Fictionkin Explained
Who are they, and what does being fictionkin mean?
This will be somewhat of a guide and explanation of Fictionkinity from a fictionkin who has been around the community long enough to know what I’m taking about. Please read and enjoy~
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The Fictionkin
There’s an interesting group of people in this world today, who identify as beings from fiction: these people are better known as fictionkin.
To break down this concept into its simplest form: On an integral level, Fictionkin identify as fictional beings such as characters and species from books, television, and other creative media. Sounds simple enough, yet that alone only scratches the surface of this vast community of people. Today I’m going to go into a little more depth beyond what being fictionkin is, and more so to explaining what it means to be this way.
The Otherkin community umbrella tends to be in the spotlight regarding non-humanity or what some have come to call Alterhuman. Knowledge is power, and it’s great to see more information being compiled each day, but the same doesn’t seem to happen for fictionkin. In fact, I can only name a couple of sources decent enough to mention to people as there’s not much out there. I’m hoping to change that, and take away some of the misunderstandings of who fictionkin truly are.
The Misunderstandings
To start off this post, I want to get the misunderstandings out of the way. “How does one even identify as a fictional being?” Is what you might be thinking. And many people come to turn their nose up at this idea(including many Otherkin and Therians), immediately scoffing us off for identifying as characters who are the intellectual property of writers, artists, and large corporations. The one big misunderstanding we need to get out of the way is this: fictionkin, no matter how we identify, DO NOT OWN the character. Period. The toxicity of this mentality, that I’m well aware can be found in some who claim to be fictionkin, is not condonable by any means and not what being fictionkin is about.
There are no if, ands, or buts to this fact. Most fictionkin, the majority can agree, that just because they believe themselves to be the character does not mean they have any rights to it legally or to speak for the character. At the end of the day, being fictionkin is an internal identity and does not have a place of justifiable ownership in this world. Those who try and act this way, are not good people, probably not actually fictionkin, and should be avoided.
Moving on to the second misunderstanding, being fictionkin is NOT to strongly relate to a fictional character. We all know and are aware that fictional characters are designed to be relatable, and it is easy for people who are or are not fictionkin alike, to see themselves in characters and project onto them. That is not what it is to be fictionkin. It is important to establish the difference between relation and identity, which do not equal one another.
With social medias coerciveness, it is definitely easy to get sucked into the hive mind and “fun” people seem to think being fictionkin is, and latch onto characters they like. However, this is where our truth gets lost in the muddled mess of role players and face claims, which are all valid things to do, it just doesn’t make someone fictionkin.
Thirdly, is the misunderstanding that one day when we grow older we will age out of being fictionkin. This is also a hugely mistaken assumption. Can someone realize they are not fictionkin? Yes, absolutely. Those of us who are fictionkin though, will never not be fictionkin; who we are never goes away. There are fictionkin well into their 30s and even much older who can attest to this.
You might, and may have already seen, some people around who will try and speak for us, saying things like “oh I had a fictionkin phase” or “I grew out of kinning this character”, and those people are NOT FICTIONKIN. They never were, and they never understood what it meant to be fictionkin. It is not that they grew out of it, it is that they eventually realized they were never fictionkin to start with.( I’ll also note here that no fictionkin uses the phrase: “kinning” outside of misinformed tumblrkin)
The Truth
Being fictionkin, in the truth of it, is not something we choose to be. We are this way from the day we awaken to the the day we die. Sounds morbid when I put it that way, but it’s the reality of it. There is no turning our identities on or off, or picking and choosing this experience for convenance. Being fictionkin is far from convenient, let me tell you. It is something as inseparable to us as someone who is not fictionkin or otherkin is to their human identity. John Doe is John Doe no matter where he goes, just as someone who is fictionkin is always their fictotype.
Moving forward, we also need to understand that the label itself only exists for us to collect ourselves under and share experiences with one another. Fictionkin are not “fictionkin”; we are people who happen to be from a source of fiction and found likeness to others who felt the same.
That is something that seems to be forgotten, even by some Otherkin. That our community is not who we are, but that our individual identities are. I am not “fictionkin”, I AM the character. The term Fictionkin is to describe our group of people, not the singular person. Of course, we now use the label to identify ourselves to our kind, but the point I’m trying to make is that we are not our label, we are ourselves first.
