Text Fic

Tropes and genres
Tropes and genres
Synonym(s)	texting fic, texting AU, chat style, chat-style, chat room, chat fic
Related tropes/genres	Phones in Fanworks, Get together fic
See also	Alternate Universe
	Related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Variations; 2 Examples; 3 Resources;

A text fic resembles a log of two or more characters texting each other. It may be written entirely in the form of text messages, or it may contain narrated passages.

The term often implies that the characters started texting by coincidence and are getting to know each other, meeting in real life at some point, and in the end find themselves in a relationship.

A popular subtrope is "texting the wrong number", other examples for coincidentally acquired numbers include a number written in a library book, matchmaking scenarios gone wrong, and finding a sketchbook, calendar or other item with the owner's contact information.

Often, the different characters' messages are represented by bold and italic font at first, and each new character that joins the conversation gets a new combination of bold, italic, underlined writing.

Many text fics are AUs, because the characters meet in different ways than they do in canon. In some cases, the mere existence of mobile phones leads to a modern AU, muggle AU or needs a different creative explanation.

Variations

Faked screenshots of text conversations between characters (or screenshots of in-character texting) are popular in many fandoms and usually the main difference is that these are much shorter, and often lead up to a punchline (e.g. lexa buys (a) fish.). Sometimes, these conversations are part of a social media-edit, including things like a character's instagram page or tumblr header. Sometimes they are closer to the Texts From Last Night Meme. Some, however, tell a complete (often multi-part) story and can only be distinguished from traditional text fics by medium.

Chat style refers to fanfiction that takes place in a chat room and looks like a chat log, including dialogue as well as automated messages like "xy left the room". With traditional chats becoming less popular and traditional texting being partially replaced by chat apps like Whatsapp, Telegram and Signal, the boundaries between text fics and chat fics are blurring.

Examples

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Assassin's Creed:

Texts From Last Night by fireinmyveins, 2017. Crack short fic, multipairing.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Texts from Fodlan by an assortment of Tumblr users
one eye open by unsungillumination, 2019

Glee

Little Numbers by iknowitainteasy, 2012

Haikyuu!!

new phone who dis by meruemsthighs, 2016
two cats by rideahorse, 2016
The Kids Don't Stand a Chance by AngryKitten, 2016

Harry Potter:

Text Talk by merlywhirls, 2014
Of Leaves and Stars by irrationalmoony and LadyAmina, 2016. Not unusual for text fics, this one is an edited version of a role play between the authors.

Sherlock