Trapped in Another World

Synonyms:
See also:	Crossovers, RPF, Real World Crossover, Self-insertion, Self-Shipping, Portal Fantasy, Isekai
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Trapped in Another World is a trope in which fans are transported in some way to a fictional universe where they interact with the characters in a book, show, game or other canon.

Marty Siegrist is the artist, from the story, "Winter of '77' by Lois Welling, in the zine Organia (1982) -- Jill picks up a stranger in a snowstorm near her home in Champaign, Illinois.

It is also when a character is transported to Earth and interacts with people there. Sometimes those people are fans, and sometimes they are not.

These often have an element of time travel or a character suffering from a bump on the head and hallucinations. Sometimes no explanation is given.

This trope differs from Real World Crossover in which characters and actors switch places and interact with each other and with fans.

Fandom Centric

There's a bit of a Goldilocks situation for this trope to work, and for that reason, many fandoms do not have many fanworks that fit.

Since the emphasis in this trope is on the interaction between actors/characters and fans. They do not generally occur in fandoms that very little to no interaction with fans and fandom.

Modern-day fandoms tend to have less, as the fantasy and science fiction element is not there. The drama of a character or fan being transposed to a very different life is not present.

Since the emphasis is on "trapped" in another world, this doesn't include purposeful, voluntary displacement.

One also has to take out the pure time travel and pure RPF fanworks. Having a character simply go back or forward in time in many AUs does not fit the bill, nor do fanworks in which fans simply interact with actors.

Related Scenarios

Portal Fantasy

Portal fantasy is a subgenre of Fantasy fiction in which one or more humans from the modern-day real world are transported into a fantasy universe, where they have adventures. Well-known early examples include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Why "Trapped in Another World" Can Be Popular

• in serious stories, the point may be made that living in a fictional universe is harder and more unpleasant than imagined
• humorous stories may point gentle (or not so gentle) fun at fans and fandom; Mary Sues are often utilized as a teaching tool. (A fan in 1992 comments about a story titled, "Mary Sue": "...kind of fun. The idea of a "Mary Sue" character is so stigmatized that people don't seem to play with it very much, even in this kind of self-aware way." )
• some stories are wish fulfillment; wishing away a lonesome or unsatisfying "real life" to be replaced by a more exiting and meaningful life somewhere else (from a 1982 Star Wars story: "Luke said, "Amy, I'm not even sure I can make it back, or what I'll find if I do." "I'm willing to take that chance. I've always felt that I belonged in the stars, that this wasn't my world or my people. Don't leave me stranded here, Luke." For answer, he lifted me onto the X-wing. "I'm probably insane to do this," he muttered as he jumped up beside me.... For a brief moment, I wondered if I was insane; but only until we flew into the stars. I was going home." )
• self-insertion and imagining one as a capable, valued member of a team or family
• self-insertion and imagining one's self in a love relationship with a character
• returning to one's real life with a renewed confidence and purpose

Examples: The Transported Characters Interacting With Non-Fans

This scenario has roots in many canons, such as many episodes of Star Trek.

• The Beast by Teri White ("A hurt/comfort tale of Spock, his mind crippled, stuck in a cage, on 19th century Earth, while Jim Kirk, his captain and friend, desperately searches for him.") (Star Trek: TOS) (1978)
• Winter of '77 by Lois Welling ("He was slumped in the seat with his head back. His breathing was labored, but other than that he wasn't moving. The dash lights cast an eerie glow on his greenish complexion. It was green, she hadn't been mistaken.") (from Organia) (Star Trek: TOS) (1982)

"Who would believe Luke Skywalker was taking a shower in my bathroom?" - from "A Con Story" by Karla Jarrett in Shooting Star #1) (1982)

Examples: The Transported Characters Interacting With Fans

About characters transported to Earth and meeting fans who recognize them.

• A Con Story by Karla Jarrett (A fan meets Luke Skywalker at a con via some time-dimension snafu, and she goes back with him to the Star Wars universe.) (from Shooting Star #1) (1982)

Examples: The Transported Non-Fan

These stories include people who are transported to a fictional universe and who do not recognize the characters.

Examples: The Transported Fan

These stories include fans who are transported to a fictional universe and who are familiar with the characters.

• Enterprise Involuntary (Being an Exercise in Wishful Thinking) by G.M. Carr ("This is the most lifelike dream I ever had and even when I pinch myself I don't wake up! I am almost convinced that this is the Enterprise and I am shipping on as a crewmember. For all the many times I've dozed off watching 'Star Trek' on TV, this is the first time I ever thought I woke up and found myself actually in it!") (from Sol III #1 (Star Trek: TOS) (1974)
• A Very Active Imagination by Elizabeth Carrie (A young fanzine writer gets into trouble: in the middle of writing, she finds herself aboard the Enterprise.) (Millennium #1 (Star Trek: TOS) (1977)
• One Way Mirror by Barbara Wenk ("It was a perfectly normal vacation day until Jenny Marlowe, a Star Trek fan, was captured by a group of alien slavers." ) (Star Trek: TOS) (1980)
• So Much For Reality, Right? by Jane Sibley ("Then they were there, in the doorway of the small room. Two of them, and I knew them. The one with the black hair and soft dark eyes, and that smile that could melt your heart clear across a galaxy! The other, paler and thinner than I thought he should be, but the same finely-chiseled features and shaggy hair, and the little scar on his chin. There they were and it was mad, impossible, insane, and - oh, my God! - they were real!") (from Kessel Run #2) (Star Wars) (1981)
• Back In Time! What? Again? by Anna Parrish ("Old lady Myrtle Hermogiknees is a STAR TREK authority, fan writer, scoffer of K/S. One day, at a local STAR TREK convention, she is accidentally beamed aboard the real Enterprise and taken on the most unbelievable ride of her life.") (from More Missions, More Myths #12) (Star Trek: TOS) (1988)
• Mary Sue by Pearl Stickler ("The fan in the story is snatched from her home and dumped in some inter-dimensional wasteland, where she meets Avon." ) (Gambit #9) (Blake's 7) (1992)
• Time Will Tell by Bombur Jo (It is about Jorryn, a modern girl who falls into Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings and finds herself living with Frodo and Bilbo in the Shire.) (2001 to 2005)
• Misfit in Middle-earth and Misfit in Minas Tirith both by Doris Beetem the Younger ("When Mom gave me the sterling silver necklace that looked so much like Arwen’s Evenstar, I thought at first that it was a movie tie-in from the Fellowship picture. But no, she said she’d picked it up years ago when she was in college herself.... I was driving home around midnight, creeping along at 20 mph and praying that I wouldn’t wind up in a snow bank, when a pair of headlights came up right in front of my car and blinded me. The icy dazzle spread and spread and spread until it seemed that there was nothing left in the world but brilliant white light. And then I blacked out.") (Lord of the Rings) (2009 and 2010)