Fix-it

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Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)Make It Better, Fix Fic,
See alsodenialfic, reset button, What If, Missing Scene, Continuity, What Continuity?, She's Not Dead, Resurrection (story trope)
Related articles on Fanlore.

Fix-it fic, or "fix fic", is fanfiction that changes something about canon that the fan writing the fic wasn't happy with. This can be anything from explaining plot holes or inconsistent characterization to bringing a favorite character back from the dead.

an icon (created early to mid 2000s?)

In some cases, fix-it fic is written to "fix" fanfiction rather than canon. This is most effective when the piece of fanfiction being "fixed" is sufficiently well-known that readers of the fix-it story will recognize the new story as being in conversation with the previous fanwork. This type of fic is also called Responsefic.

Examples in Fandoms

Fix-its for Canon

  • Cori Falls was well-known for her application of fix-fic for the Pokémon anime series, feeling that her favorite characters were not getting their due in canon.
  • The later Fire Emblem installments inspired a number of fans to write fixes for support conversations, character endings, plot points, characterizations, and what they felt was a lack of realism in canon. Earlier than this, a ROM hack called "Restoration Queen" was made for the 8th game by fans who didn't think it was "feminist enough." "Character X lives" fics are also popular.
  • Harry Potter fandom overflowed with fix-its after the ending, undoing controversial character deaths and changing the endgame couples, such as pairing Harry/Draco or Harry/Hermione. Fix-its were so popular that the Epilogue? What Epilogue? phrase was coined.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender was a similar case to Harry Potter, especially among Zuko/Katara fans who felt their ship should have been the canon one. Other fans felt Aang made the wrong choice in dealing with Ozai, and before the sequel comic The Search were unhappy with the cliffhanger regarding the location of Ursa, Zuko and Azula's mother.
  • Beauty and the Beast (TV) fans, particularly Vincent/Catherine shippers, were devastated by the third season opener, leading to She's Not Dead as a fandom trend.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is rife with "[character] Lives" fic, most notably for Clay Terran or Mia Fey. Other fics take it upon themselves to correct any retcons or expanded backstories they felt were clumsily handled, or rewrite cases they felt were sub-par.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender's fandom has been writing these as early as season 2, but they became especially common with season 7, and even more so after the final season led to widespread fan dissatisfaction with the ending. Unsurprisingly, many of these fics involve shipping and "fixing" the season to put the fan's OTP together; this is especially egregious among Sheith and Lotura fans.
  • In Assassin's Creed fandom, many characters received sad deaths in canon, and these are often fixed in fanworks. Especially common are fics which alter Desmond Miles' fate so that he is not dead after the events of AC3.
  • In the Hornblower fandom, stories were sometimes labelled as LKU (Live Kennedy Universe) or DKU (Dead Kennedy Universe) as an indication of whether or not the fic accepted the canonical death of the character of Archie Kennedy.
  • Super Robot Wars, a crossover video game developed by Bandai Namco that features a slew of mecha anime franchises, is an official example of this. Most of the entries included notably have elements that are changed in such a way that would've been feasible to fandom's eyes. Series affected by this include Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Code Geass, Cross Ange, and Gurren Lagann.
  • The Professor's Wife is a popular example from the xxxHolic fandom. Many fans objected to the canon ending of the main story; The Professor's Wife presents an alternate end and has long been one of the most well-regarded fics in the fandom. The fic was written for the WTF Holic Fest organized in response to the manga's ending.
  • One prolific Nephrite/Naru author in the Sailor Moon fandom specialized in this, bringing Nephrite back to life post-Classic so he and Naru could have a second chance and live happily ever after.
  • Double Agent Vader by Fialleril. A Star Wars fixit where Darth Vader turns against the Empire.

Fix-its for Fanworks

See examples of fix-its for fanworks.

Fan Comments

Now, a show can't be *too* good. I have absolutely no impulse to write B5 or X-Files because I don't see anything wrong with those shows that allows me room to step in and fix stuff. :-) But when a show demonstrates such a total lack of respect for its audience's intelligence... then the only thing that can salvage it at all for me is good fanfic. [1]

Meta

Resources

  1. ^ comment by Alara Rogers at Thank you, Macedon and Peg (Dec 10, 1996)
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