squinting at the ‘fix it fic’ tag on any given story on Ao3, trying to discern if it’s intended in the sense of:
- I genuinely think the story had bad writing and I am taking my toolbox and improving it [and i the reader agree]
- I genuinely think the story had bad writing and I am taking my toolbox and improving it [and i the reader disagree]
- The story’s ending was Tragic and I Respect that but also i just want to read about my faves having some kind of joy and fulfilment okay?
- The story’s ending was Tragic and I do Not Respect That please God Damnit Let Them Be Happy
- We Are Literally Fixing The Canon With The Application of Time Travel or Reality Warping or some other Wild Plot Device
- I am going to fix one obscure detail or plot element that 95% of the fandom has never thought about in their life
(because these are all extremely different vibes)
I feel as if type 5 is not necessarily a different vibe from the others, though– it could be the mechanism by which any of the others are done.
….and I may be in a small minority here in terms of word usage, but I always understood “fix-it fic” to mean that something is fixed without canon divergence – therefore if it’s not done via Time Travel or Reality Warping, it would have to be done via some other “wild” plot device like Dream or Illusion or some other form of The Tragic Thing We Saw Happen Was Not What It Seemed To Be.