an
novella.)
A novel, on the other hand, would
be any story more 150 pages long.
Sometimes a novella will be
published as part of an anthology zine; it would really depend on what the editor and
author had worked out between themselves.
Story length does not include
illustrations, cover pages, author's or editor's notes, or anything else.
Single Genre Zine
This type of zine has stories in it
from one fandom or genre only. For instance: all the stories might be from The Sentinel,
Will Wild West, or Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Multi-media Zine
This zine has stories in it from
several different fandoms.
Depending on how the editor wants
to set up her zine and the number of different fandoms that might contribute to the zine,
it might have a section for Star Trek stories and another for Dr. Who stories. The zine
might only allow westerns or cop shows.
Instead of being divided by certain
fandoms the zine might allow only certain types of stories, but from any fandom. For
instance, all the stories might be comedies, or alternate universe stories, or even
romances.
Finally, the editor might not have
a distinction on story type, but will welcome any type of story from any fandom.
Gen
Any story, poem, filk, or illo
meant for a general audience, usually rated G - PG-13
Adult
Any story, poem, filk, or illo
meant for a mature or adult audience, usually rated NC-17 - XXX. It may contain violence,
profanity, nudity, or sex. The characters' sexual behavior is usually thought of as being
straight, or leaning toward persons of the opposite gender.
Slash
Any story, poem, filk, or illo
meant for an adult audience, usually rated G - XXX. It may contain violence, profanity, or
nudity, and homosexual or lesbian sex in one form or another. Slash, specifically, is
where the author takes two or more heterosexual, canon characters and has them behave as
if their sexual tendencies run toward their own gender. The object of the canon
character's desire is another canon character.
Artist
The person who produces or draws
the art used in zines and sold at art auctions, or as prints.
Author
Anyone who writes stories, poems,
or filks. It could be broken down by story author, poem author, or filk author.
Illo or
Illustration
A picture, usually put in a zine,
but sold as separate fan art as well. If you ever get a chance to go to a fan art show, do
so. There is fan art that rivals and surpasses any found in some of the professional art
galleries.
A warning about buying fan art.
Some fan art can sell for hundreds and hundreds of dollars, but may only be valuable as
long as a particular fandom is popular, then its resale price may drop to zero. Keep that
in mind if you ever bid on a piece of fan art. You might love it today, but three or four
fandoms down the road, you might find you need to get rid of it.
Another thing to careful of: make
sure the art you buy will not be embarrassing if Aunt Mildred or Grandma comes for a
visit. Some fan art can be very sexually explicit. If you have a piece like that, you
might want to hang it in a more private spot in your home, or take it down when certain
people visit, or not. <g> It depends on you and how your family view it, or whether
or not shocking them is one of your hobbies <eg>.
Beta Reader
On the internet, this person is a
fanfic proofreader or editor. The beta often acts as an editor. Be sure to ask in advance
what the beta reader's specialty is, such as spelling, characterizations, continuity,
etcetera.
Rewrite
Ah, the dreaded rewrite. Some
authors hate them, some refuse to do them, and some love them. Regardless of how they're
viewed, 'every' author needs to do rewrites as a way to improve and polish their story.
Many authors self edit and will go through their story looking for errors, which is a good
thing. Others depend entirely on the editor to find any mistakes or errors in their story.
Whatever the case, the purpose of the rewrite is to improve the story. A rewrite will find
spelling and grammar mistakes, and that plot hole that crept in, or the faulty timeline,
or the name error made when a character's name was changed, and various other little bugs
that may creep into a story.
Universe
The time and place a story, filk,
poem, piece of art is set. It can be defined either by the premises of the television
program or movie it is taken from, or may be set in an alternate universe or timeline.
Alternate Universe
A set of circumstances not defined
by the constraints of the original television show or movie. For instance, instead of the
Stars Wars characters in their original universe, they might all be shown as being fantasy
creatures, such as elves.
Alternate Timeline
Any character taken out of his or
her original timeline and put into another one. Example: The characters from the program
the Wild Wild West, might be in put in business suits, in the modern day world.
Angst
Intense emotional pain for the main
character(s); usually involved in some way with hurt / comfort.
