Idfic

Synonyms:
See also:	Drawerfic, Badfic, Id Vortex, Emoporn, Kink, Wallow (genre)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Usually "idfic" refers to the author's relationship to the story, but it may refer to the reader's.

A story direct from the id may (but does not have to) be of low writing quality, but because it satisfies kinks, either sexual or emotional, it remains compelling. See also circling the id vortex.

"The premise is a celebration of those fics you should be ashamed of enjoying and you know they’re kinda bad but you can’t help it, you love them anyways: id!fic."

"The Id is the Loki of our minds, and nothing’s gonna change that. *g*"

Some Comments By Fans

... you may be asking yourself what the difference is between an id!fic and a fic that contains your narrative kinks (I asked myself this myself). In my mind there are two main differences between something appealing to your id and something being a narrative kink. 1) Id-appeal is more situationally specific than narrative kinks. For instance, one of my kinks is babyfic. I don't want to see it with every pairing I like, but I certainly would in more than one pairing. Whereas the fics I describe below are very character or situationally specific. They're revenge fics or fics that rub in everyone's face how awesome a particular character is or just flat-out would never happen in canon. Ever. and/or 2) You realize it's ridiculous. Whether that's because it doesn't fit the characters or it's insane troll logic or it's just plain silly, id-appeal tends towards the ridiculous. Sometimes a really talented writer can pull that ridiculous off (see the fics I talked about above). But if you strip away the great writing the idea itself is really ridiculous.

The idea is that Id Fic panders to the Id, or that part of us that likes things that aren’t always moral or ‘correct’ and bypasses a lot of our moral constraints and strictures. So they might just have like a lot of rape in them, or non-con, or ‘dub-con where the character eventually enjoys it.’ They might have things that we *know* are wrong in real life, but really dig in fiction: like captive/captor, or magical healing cock, or really dangerous powerplay, whump that is just extreme, or even just really unsafe kinks (like no signs of safewording ever). Id Fics used to be considered a ‘guilty’ pleasure, but there’s been a lot of work to reclaim them.... The Id is the Loki of our minds, and nothing’s gonna change that. *g* And indulging it in fantasy and fiction is both normal, healthy, and fun. :)

Look, I don't like badfic; almost no one does. But there's a whole range between badfic and "goodfic" that gets tangled up in embarrassment and "I know it's terrible, but...", and that's idfic/drawerfic. Winged hermaphroditic super-abused superpowered Harry falls in love with his middle-aged professor (who likes to call him "little one" in a vaguely fetish-y way), is forced by Voldemort to have sex with that professor, erases the guy's memory of his "shame", and then turns up pregnant. And there's angst and misunderstanding and then they inevitably have the baby and the happy-ever-after. That is not a story with scads of literary merit. It's not the story I'm going to rec to all my friends, or use to pimp someone into the fandom/pairing. It's not the best thing I've ever read. But guys, I MOTHERFUCKING LOVE that story (and yes, it is totally an actual story). It is DELICIOUS. And so is the Xander-centric time travel gangrape mpreg fivesome story I've read 30 times and can quote from memory. So is the Hermione pwns everyone and takes over the country and has a harem fic that I've never read, yet would dearly like to. Because "good" stories often have to temporize, to maintain reality and your suspension of disbelief and the dynamics of the canon. But idfic says fuck that, let's turn this shit up to ELEVEN and SEE WHERE IT GOES. That's amazing! I love that! Fanfic is, at its purest, an expression of love, and just because it's usually held to some standard of objective good doesn't mean it always should be. So, you know, dear writers of idfic: Don't be ashamed. Take them out of the drawers and set them free. I guarantee someone out there is going to MOTHERFUCKING LOVE them.

most of the fic that I write is idfic. I get to the point where I'm just like "YOU KNOW WHAT, I could make this good, OR I COULD MAKE IT SOMETHING THAT I WILL FUCKING LOVE" and, usually, my desire to be adored by fandom is not as strong as my desire to write ridiculous shit that makes me happy.

Very often I find myself squealing like a banshee and clapping like a seal because of glorious glorious idfic that hits your happy buttons SPOT ON. There are very few highs that can compare.

See, that's the thing: If it doesn't hit your id, it's weird and possibly creepy (there are totally pairings/fandoms where I can read the goodfic but the prevailing flavor of idfic). But if it does? IT MAKES YOU HAPPIER THAN ANYTHING ELSE. Because not only are these awesome things happening that you've always wanted to happen, here are people who also thought that way! Fulfills a desire/de-stigmatizes or implies at least a limited social acceptance of a desire.

I totally get the concept of fic out of nowhere that makes you smile for no real reason other than it's awesome!

You've reminded me of the fun in fandom, I'd forgotten after all this drama surrounding Gabaldon. Sure fanfic can be really well written and brilliant blahdiblah. But yes, crack!fic is also awesome! I want to go write something batshit insane now!

Sometimes you just somebody to sprout some motherfucking wings already, right?

Obviously I've read my share of bad fic and awesome fic that is significantly better then most things that get published, but there's that whole category of cliche/crack/generally batshit insane fairly well-written fic that isn't badfic, but isn't exactly good fic, and is awesome/interesting/fun. I love that kind of fic and didn't really have a word for it. Idfic works and is an excellent way of describing it.

When I started posting my 46 chapter James Bond/Alec Trevelyan hurt/comfort/brainwashing/mind-games epic, there was that sensation of OMG I am putting way way WAY too much of myself on the screen for everybody to look at. I even put in my author's note that I'd freaked myself out. It's scary, but kind of freeing (in the "nothing left to lose" kind of way.)

Until recently getting into a new fandom, idfic never did anything for me — I'm the awful kind of picky reader who clicks out of a story if the characters aren't speaking exactly as they would in canon (unless it's an AU and there's a good reason for, say, characters who make a point of avoiding profanity suddenly swearing like a sailor; or British characters talking like they're American or vice versa) let alone canon inaccuracies &c &c — and then I hit on a set of characters who could be time-travelling winged pregnant superheroes and I would lap it up gleefully. Sometimes it takes one particular fandom to hit your idplace, and sometimes you need awesome meta about how great idfic is to say to yourself "Self, quit stopping yourself from clicking on fic in that fandom, WHO CARES if it's a ridiculous AU and somebody gets pregnant, IT'LL BE AWESOME".

I call it "guilty pleasure fic" but personally? I FEEL NO GUILT AT ALL. Bring on the mpreg and the guys who call their lovers "baby boy" and the emo angst!

Oh, man. I had the misfortune of reading this weekend a very entitled little post about how "You can't DO that type of A/U for this fandom Even though your fandom is made up of grown men dressed up in batsuits, ffs, because it's WRONG and you ARE MISSING THE POINT OF THE FANDOM ENTIRELY IF YOU DO!!!" (wherein I spent the rest of my weekend rolling my eyes and complaining in AIM about how someone was very WRONG on the internets.)

Communities, Fests and Challenges

• Het Id Crack
• Iddy Iddy Bang Bang (mini-bang)
• Id Pro Quo (gift exchange)

Some Example Fanworks

• Works tagged with "Id fic" at the AO3.

Further Reading

• Let's talk about id!fic, ^{Archived version}, post by lirazel plus 89 comments (May 18, 2010)
• This might sound silly, but can you explain what an Id Fic is?, ^{Archived version} (September 30, 2013)
• Terrible, Horrible, Motherfucking Amazing Stories I Have Loved, ^{Archived version}, post by strina plus 57 comments (May 5, 2010)
• Fan Fiction Oral History Project with Kristina Busse (2012)