Fictionfolk, Not Fictionkin

I’m a fictional character in a seemingly very stereotypical fictionkin way. I’m a reincarnated fictional character who went through an awakening process once they were introduced to their source material. I’m still that same exact person as I was before; I’m just in a different universe today. I share a lot with common fictionkin experiences. Despite all that, I choose to not be fictionkin because, in some aspects, the word doesn’t really fit right for me personally. So, these are the words I use instead:

The phrase “my fictotype” [or kintype, fictomere, etc.] feels like I’m referring to a part of me rather than the entirety of who I am. “My [blank]” is how people usually refer to something they have [my house], their relationship with a different person [my partner], one aspect of themselves [my personality], or in other, similar ways. The way I experience Being 100% A Fictional Character doesn’t feel like it’s super accurately described in that manner.

I also have some situational issues with the way the word fictotype is used sometimes, because it can reinforce this separation. I talked about my feelings about this in the Alt+H Discord server, and someone mentioned being asked the question “in what ways are you and your fictotype similar?” Both them and I would respond with something along the lines of “we’re similar because we’re the same person, thanks.”

I feel a similar way about the term fictionkin in itself sometimes. I’m Willow Rosenberg, simple as that. Some people might tack on fictionkin at the end of that, or something similar, and it feels the same as using fictotype terminology.

Some people have assumed I have an anti-kin mentality because of this or that I let the kin for fun community take my labels away from me. Neither of these are the case. All of my issues with -kin labels are personal, and I don’t hold others up to standards like these. I have a more nuanced opinion than ‘KFF Bad’, and while I acknowledge that I probably have some unconscious biases in that department, KFFers weren’t really a part of my decision making process when I decided to reject the fictionkin label.

So, what do I call myself instead of fictionkin?

Ideally, I’d just call myself a fictional character most of the time, but I don’t think it quite works. It feels a little clunky, and it might be easily misunderstood. When I want to be specific about my experiences, I describe myself as a reincarnated fictional character, but I don’t like that as a primary label. It’s even wordier and falsely implies that I don’t share communities and experiences with fictionfolk with other theories of origin.

That’s the term I use for myself. Fictionfolk. The term was coined independently in multiple communities, but I’m most familiar with its introduction in the Alt+H Discord server as an umbrella term for all fictional identities. It includes fictionkin, fictives, people who have fictionflickers, etc.

I was reluctant to use the label for a while because of my feelings about the word fictionkin, but it’s incredibly important to me now. I think part of it is that I just feel more confident in being a fictional character than I used to be. I also love that the term fictionfolk can be used by any fictional character. Not only do I feel less boxed in, but I also feel more connected to other fictional characters who might have very different experiences than me. In the same vein, it also helps me to recognize experiences I have in common with other fictional characters who use labels other than fictionkin. For example, a lot of fictives I’ve spoken to see being a fictional character as their primary self-experience as very important to their fictivity, and that’s an experience I also resonate with despite not being a fictive myself.

Another reason why I don’t call myself fictionkin is because one of my core experiences doesn’t seem to be as central to the label as I might prefer, judging from my interactions with the fictionkin community.

When I say I still am the person I was in my past life, I don’t mean that in a purely abstract or metaphysical way. I mean that I have an intense need to form my lifestyle around reconnecting with myself. In many ways, I might even be seen as transitioning into a fictional character, and that honestly fits with my experiences with dysphoria. I’ve changed my hair and clothes to align more with how I existed in my past life. I want to experiment with vocal training and changing the appearance of my facial structure with makeup. If it were possible to get facial reconstruction surgery and come out looking how you planned in very specific detail, I’d do it in a heartbeat. It’s not just physical presentation, though. I pursue interests I had back then and engage with media like music and TV shows which I might have been familiar with. It doesn’t feel right to go by any name other than Willow Rosenberg or a variant of it like Wil.

It’s not that I restrict my personhood. I’ve discovered many more interests and things about me in this life. But it’s not because I really changed in some way. It’s because both time and my consciousness marched on; the same would have happened if I had never been reincarnated. Most everyone explores new interests as time passes, especially as circumstance introduces them to new things. The longer people live, the more time they’ve been inside themselves to understand how they operate.

I can’t lead a fulfilling life without choosing to embrace being a fictional character in every aspect of it. Some people might describe me as permashifted, and I’m more or less fine with that, but I prefer to think I don’t shift at all. I’ve been myself forever, I just didn’t realize what that meant or why until a few years ago.

I’ve been describing this experience as fiction lifestyling. Something I really like about the term is that it can apply to anyone. If fictionkin have similar experiences as me, they can call themselves a fiction lifestyler. Or someone might be like me and find the label affirming to fictional experiences other than fictionkinity. There might even be orthohumans who resonate with this.

I also label some of these experiences as ontopunk, especially when they correlate with more general punk ethics such as embracing DIY. I think it’s Punk to just Be a fictional character, and I love doing things like modifying my clothes and being creative in general to express myself. When it comes to fictionfolk, I see fiction lifestyling and ontopunk as having a lot of overlap.

I don’t say all this to try to encourage others to feel the same way as me. I understand how being fictionkin can be empowering, and there’s no reason why fictionkin can’t have all the same experiences that I do. I just think it’s important for people to document what words they use, why they do so, and in what ways. You never know when someone else might resonate with what you say and feel empowered by that language as well.