Canon Facts
Facts established in the fandom's
show, novel, movie or comic. Example: in "The Sentinel," Blair Sandburg was born
in 1969. This fact was established in the TS episode, "Three Point Shot." A
story may be canon or non-canon (fanon).
Crossover or X-Over
or X-O
Where a fan author combines the
universe of one fandom with one or more fandoms or television program's characters. This
may be done as a parody or in seriousness.
Death Story
A story in which one or more of the
main characters die.
Happy Happy Joy Joy
or HH/JJ
'....And They Lived Happily Ever
After' stories. Usually (but not always) these stories are so filled with joy, you
think you've been transported into a Musical. These are the saccharine sweet stories that
can send the reader into diabetic shock, also known as smarm stories, and usually
considered a slam, except in Sentinel fandom, where smarm stories are a bit different and
considered a good thing.
Hurt/Comfort or H/C
A story in which one character is
hurt (physically, emotionally, psychologically, sexually, etc.) and another character
comforts him or her. A device used to get characters to express their true feelings for
each other (whether it be gen or slash).
Mary Sue or Marty
Sue
One of the most dreaded of all
fanfic pieces in most fandoms. A story where it is obvious that the original
character is actually the author writing themselves into the fandom's universe, or a
'perfect' character. Usually the original character will have special powers, can do a
job(s) better than the main character(s), is loved by all the characters in the story,
helps the main character(s) come to some sort of revelation, or all of the above. There
have been several very good parody's written as Mary or Marty Sues.
Original (Female or
Male) Character or: OC, OFC, OMC
A new character created by the
author. Some people see these characters as being Mary Sue characters, whether they
actually are or not.
Plot-What-Plot? or
PWP
There is no plot. The story may be
one scene or incident. Sometimes it's called a fluff piece. Many times it's used to
show a sexual scene, although many very funny scenes have been written, too.
Point of View or
POV
This usually refers to the point of
view of a character or characters. In writing, switching POV in the middle of a paragraph
or scene is considered bad writing. Switching point of view can be done and done well if
the writer crafts her piece carefully. Inexperienced writers should not try this.
Rape Story or
Non-consensual Sex Story (N/C)
These are mostly written for the
hurt comfort value. One of the characters (usually the main character) is raped, and must
deal with the aftermath along with the others in that universe. It can also be written
where one of the main characters rapes another of the characters. It is usually created
for maximum angst.
Spoiler
When a fanfiction piece reveals an
important part of an aired or soon-to-be aired episode, before the majority of fans have
seen the episode. It 'spoils' the episode for the fans.
Torture Story
Any story where an established
character(s) is tortured. They are created for maximum angst and/or hurt comfort value.
The torture may be physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, etcetera.
Sentinel Related
Definitions
Babe of the Week or
BOTW
The female actor brought in for the
express purpose of tempting the main character(s) in some way.
Blairy Sue
In The Sentinel universe, where
Blair Sandburg is written more as a teenage girl than as a man and/or is loved by all.
(see Mary Sue). In effect, Blair becomes a Mary Sue.
Damp Not Dead or
DND
Slogan the members of the 'Tribe'
picked up after the ep, 'Sentinel Too, part one.' Used to describe Blair Sandburg after
the ep's traumatic ending and where the fans refused to believe in his permanent demise.
OWW "One West
Waikiki,"
The television show that Richard
Burgi starred in before 'The Sentinel.'
Senner
Sentinel fan
Smarm
Demonstration of non-sexual love
and comfort between friends. In Sentinel fandom, this is a good thing, in all other
fandoms, it's a bad thing because it's usually way over done and saccharine sweet.
SPCBS
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Blair Sandburg.
The Powers That Be
or TPTB
In any fandom, the production
company in charge of the show or movie. These people are 'not' fans.
Tribe
Members of the Sentinel fandom,
originally named Tribe Denial, immediately formed after 'Sentinel Too part one' (the
infamous ep).
TS
Short for "The Sentinel."
YKYHBWTMSW
You Know You Have Been Watching Too
Much Sentinel When....
[General
Definitions] [Zine And Story
Definitions]
[Convention Definitions] [Newbie's Convention Guide]
[Do's And Don'ts At Conventions And On Sets]
[A List of Conventions To Go To]
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