This style guide was developed by Karen Hellekson, editor of Transformative Works and Cultures.
NOTE
General Information
This style is designed as a guideline only, and users should modify freely to fit their discipline and context. This guide provides bibliographic information that will help readers find a fan-created artwork. Some information that is usually provided in bibliographic contexts is not relevant and may be omitted. For example, fanzine presses often do not identify the city or the state, and thus they may simply be left off.
This style is designed to be lifted wholesale and placed elsewhere, so it provides context outside the fan world. If you are using an established style, like MLA, APA, or the Chicago Manual of Style, then you may modify it as needed to fit their protocols. For example, months may be abbreviated; the order Month 00, 2000, may be preferred; an identifier, such as “Web” or “Print,” may be added at the end of the entry; or quotation marks may be removed and titles edited to sentence style (Cap then all lowercase) rather than headline style (“Cap and Cap”).
The capitalization of the author’s name will reflect her preference. Because many fan pseudonyms are only one word, or because they may include honorifics such as “Miss,” or because the two words together may make a play on words, they ought to be treated as an unalterable single unit, and thus this style guide does not invert names. For fans who use a single-word pseudonym and whose preferences are unclear, the word ought to be capitalized both in text and in the bibliography, for ease of reading.
Fan texts may be considered to be gen, or general (that is, no romantic pairing), unless specifically indicated otherwise. Any term current in your fandom, such as ship, het, femslash, or femmeslash, may be used. If no date is provided, you may use n.d. (for “no date”) and insert your estimation of the date (at least the year) in brackets. For hard-copy fanzines that are photocopied reprints, the original date is always provided, never the date the item was copied.
Note that the social sciences and humanities styles are identical except for the placement of the year. This styling reflects the most recent revision of the Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.). As a rule, in humanities style, the year will always come last, unless there is a URL, in which case, the URL appears last.
If you are consulting a fanzine located in a library’s special collections, the physical location of the document does not appear in the bibliography. Instead, it ought to appear in the paper’s acknowledgments section, or in the body of the paper itself when describing the research methods.
Ethics
It is polite in the fan world to obtain the permission of the person who created the artwork you are citing and to use the URL that she prefers, which may lead not directly to the artwork.
In older fan fiction, authors published under their names, not under pseudonyms. Please err on the side of caution and redact the author’s name to initials if you suspect this to be the case. Similarly, do not post listings of tables of contents of print fanzines in publicly available sites for these older texts unless you are the author or publisher.
To protect the privacy of fans and to retain the fan expectation of privacy even when citing publicly posted items, omit direct URLs to fan spaces, such as Dreamwidth.org and LiveJournal.com. Instead, provide an exact date and a general URL that includes the blog’s username. However, if the author gives explicit permission to link, either in correspondence with you or via a “don’t ask, just link” note on the item in question, a direct URL may be provided.
In the academic world, it is considered unethical to refer to e-mails or listserv posts without the permission of the writers of these texts. Such citation will appear cited parenthetically in text; they do not appear in bibliographic listings.
CITATION
Social sciences style (media studies)
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. 2000. “Name of Fan Artwork.” Media Title [or Multifandom or Media Title/Media Title crossover] fan fiction. [or fan vid or manipulated artwork] Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Italic Archive Name, 00 Month. [omit rest of date if not relevant] http://url_of_fanwork.com.
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. 2000. “Name of Short Story.” In Name of Fanzine, edited by Fan Editor, 00-00. Media Title fan fiction. Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Press Name. http://press.url. [Omit URL; or provide street address.]
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. 2000. “Name of Fan Vid.” In Name of Compilation, edited by Fan Editor. Media Title fan vid. Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Press Name. http://press.url. [Omit URL; or provide street address.]
Poster Pseud, Never Inverted. 2000. “Thread Name.” Name of Fan Forum. Media Title fan forum. 00 Month. http://url_of_fanwork.com.
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. 2000. “Name of Meta Post.” Media Title fan meta. [Omit media title if irrelevant.] Site Name, 00 Month. http://url_of_fanwork.com.
Humanities style (English)
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. “Name of Fan Artwork.” Media Title [or Multifandom or Media Title/Media Title crossover] fan fiction. [or fan vid or manipulated artwork] Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Italic Archive Name, 00 Month 2000. [omit month and day if not relevant] http://url_of_fanwork.com.
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. “Name of Short Story.” In Name of Fanzine, edited by Fan Editor, 00-00. Media Title fan fiction. Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Press Name, 2000. http://press.url. [Omit URL; or provide street address.]
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. “Name of Fan Vid.” In Name of Compilation, edited by Fan Editor. Media Title fan vid. Fullcharname/Fullcharname slash. [or het/ship] Press Name, 2000. http://press.url. [Omit URL; or provide street address.]
