Fanfiction authors often do several stories without any continuity connecting them. For instance, the hero may be in a different situation in story B than they were in story A, while story C will be an AU whereas the first two were following the canon straight.
But then there are some that decide that they want to create more than just a one-shot, or a multi-chapter tale. They instead decide to give their stories a canon of their own, and, as such, each of their stories can pick up where the last left off. They could make a sequel to their own story, or they could begin a series fic (can also be called a serial fic due to the fic acting like a serial series on television).
In a series fic, each story follows a certain continuity with the one that preceded it. In fandoms, these can be tricky to pull off well due to the reader having to sift through several stories to catch up if the series runs on for long enough. Furthermore, the author needs to convey to the reader that not all plot lines are designed to conclude at the end of the story (in the case where a series is planned before the first story is made). Authors also must make readers aware that a particular fic is part of that series continuity, especially if the canon characters have grown into different people than their original depictions by the time the story chronologically takes place to a point where the reader might be put off if they don't realize that it is deep into it's own alternate timeline.
However, if done well, they can be seen as epic pieces, and could be a crowning moment for the author. Keeping someone engaged for as long as a series might last (or, as long as the author is willing to continue it) can be a feat in of itself, but to keep a sense of who the canon characters are while putting new flair to them for as long as it holds out is even more daring. The rewards are great, but the risk is just as large.
Series fics can be rather fun to write, as well, because authors can choose to leave the last chapter in a particular story in the series with a cliffhanger that can resolve itself in the first chapter of the next story in the series. They can also have some interesting situations that the canon characters can get into as a direct result of the story lines arching over multiple stories, and a cast of original characters that the author can be as creative as they want with (within reason, of course). As said before, greater risk can lead to a greater reward.
Most authors will, in this sense, make summary chapters in fics that are included in these series so the reader can get caught up without having to reread dozens of chapters of the previous fics to have the same effect. They can also direct them to places where they can get caught up (such as a website devoted to their series fic) if they are more comfortable with that method.
Series fics can begin at mainly any point in the source canon. However, once it starts, the series can steer off in its own direction with the stories and with its characters. Because of the nature of series fics, more tolerance of original characters, and canon character going out of character after a certain amount of the series has been played out, are given if it's an ongoing series with no set end point.
Compare Alternate Universe Fic (which these sometimes are), Continuation (those can become series fics in their own right), and Original Flavour (which many series fics are known, to a lesser extent, to have as a rule).
Examples
Fairy Tail
- The Alternate Tail Series by DigiXBot is a Role Swap Plot fanfic, switching the main character role from Natsu and Lucy to Gajeel and Levy. The series has three entires: Fairy Tail: An Alternate Tail, Alternate Tail: Brave New World, and An Alternate Christmas Tail.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
- Star-Crossed Crusaders by CandyAshes starts a series of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanfics that are retellings of the parts they adapt (starting with Stardust Crusaders, as the name suggests), starring a Zeppeli descendant among the main cast. New elements that further characterize the allies and villains alike, alongside new original characters, are also present. The series currently has three entries, with each one by far also having a supernatural threat; an element that was reduced in Part 3 and then dropped afterwards.
- Unbreakable Diamond, Protean Rain - Retells Diamond is Unbreakable, with the Original Character protagonist being an Ascended Extra of an unnamed friend Josuke mentioned in the anime's English sub and dub.
- Lacrime D'oro del Vento Aureo - Retells Golden Wind, and the Original Character is a descendant of one of Caesar Zeppeli's brothers that ended up becoming a gangster in this version of the world. Notably has some introductory chapters set before the plot of Golden Wind.
- Dark Mark's The DCU Fan Verse started with an alternate universe single story. Then he started writing more and more sequels, creating the Kara of Rokyn series. Then he wrote the Hellsister Trilogy subseries -plus other fics set in that continuity-, A Force of Four, Here There Be Monsters, and other stories set in parallel universes created by the events of Kara of Rokyn.
Batman:
- "A song of Sun and Shadow": Created by Finmonster, this shared universe has several stories now including Heaven's Light, Seven Days in Corona, The Dragon and the Bow, The Legend of Gobber the Belch, and When the Cold Wind is a Callin'.
- The Great Disney Adventure Saga: A trilogy of fics dealing with a family getting stuck in a Disney Mega Crossover trying to get home.
- The Little Pony Legend: A series of several fics set in a Fusion Fic universe of The Legend of Korra and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- Transformers: Avatar Chronicles. Written by The Bane of Humanity, these 5 fics chronicle how the autobots and decepticons got their wars for power and freedom tangled in the world of the Avatar.
- Project Bluefield is one, featuring an Original Generation of Original Characters who travel between worlds.
- Child of the Storm is the first book of a multi-volume series. To date, it has two complete spinoffs, one complete sequel, and one ongoing sequel.
- Memories of Heian is a series of Touken Ranbu/Onmyoji crossovers. To date, it has 3 stories: Tsuki ya aranu, Mononofu and The First Saniwa.
