I think it's inevitable that the general perception will be that nfic equals sexual content. That's the way it's always been in the past and that's the term that most other fandoms use to denote their sexually explicit fanfic. So it's entirely natural that that will be what strikes the mind first when FoLCs think nfic.
The N in nfic means 'naughty', which doesn't help broaden the perception.
Over the years, we've made a few attempts to poll FoLCdom on using other terms for stories in the nfic folder which would be more appropriate. But we've never been very successful. And I'm not sure we would ever be. Nfic as a term has just entered the collective psyche too deeply and been so firmly connected with sexually explicit material that I doubt you could change that now.
But that naughty N
is a bit of a misnomer and misleading these days, at least in our fandom. Not all of the stories in the nfic section are the mind candy, PWP, fun and lightweight romps that were the bulk of nfic back when the term was coined.
Many contain sexually explicit content as moments in gfic stories. For example, almost all of my stories listed in the Fanfic Archive will have nfic versions. It's the same story, just...enhanced.
Others contain sexually explicit material but use it in a more deeply emotional way. To explore other areas of Lois and Clark's relationship or to deal with emotional pain.
And the nfic folder is also for stories which have
zero sexual content, but which are beyond the PG13 limit and so can't be posted on this forum in the gfic Fanfic Folders. A story which might have Lois and Clark working on a serial killer case and contain explicit descriptions of murders, for example. There are also stories in the nfic folder which the author deems just a little too racy for gfic, but which don't specifically have sex scenes in them.
The nfic folder in this fandom is for stories with 'adult themes'. Which doesn't necessarily mean sex.
Whenever I wrote stories in the past, I always started out with the assumption that it would turn out to be 'nfic' - beyond the PG13 limit. And that I'd then rework it to produce a second gfic version. That wasn't because I was intending to put sexually explicit moments in them - although most of them turned out that way.
It was because it freed me to use whatever turned up as I wrote and let me work without restraints on the language I used, the details I wrote. I felt...unconstricted...as I wrote to limiting myself to any rating.
And really that's what nfic means in our fandom. Beyond PG13. For all kinds of reasons. If a story has one beyond PG13 cussword in it but is otherwise gfic and the author feels that cussword is vital to the story and can't be removed - that story will be posted in nfic (and hopefully archived at Annesplace). It won't have any sex in it though.
The challenge is in marking the reality of that and getting the message across to FoLCs. I've always felt that a new term other than nfic would help. But, as I say, I think that the term nfic is just too deep a part of the collective mind to oust it now.
Unless, of course, someone wants to start another poll....
LabRat