Poster Pseud, Never Inverted. “Thread Name.” Name of Fan Forum. Media Title fan forum. 00 Month 2000. http://url_of_fanwork.com.
Author Pseud, Never Inverted. “Name of Meta Post.” Media Title fan meta. [Omit media title if irrelevant.] Site Name, 00 Month 2000. http://url_of_fanwork.com.
EXAMPLES
Social sciences style
Alexis Fegan Black. 1979. “Though This Be Madness.” In Naked Times #2 (fanzine), edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00-00. Star Trek fan fiction. Kirk/Spock slash.
Bill Koenig. 1996. “The Phoenix Affair.” In Affairs to Remember (fanzine), 00-00. Man from U.N.C.L.E. fan fiction. Criterion Press.
bookshop. 2010. “I’m Done Explaining to People Why Fanfic Is Okay.” Fan meta. LiveJournal, 3 May. http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html.
crysothemis. 2010. “Never Quite What It Looks Like (The Virtual Remix).” Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. John Sheppard/Rodney McKay slash. Archive of Our Own, 10 May. http://archiveofourown.org/works/85895.
counteragent. 2010. “Good Fourth Walls Make Good Neighbors.” Supernatural fan comic. LiveJournal, 9 January. http://community.livejournal.com/supernaturalart.
Della Van Hise. 1979. “The Naked Truth.” Editorial. In Naked Times #1, edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00-00. Star Trek fanzine.
Gayle F. 1979. Illustration to “Though This Be Madness,” by Alexis Fegan Black. In Naked Times #2 (fanzine), edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00. Star Trek fan artwork. Kirk/Spock slash.
Lim. 2008. “Us.” Multifandom fan vid. In Media Res, 1 February. http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2008/02/01/us-a-multivid-by-lim.
Mary Crawford. 2010. “Trust in Me.” V fan vid. LiveJournal, 9 August. http://marycrawford.livejournal.com.
Naked Times #2. 1979. Edited by Alexis Fegan Black. Star Trek fanzine. Kirk/Spock slash.
Speranza. N.d. [16 May 2009]. “One-Way Ticket.” Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. Rodney McKay/John Sheppard slash. Trickster.org. http://trickster.org/speranza/cesper/onewaytix.html.
SuzyQ. 2010. “What about Everything.” In VividCon 2010 (convention compilation). Harry Potter fan vid.
Viktor von Domm. 2010. “Imperial Steam Punk.” Dakka Dakka. Warhammer 4K fan forum. 6 November. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/326515.page.
Humanities style
Alexis Fegan Black. “Though This Be Madness.” In Naked Times #2 (fanzine), edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00-00. Star Trek fan fiction. Kirk/Spock slash. 1979.
Bill Koenig. “The Phoenix Affair.” In Affairs to Remember (fanzine), 00-00. Man from U.N.C.L.E. fan fiction. Criterion Press. 1996.
bookshop. “I’m Done Explaining to People Why Fanfic Is Okay.” Fan meta. LiveJournal, 3 May 2010. http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html.
crysothemis. “Never Quite What It Looks Like (The Virtual Remix).” Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. John Sheppard/Rodney McKay slash. Archive of Our Own, 10 May 2010. http://archiveofourown.org/works/85895.
counteragent. “Good Fourth Walls Make Good Neighbors.” Supernatural fan comic. LiveJournal, 9 January 2010. http://community.livejournal.com/supernaturalart.
Della Van Hise. “The Naked Truth.” Editorial. In Naked Times #1, edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00-00. Star Trek fanzine. 1979.
Gayle F. Illustration to “Though This Be Madness,” by Alexis Fegan Black. In Naked Times #2 (fanzine), edited by Alexis Fegan Black, 00. Star Trek fan artwork. Kirk/Spock slash. 1979.
Lim. “Us.” Multifandom fan vid. In Media Res, 1 February 2008. http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2008/02/01/us-a-multivid-by-lim.
Mary Crawford. “Trust in Me.” V fan vid. LiveJournal, 9 August 2010. http://marycrawford.livejournal.com.
Naked Times #2. Edited by Alexis Fegan Black. Star Trek fanzine. Kirk/Spock slash. 1979.
Speranza. “One-Way Ticket.” Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. Rodney McKay/John Sheppard slash. Trickster.org, n.d. [16 May 2009]. http://trickster.org/speranza/cesper/onewaytix.html.
SuzyQ. “What about Everything.” In VividCon 2010 (convention compilation). Harry Potter fan vid. 2010.
Viktor von Domm. “Imperial Steam Punk.” Dakka Dakka. Warhammer 4K fan forum. 6 November 2010. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/326515.page.