- A Song of Metal and Marvels is a series of A Song of Ice and Fire/Marvel Universe crossovers. As of now, the original story, A Man of Iron, the second book A Crack of Thunder, and the third book, A Shield of Man, are complete, and the fourth book, A Web of Lies, is ongoing.
- A Gem in the Rough is a One Piece and Steven Universe crossover series where a gem artifact sends Steven into the One Piece world where he meets Mr. 5 and Miss Valentines Day. It currently has two parts, the titular A Gem in the Rough and the sequel Gems Without Measure; A Pirate's Treasure.
- The Multiverser Saga is a series of collaborative fanfictions about multiversal gods traveling the Multiverse and getting involved with different works of fiction they enjoyed, often bringing aspects of different worlds into other worlds, while their enemies do the same in a much more destructive fashion.
- Tokimeki PokéLive! and TwinBee is a Pokémon, Love Live!, Tokimeki Memorial and Twinbee crossover fanfic series that is a crossover between the Main Series Pokémon games, Love Live! School idol festival and it's ALL STARS sequel, the Kirameki and Hibikino sagas of TokiMemo and the Twinbee games that star Pastel and her cousin Light. In addition, it is also a part of the IdolMon Multiverse, a series of crossovers between mons and Japanese Idol series.
- The Misfits Series by Red Witch is a crossover between X-Men: Evolution and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, where the Brotherhood of Mutants leave Magneto and get adopted by the Joes, becoming the titular Misfits.
- Frozen Turtles is a crossover series between Frozen and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) that currently consists of five stories.
- The Lion, The Witch, and The Fairy's Tail: A crossover between The Chronicles of Narnia and Fairy Tail consisting of three stories.
- Avengers of the Multi-verse: A Massive Multiplayer Crossover composed of a series of episodic stories.
- Code Prime: A crossover between Code Geass and Transformers: Prime, currently composed of two complete stories, with Word of God confirming that there will be a third down the road.
- Infinity Crisis: Starting with an Arrowverse/Marvel Cinematic Universe teamup, this universe has been later expanded (whether it was by its original author or guest writers posting their own entries) to include dozens and dozens of other alternate Earths (and introduce as much franchises) who got hit by the Snap. Almost 100 stories have been written in this setting since 2018 and it's still going.
- The J-WITCH Series is a Jackie Chan Adventures/W.I.T.C.H. crossover, currently consisting of one complete story and one ongoing one.
- The Marvel Gems Universe is a crossover between Steven Universe and Marvel Comics consisting of four main stories and two spin-off prequels.
- Fooly Falls is a crossover between Gravity Falls and FLCL consisting of two adaptations of the classic FLCL and FLCL Progressive, a Christmas Episode, and a prequel featuring characters from Rick and Morty.
- Oni Ga Shiku Series is a crossover between Like a Dragon and My Hero Academia, which features Izuku Midoriya: Mad Dog of Shizuoka as its main fic and has a number of side fics expanding on the main events.
- to forget is unforgivable is a My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen crossover series with fics of varying length, from one-shots to multi-chapters.
- Gone Batty (Sefiru) is a series of Like a Dragon and Reborn! (2004) one-shot fics in somewhat anachronistic order.
Animorphs:
- Dæmorphing is a series of Fusion Fics with His Dark Materials. It has a combination of one-shots from one character's perspective that skim over canon events and/or develop them more, and multi-chapter fics that advance the plot with multiple narrators.
- The Eleutherophobia series is both a Continuation and Alternate Universe Fic. While its stories are self-contained, they're linked by a common thread: the real Tom survived the war and is learning to live again.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed
- The Beast Of Gusu
- Everyone Lives With Knives
- And I Will Burn For You
- Lan Sizhui Sees Dead People
- The Same Moon Shines
- A Troublesome Charge
- Twelve Moons and a Fortnight
Harry Potter:
Hercule Poirot:
The Witcher:
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Alexander Pierce Should Have Died Slower
- Assembly Line
- Bringing the War Home
- Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail
- The Making of Monsters
- Second Chances Series is series of fics where Tony Stark's parents come back to life sometime after Captain America: Civil War and deals with the aftermath of their resurrection and the Civil War.
- Whole Shards
Star Wars
Avantasia
- Avantasia Protag AU is a series based off the premise of the four protagonists, one from each Rock Opera story arc, living together as roommates in the present day. It consists of individual non-sequential chapters in "angst" and "fun" collections and several multi-chapter stories. There is an official timeline to assist readers with the order of events. Despite the main storyline set in the present day, occasional dimensional travel allows the characters to temporarily return to their original "worlds" of the albums for additional adventures.
Danganronpa
- Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program focuses on mixing the cast from the three main series games and placing them into three distinct killing games. The current entries are Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program, Danganronpa: Academy of Discontent, and Danganronpa: Semester in Hell.
