Fictionkind FAQ
In essence, fictionkind are all those who identify as something fictional in some way.
This FAQ was seperated from the other FAQs in part because fictionkind don't exactly have much in the way for community resources just for us anymore, and in part because there is quite a lot that is specific to those with fictional-based identities that deserves its own section.
There are several labels which fall under the umbrella of those with fictional identities (both identifying as and with), and we lack a snappy umbrella term to refer to them all. Fictionfolk has been proposed and is what we are currently using on this site, but has not fully caught on yet.
Many fictionfolk have nonhuman related identities as well, check out our [Nonhuman FAQ] for that.
Some common fictional-based identities:
Fictionkin(d)- A person who identifies in part or in whole AS a fictional character or species from modern media on an integral level. Used to be called mediakin and otakukin before the name for it settled on fictionkin.
Fictionflicker- An identity based in fiction that shows up for a short while, often after experiencing a new piece of media, but not always. May be a brief period of identifying as or with. Fictionflickers may happen because of a different primary identity, or may happen at random.
Fictive- A headmate in a plural system that is 'based on' or 'arrived as' a fictional character or species, but may be more broadly used to mean the same thing as fictionkin but for headmates. A fictive may be of the system's own fiction (Insourced), or from the works of other people (Outsourced).
Fictherian- A person who identifies in part or in whole as a fictional animal. See the [Nonhuman FAQ] for more information about therians, of which this is a subtype.
OCkin- A personw who identifies as an original character from a work of modern media, rathe rthan an existing character in the work. These are a subtype of fictionkin.
Commonly Used Other Terms:
Awakening- The act of realizing your identity, usually a kintype or theriotype. This may be abruptly, or slowly over a period of years.
Kintype- The specific source species or specific character a fictionkin identifies as. This is also used by otherkin for a similar purpose. To conjugate- someone has a kintype and is fictionkind.
Theriotype- The specific species identity of a therian. To conjugate- someone has a theriotype and is a fictherian.
Shifting- The act of feeling, sensing, or experiencing having traits related to ones fictional or nonhuman identity. Types of shifting include but are not limited to mental shifting- where one feels mentally more like their 'type, and phantom shifting(also called phantom or supernumerary limbs)- where one feels like they have body parts of their nonhuman identity(such as tails, wings, etc) despite not actually having such.
Noema/Noemata- The knowlege known about a kintype. Does not inherently involve spiritual beliefs or believed origin of nonhumanity. Also may be called 'knowings', 'exomemories', or 'kin memories'.
KFF- Short for Kin-For-Fun. The name to refer to the group of people who insist that 'kin' means 'strongly relate to' NOT 'identify as' and that its only done 'for fun' contrary to the community history and excluding the people that the term was originally meant for. They often idenify in a joking, ironic, trolling, or purely aesthetic sort of way rather then in a serious one. KFFs are unaffiliated with actual otherkin/fictionkin communities and have simply appropriated our terms for their use. They frequently spread misinformation about community history and get hostile towards actual 'kin.
History of Fictionkind:
The most well known fictional identity category is fictionkin. Fictionkin was a term created on livejournal around 2007 in the community 'otakukin.livejournal.com'. It then replaced its predescessor 'otakukin' as the word to describe the experience, as it was a less than ideal label for many reasons. Mediakin was also used previously, but fictionkin won out the label popularity contest. Otakukin was coined in the 2000s. When fictionkin won out, the community it was coined in changed its name to 'from_fiction.livejournal.com', and was the major hub of fictionkin activity of the time.
While the original users of the label were wholly metaphysically based and mostly beleived in reincarnation as to their identities, the label grew to be more inclusive of nonspiritual experiences for identifying as a fictional entity over time.
Many alterhuman communities were initially resistant and exclusionary towards fictional-identity based people, particularily fictionkin of a particular character. They originally viewed it as 'going too far', but many spaces now are much more accepting towards this.
Around 2014 the fictionkin community suffered several major blows in the form of a tumblr account called 'Yandere Bitch Club' and then later the 'kin for fun' community, which proceeded to aggreessively push fictionkin out of their spaces by co-opting their community spaces and trolling those who were open about their identity. The community has yet to recover properly from this, but its started to spring back in places.
Our testimony on KFF may be found [HERE].
FAQ + Misconceptions:
'Is this roleplay?' - This is very specifically not roleplaying, this is genuine integral identification and experience. Anyone who tells you otherwise is confused or lying.
'Is this a delusion?' - No, not inherently. An identity cannot be a delusion purely by itself. Some identities are influenced by delusions or mental illness in their presentation, but they are not delusions in of themselves. Wether or not they are influenced by such does not mean they are any less respectable, however.
'Is this is a cult?' - It cannot be denied that some spaces and groups are/were cultlike, but the belief itself is not. Cults require a very specific set of parameters, and just having a non-normative belief that you find too 'woo'-ey isn't it.
'Fictionkin are all children' - Many fictionkin are older, but visible fictionkin often skew young as people on the internet who show off their whole lives at a glance tend to skew young, and the older fictionkin are often very quiet about it. Even if the community was new and largely children, that does not impact it's legitimacy as a heartfelt experience.
'You can only have one kintype' - Nope, you can identify as more than one thing at the same time. Its good to question these things strongly to be sure it really fits you, but you can 100% have more than one thing you identify as.
'Fictionkin are all religious/all psychological' - No. There are many schools of thought on origins, and there is no consensus. Some people may claim otherwise, but this is not the case.
'Fictionkin/ficitves have bad boundaries with reality and are just trying to take ownership of fandom!' - Not inherently. It cannot be denied some fictionkin and ficitives have used their identities to try to force fandom to follow their personal preferences and have behaved inapropriately in fandom spaces and towards creators. However badly behaved (often very young) people are not reflective of the community at large and that behavior is not required to be fictionkind and is looked down upon in the wider community.
'Fictionfolk existing is copyright infringement' - ...No? They are not claiming to own their source's material. This also relies on the assumption that copyright is meaningful as to if its a bad thing or not.
KFF Related Misconceptions:
'Someone told me having kins was just liking a character a lot?'- Kin-For-Fun or 'KFF' would have you believe this, but this is not the case. They have apropriated our words and use them improperly to mean this, but that is not what having a kintype means.
'Kinnies are the NORMAL kin, the rest of you take it too seriously!'- No 'kinnies'(a word KFF use for themselves, though not all who use this word are KFF) are appropriating OUR terms, not the other way around. We came first. They are damaging our community with misinformation and trying to make us stop using the label they want and act hostile to us for trying to counteract this.
'Kinnies are normal kin, the rest of you have DAs'- No, these are words KFF are trying to force on us after appropriating our words. In addition, Delusional Attachment is a poorly coined term that misunderstands a serious mental illness in its coinage. Identities inherently cannot be delusions. A post by Babydog on the subject may be found HERE.
'Im a kinnie I have to use these words because there is no other for the experience'- There are actually other words for this. Many have been proposed. One such term is 'clicking' which sounds similar and is just as snappy. A carrd on this term may be found [HERE].
Conclusions:
Fictionfolk are just existing over here. No need to be alarmed or upset.