Vas is das Uberfic?

It took a lot of surfing through fandom glossaries for me to discover there was such a thing as an uberfic, and it took a lot more investigation to really understand what it was. (I was being a bit thick.) Uberfics (or "ubers") are most commonly seen in fanfiction for the TV show, Xena: Warrior Princess, wherein certain episodes were shot depicting Xena and company in completely different settings, wearing clothing appropriate to those settings, but still acting much as they normally did. The characters are kept as close to canon as possible, but they play out their lives in different time periods or genre settings (the modern world, the Old West, a fantasy kingdom, the far future, the Ice Ages, etc.). The characters might be the ancestors or descendants of the canon ones, or they might be reincarnations, computerized entities, dream figures, or "just simply there" with no explanation given.

Daria fandom has its own uberfics, if I understand the definition correctly, but there are not many of them. Before now I believe they were called retro fics. One of the most remarkable of them was Greystar's "Daria 3059," a crossover with the BattleTech universe but with Lawndale being a city on the planet Trent, somewhere out in the galaxy. Battles between giant robots are fought with our favorite characters in the pilots' seats, reaching a very satisfying conclusion.

Decelaraptor is a master of the form, producing numerous uberfics placing Daria and Jane in various settings with humorous effect. His relevant works include "Le Morte d'Angela," "Tales of the Missouri Cheyenne," and a host of short fics for an Iron Chef called "Retro Dariana" ("Daria: 1830," "Blimps Over Brittany!" and the bittersweet World War II tale, "Home is the Sailor").

The Retro Dariana thread also includes Gregor Samsa's excellent story, "Ms. Morgendorffer's Profession," about a Daria born during Victorian times. Dervish created a startling and wicked uberfic placing the gang in a Dungeons & Dragons underground setting, "Daria of the Drow."

Not all uberfics are crossovers, and not all crossovers are uberfics. The characters in an uberfic never catch on that they are not in their original homeland, as they were born and raised in whatever new worlds they are in. Their world is natural to them.

It will be interesting to see what new uberfics are attempted this year. It is a tricky form, but an entertaining one, too.

A Matter of Terminology

My first brush with fanfiction was of course with Star Trek, back in the 1970s. It was then that I was introduced to the various odd terms that were used to describe various types of fanfiction, such as slash, which continues to be used today.

I've had the opportunity to read some online glossaries of current fanfiction terms, and it has been an eye-opener for me. Other Daria fans here are doubtless more knowledgeable about such things, but for everyone's amusement some of the better glossaries I've seen are given here.

Fan Fiction: Terms and Definitions
Glossary of fan fiction terms
The Fanfiction Glossary
Fan Fiction - a User's Guide
Fanfic Terms for the Newbie

Except for the gigantic "Fanfiction Glossary," these make for a quick and entertaining read. Plus, they made me wonder if Daria fandom shouldn't try to appropriate some of the more interesting fanfic terms and types.

For instance, why don't we have an Iron Chef competition to write smarm? We've certainly tried crack-pairing, but we could do more with that, I'm sure. I've seen drabble contests here, but only rarely. We could use more uberfic, faanfiction, and crack!fic. (I think so, anyway.) Metafic we do fairly often, mostly as very short bits as Daria and Jane shake their heads over us. Nextgen we have some of, but not enough. And a little lime and UST would work better than outright PWP.

There are doubtless stories of these types already in our archives, but I'm too muddled with my head cold to look them up. Bonus points to anyone who can name examples of the above in Daria fanfic.

Look these up, see if we're in agreement here, then try something new. Just . . . don't do anything mooky.