- New Island Life focuses on a retelling of Danganronpa with the inclusion of Original Character Sora Rikkido and Jiraiya Hojo, as well as few less prominent ships in the fandom. New island Life is the first to be published, followed by the prequel New school life and the sequels New Hope and Despair and New School semester.
- Danganronpa: Memento Mori is a fanfic revolving around Original Character Kaori Hotaru and a whole new cast of students getting roped up into Monokuma's Killing Game, and is the first in a trilogy known as the K.R.D. Chronicles, after the initials of its protagonists. Memento Mori was followed up by both Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod and Danganronpa: Paradise Lost.
The Legend of Zelda:
Like a Dragon
Nasuverse
Nicktoons Unite!
- Time Fixers: Nicktoons of the Future is a Spin-Offspring series that spanned for four seasons.
Persona 5
- Start Again: A Peggy Sue fic where the Phantom Thieves are sent back to the past at different points in time. Each part focuses on a different group of Phantom Thieves as they try to handle the current crisis while unsure if their future teammates remember the future.
Super Mario Bros.
World of Warcraft
- Horde Champion: The series is mostly one-shots and short stories tied together in their own continuity.
All Hail King Julien
- Marooned in Madagascar is a Continuation Fic by WDGHK that picks up almost immediately after “The End is Here”. This story is followed by three more stories with a fourth one on the works.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Learning to Fly is a fanfiction series that follows Zuko throughout his three-year exile before meeting Aang.
Big City Greens
Bolt
- The Bolt Chronicles: While all these stories are one-shots, they interlock chronologically and maintain continuity.
Danny Phantom
- Danny Phantom: Lost Episodes Series is a fanfiction series that is an expansion to season 3 of Danny Phantom, before Phantom Planet.
- Danny Phantom: Stranded
- Facing the Future Series: A Post-Script Season series of fics chronicling a vision of Danny Phantom and how a 4th season could have gone.
Infinity Train
Invader Zim
- The New Adventures of Invader Zim is currently only composed of one complete "season", with another one currently underway, with Word of God that it's meant to have several more after that.
- Ruby Pair is a series of oneshots all set in the same universe.
- The Smeet Series is a series of stories about the life and adventures of Tallest Red's daughter Ilk.
- Top of the Line (Editor-Bug) is a series of oneshots all following one after the other in the same universe.
The Land Before Time,
- Land Before Time Retold: While a Re Write of The Land Before Time, it adds its own twists into the story as well. Currently on movie 6.
The Legend of Korra
- The Saga of Avatar Korra is a series of fics that is an alternate universe rewrite of The Legend of Korra beginning with the Red Lotus's successful abduction of Korra as a child.
Miraculous Ladybug
- Smart Adversaries AU is a series of fics that ask What If? an adversary makes a smarter decision. The series is ongoing, with 47 entries so far, each complete.
- The One to Make It Stay is a series of fics of what would took place after if the band, Kitty Section, found out about Lila's lies and become Marinette's support group.
- Burning Bridges, Building Confidence is a series of fics where Cole, Marinette's cousin, moves to France, goes to Marinette's school, and becomes her ally...in more ways than one.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The Elements of Friendship is an ongoing series of re-dramatizing episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as epic High Fantasy.
- The Flash Sentry Chronicles: is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction retelling in an Alternate Universe with Flash Sentry playing a main role. This story adapts all the seasons and movies. The entire series has been adapted, now focusing on original stories.
- The Pony POV Series. Starting with season 2 of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, and creating its own vast expanded universe.
Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville
- Nihonverse Pocketville is an ongoing Dark Fic fanfic series that is loosely based on the show (some aspects have been changed to the author's liking), and is about Pocketers finding out the secrets of their kingdom and going on quests and adventures so they can receive an honor by Queen Ava. So far, the first fanfic from it is a Crossover, Pocketville Twilight.
Sing
- The Steff Pearce Series is an ongoing series that adapts the Sing movies, adding to the Moon Theater Troupe a teenage skunk called Steff who met Ash back in high school and eventually becomes her girlfriend.
Steven Universe
- Steven Universe: Alternate Future and its followups.
Total Drama
- A BFG's World Tour and its sequels, A Dramatic Ridonculous Race and From CIT to All Star.
- Cragmite Verse
- Haunted
- Juvie Bird Trilogy
- Keepers of the Elements
- Monster Chronicles is an ongoing Total Drama Dark Fic fanfic series starting with Voodoo's Disciple and it on it second story Malevolence.
- Random Drama Series
- Total Cousins Series
- Total Drama Comeback Series
- Total Drama Do Over
- Total Drama Letterz
- Total Drama Nui Kaua Series
- Total Drama What If Series
- Total Shuffled Island Series
- Total Switched Series
- Total Zeksmit Series
Young Justice (2010)
- The works of Angelus-v1 in creating his own Young Justice universe. He currently has 4 fics in his universe with several more planned. The ones created thus far: Young Justice: Darkness Falls, Young Justice Titans, Young Justice Thanksgiving, and Young Justice Vow.