Lingo

As I delve deeper into the realm of fanfiction writing, I keep coming across words I've seen used, but never understood. Thank god for Wikipedia:

Pwn: The verb pwn (past tense: pwned, pwnd, pwn'd, pwnt) as used by the Internet gaming subculture, means to beat or dominate an opponent (pwned can mean "to be made a fool of"). While it probably originated as a typographical error of the word own, it is now used intentionally by many members of the subculture. The term has become so ubiquitous in Internet circles that it is often used outside of gaming contexts – for example, "He just got pwned in that debate", "The hunters pwnt that bear", "Liverpool opened a can of ultimate pwnage", or "I got pwned on the SATs."

Mary Sue: Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a pejorative expression for a fictional character who is an idealized stand-in for the author, or for a story with such a character. Originally, the Mary Sue concept came out of Star Trek fan fiction and described an original female character who had a romantic liaison with an established, "canon" character, particularly if she possessed unrealistic or unlikely traits above and beyond those expected of a character in that particular series, or a conventional author surrogate. However, in recent years the concept has developed a wider meaning, so any author surrogate characters can be defined as Mary Sue.

Another definition states that Mary Sue is any original character who possesses unusual qualities, parentage, or appearance — particularly in, but not limited to, science fiction or fantasy, (whether original or fan fiction). By this definition, Lessa of Anne McCaffrey's Pern stories, Vanyel of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Rudyard Kipling's intrepid orphan Kim, Ayla of Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, and Elminster from Ed Greenwood's "Forgotten Realms" novels and RPG setting, are all Mary Sues. Some have gone further, changing previously understood definitions, and have begun to define any original characters in fiction as Mary Sue.

Male "Sues" may be called "Marty Stus", "Murray Stus", "Harry Stus", and/or "Gary Stues", although the original "Mary Sue" term is often considered unisex. A rarer unisex variant is "Airy Ooh". Authors of such characters (of either sex) are sometimes referred to as Suethors.

In fan fiction, Mary Sue characters are usually the original creation of the author, but sometimes "canon Sues" are created by adapting pre-existing canon characters. Conversely, such original or adapted characters are not necessarily Mary Sues. The Peter Jairus Frigate character of the Riverworld series, for instance, is deliberately based on his author but rarely the focus of the story (unlike Tom Sawyer, for instance — a Mary Sue by 2005 standards). However, there are a great number of what many fans think of as pre-existing Sues in canon, particularly in anime, manga, and roleplaying video games (which often include complex stories).

Some fan critics believe that young writers tend to create "narcissistic" Sues and "unintentional" Sues (characters that develop into Sues due to the author's supposed subconscious desires). Some authors now write Mary Sues deliberately as a form of parody.

UST: Unresolved Sexual tension is a plot device employed in movies and books in which two or more of the characters feel sexual longing for one another, but in which those desires are not consummated in any physical action.

The result is that the device creates a goal for which the plot can advance (i.e., toward a resolution).

The device, when used by a skilled writer, evokes tension in the audience because they know something which the characters do not.