Without the community, without our sources, without our label, we are still who we are through and through. Our experiences didn’t come out of thin air, and we don’t need validation or confirmation to know who we are.
The Details
Now that the nitty gritty is out of the way for the most part, let’s get to the finer details of being fictionkin. We didn’t come to this conclusion about ourselves without a reason, and most of us didn’t realize what we were feeling was recognized as something from a fictional media right away. Actually, many of us didn’t find our “source” until after we awakened. We already had the feelings, the inclination of who we are, and only found a source that matched these feelings later on.
Could you imagine the surprise? You believe yourself to be this thing that is you and then one day you stumble on it in a book or on a tv screen. Talk about a shock! For fictionkin, it really is interesting, to predict something that happens in cannon, or to already know a place before seeing it. It almost feels like the writers are looking in our head at times.
When we come into contact with our source, it’s an instant sense of déjà vu for us. We recognize the world, the culture, the characters, everything is something we have seen before. And then sometimes it’s like looking in a mirror, and we see ourselves. (For the Otherkin who may be reading this and don’t get it still, imagine if one day you found out your kintype was a character or a creature in a book. I’m sure you would be just as surprised!)
That is essentially what it is like for us. We didn’t just hop on a bandwagon and choose a character we relate to or wish to represent ourselves with, we were the character all along. It’s involuntary and outside of our control.
The Meaning
In the daily life of fictionkin, the meaning is found in knowing ourselves and who we are. It’s waking up and going about our daily lives as our true selves, whether others see it or not. There is no action, or excitement or daily activity of doing “fictionkin things”, it’s a constant state of being for us.
From waking moment to tucking in for sleep at night, our identities do not cease. There really is no other way of explaining it, and it can be difficult for people who are not fictionkin to understand. We really can’t change who we are, as that’s something fundamental to what being fictionkin really means.
It can certainly be a tough pill to swallow, for fictionkin and non-fictionkin alike. Honestly, it is not uncommon for fictionkin to be in denial of themselves for the very fear of being seen as “faking” or that they are not as legitimate as Otherkin or Therians. The stigma and misinterpreted meaning of fictionkinity has hurt our community that way.
Regardless, it is up to us to retain our meaning in our identities whether people accept us or not. We do understand that not everyone is going to agree with our beliefs about ourselves, and honestly no one has to believe we are our fictotypes. Being fictionkin isn’t about acceptance from others, it’s simply about being who we are. We don’t need someone’s approval.
The Explanation
Now, moving past the who we are part of this, is the explanation of why we are this way. This really varies from one of us to the next as not all fictionkin share the same beliefs. Some will say it is spiritual and use the multiverse theory to back themselves in why that’s possible, and others will say it is completely psychological. No matter how they explain it, they are still fictionkin. It is not how we came to be this way that matters, it is what we are experiencing and our identity itself.
Someone who believes they were Steven Universe in a past life and still currently identifies as that character is fictionkin. Someone who has come to think that they psychologically imprinted on Steven Universe and identifies as that character currently is fictionkin. The “how” is a variable, but the “what” is the constant in the equation that makes up being fictionkin in whole.
Bottom line is that the “what” the individual is experiencing is made up of these 3 stagnant points:
1. The identity is of a fictional being.
2. The identity is involuntary and unchosen.
3. The identity is an integral part of the individual and can not be separated from them.
In order to be considered fictionkin, the individual must adhere to these 3 requirements, the rest is all variable from there. This is something that makes up the entirety of what our community is based around. To try and change that, and to make up what you want it to be, is appropriating our community. If you don’t fit those 3 things.. you are simply not fictionkin.
We are not your aesthetic, we are not your game, and we are not your popularity device. We are fictionkin and we can not change who we are.
In Conclusion
Breaking all of that information down, I hope that there is now a more clear understanding to what being fictionkin means to us. That through all the misinformation, and tropes of trolls who pretend to be us; that clarity will prevail and information on the truth of fictionkin will be more easily accessible.
This is to new fictionkin, old fictionkin, and curious non-fictionkin who wanted to know more. This is our truth. This is who fictionkin really are.
Let truth prevail~
-Zaphaera