A
Lemon is a
Fan Fic with
explicit sexual content. This can range from
plot-what-plot screwfests with no justification, to exquisitely plotted and crafted stories that just happen to follow their participants into the bedroom (and through the subsequent action therein) on a regular basis. Once a common term, it's now less frequently seen, though by no means extinct.
Can be used as a noun and an adjective interchangeably: "It's a Lemon story" and "It's a Lemon" are functionally equivalent. Those fond of Lemons refer to it as 'Lemony Goodness'. Surprisingly, the term is
not automatically synonymous with "bad", or even "vulgar". Of course, somebody venturing into sex scenes for the first time may see a fic as a lemon, while a more experienced reader may consider it a
Lime.
The term was originally specific to the
anime fanfiction community, although by the early-middle 2000s it had spread to other fandoms as an alternative to just calling something
porn or
smut. The origin of the term is obscure, but the most common etymology traces it back to the classic
hentai anime series
Cream Lemon, by way of an early mailing list for publishing erotic anime fanfic, called "The Lemon List" in its honor. The term derives from the idea that like a lemon, sexuality looks beautiful and alluring, but when you experience it more directly, it's bitter and sour.
While the complementary term
Lime still has some usage, there was actually at one time an entire "
Citrus Scale
" with various fruit code names.
The trope has nothing to do with the
Lemony Narrator, although combining the two would be quite interesting, especially if it were in a
Fan Fic featuring
30 Rock's Liz Lemon. Possibly
shipped with
Cure Lemonade.
Not to be confused with those tasty, tasty fruits, the slang term for
a lousy car, the Russian term for a million dollars (
or a hand grenade), OR pictures of old men having a
party. Has nothing to do with
burning your house down with the aforementioned yellow fruits.
Compare
Lime,
Porn Without Plot. See also
Slash Fic,
Doujinshi,
Rule 34. Frequently found in
Kink Memes. See
IKEA Erotica for one of the more common ways these stories can go wrong.
For the love of everything decent in this world,
No Examples, Please.
