Genres
Story Genres - Definitions and Examples| Genre | Definition | Example |
| Action/Adventure | Fic which is driven by an action-based plot and/or an adventure-based plot. | Harry had always wanted to be 007. As an Unspeakable, he finally had the chance. This is his story. |
| Angst | A fic with a lot of introspection, moodiness, and oftentimes severe character whinging. | Snape had loved someone once. When she married his worst enemy, he decided never to love again. |
| Comedy | Humor-based fic, or fic that contains humorous elements as part of the plot. | Fred wasn't quite sure what George was going to do with the six-foot tall chicken, but had faith in his twin. |
| Crossovers | Fic that combines the Harry Potter universe with another fandom. | It wasn't every day that Harry would see a grown man flying through the sky without a broom, especially one dressed in a blue leotard and wearing a red cape. |
| Darkfic | Fic with dark themes, such as rape, torture, abuse or similar things. | Bellatrix took great delight in the destruction she could wreak upon the human body with a knife. |
| Drabble | Short fic ranging from 100 to 500 words, generally. | Rocks fall. Everyone dies. The end. |
| Drama | Fic that, generally, is turbulent or highly emotional. | On the train ride to Hogwarts for her sixth year, Ginny wondered if she'd ever see Harry alive again. |
| Erotica | Generally an adult fic in which there are characters having sexual relations, either explicitly or implicitly described. | Viktor slid his hand over Hermione's hip, feeling the softness of her skin, before adding chocolate sauce. |
| Ficlet | Short fic ranging from 500 to 1000 words, generally. | Rocks fall. Harry stops them. Harry is killed. Rocks fall again. Everyone dies. The end. |
| Fluff | Generally accepted to mean a fic in which little to no bad things happen to the characters, especially fics in which excessively sweet things happen. | Harry stood at Ginny's door with flowers - not roses, she hated roses, but daffodils - to apologize for his earlier behavior. |
| General | Not relationship-centric. Usually refers to a fic in which relationships are very much "off-page" and not a central plot device. | Harry sat in the cell, taunted by even the snakes hiding in the wall, and pondered what his life had come to. |
| Horror | Fic centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events. | Augustus Rookwood didn't mind the Inferi, he just preferred not to watch them eat. The sight of so much blood turned his stomach. |
| Mystery | Fic whose plot involves a crime or other event that remains puzzlingly unsettled until the very end. | Everyone was shocked when the woman dropped her glamour and looked, for all the world, like Lily Potter. How could she be alive? |
| Non-Fiction: Character Bios | Biography of a canon character. | Snape: good or evil? |
| Non-Fiction: Essays | Essay on any topic around the books, movies or discussion of either. | The locket: an actual Horcrux or a clever bit of sleight-of-hand? |
| Poetry | Poetry. | Roses are red Violets are blue Slash is hot And so are you |
| PWP | Generally accepted to mean either "Plot, What Plot?" or "Porn Without Plot". Used to exclusively mean adult fiction. | Percy wasn't sure what the noise was until he found Penelope pinned to the wall by Blaise Zabini as he drove himself into her. |
| Romance | Fic depicting heroic or marvelous deeds, pageantry, or romantic exploits. | Ginny always considered the time Harry saved her life the first time to be the beginning of their relationship. |
| Tragedy | Fic in which horrible things happen. | Harry stood alone on the battlefield, everyone he'd ever known or loved dead around him. |
| Trio | Fic in which Harry, Ron and Hermione are in a sexual relationship together. Can either be explicitly or implicitly described. | As they lay tangled together, someone said, "I love you." It didn't matter who, but Harry leaned over Hermione to kiss Ron just the same. |