Standalone

Synonyms:	stand-alone, standalone ep, standalone story, one off, one-off, one shot, one-shot
See also:	Story Arc
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Standalone is a term that can have two meanings in the fannish community.

Source Text

A standalone episode of a show is one that is not part of an arc (or mytharc). A viewer does not have have to watch any previous episodes in order to understand the basic plot of a standalone episode. Nor would any important plot threads be left unresolved at the end of the episode.

Similarly, a standalone book would be one that is not part of a trilogy or ongoing series (for instance, Georgette Heyer wrote almost nothing but standalones, while Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels are all part of a single ongoing series).

Standalone comics (that is, a 24-page comic in which the plot has a beginning, middle and end) are often called one-shots.

Fanfiction

A standalone fanfiction story is one that is complete in and of itself, without prequels or sequels, and is not part of an ongoing series or shared universe. The author may put "1/1" in the header to indicate that there is only going to be one part of the story, and this is it. Standalone stories may be of any length, but they are usually posted all at once, and not broken up into parts and serially posted.

These stories are also often called one shots or one offs.

Zines

A standalone fanzine intended to be published for only one issue, as opposed to a zine running for several issues, may also be called one shot or a one-off. The term "one-shot" was in use in science fiction fandom as early as 1959. See Fancyclopedia.