Using the control that being a writer affords to create a story that addresses one or more outcomes that the author wishes would come about; that is wish fulfillment. There is nothing at all wrong with this, in and of itself. If Real Life fulfilled every psychological need we human beings have, we probably would not want to write fiction at all. Nor is there anything inherently unhealthy about using fantasy to compensate for a deficiency in Real Life; as long as one avoids becoming a Daydream Believer, Escapism and fantasy and Wish Fulfillment are healthy ways a human psyche can deal with dissatisfaction.
Human beings have needs, and some of these needs are psychological in nature. This is an undeniable fact. When a person's Real Life does not provide all of these psychological needs, they can turn to fiction in order to provide for these needs. For instance, someone lives a very boring life going to an utterly mundane job and has no excitement at all. Said person's need for variation and stimulation is not being catered for. Thus, this person might feel very attracted towards stories where an otherwise-normal person they can easily relate to suddenly becomes an extraordinarily powerful being and is thrust into a wild and thrilling series of events.
This, in turn, is why people sometimes defend fictional characters as if they were real, because they are not defending the character but idealized versions of themselves and/or embodiments of their values. An attack on the character is seen as an attack on traits they (the real person) personally possess and/or admire.
While it's a neutral term and an undeniable part of fiction in general, wish fulfilment is rarely mentioned in a positive light in reviews. Usually, bringing up the term suggests that the author sacrificed quality in plotting, pacing, characterization, etc. in order to facilitate their own wishes. However, it is entirely possible to have Wish Fulfillment stories that are still fluid and well-written; but be careful- do it too much, and it stops improving the story and just becomes indulgent instead. The conclusion being: don't worry too much about using these tropes as long as you pay particular care to that balance.
It is also possible for a work to be Wish-Fulfillment for the audience either, instead of, or as well as the author. People whom the work targets will be more willing (to a point) to suspend their disbelief over certain aspects of the work if it means that the goal of the work is achieved. The most blatant form of wish fulfillment for the audience is Reader-Insert Fic, which is literally about the reader. However, this can be a double-edged sword too, as aiming for a too-specific demographic can limit the amount of people that the work appeals to.
Contrast with Sour Grapes Tropes and True Art Is Angsty.
Not to be confused with Wishing Tropes, which is about literal wishes being granted for characters in-story.
Tropes generally accepted to be interrelated (if not a direct cause-effect relation) to wish fulfillment:
- Ascended Fanboy
- Audience Surrogate
- Author Appeal
- Author Avatar
- Author Filibuster
- Author Powers
- Author Tract
- Back from the Dead
- Be Careful What You Wish For
- Beautiful All Along
- Become a Real Boy
- Born Lucky
- Born Winner
- Bully Hunter
- Came Back Strong
- Catharsis Factor
- Changeling Fantasy
- Chick Magnet
- Cinderella Plot
- Competence Porn: A fictional work revolving around characters working together to solve an issue, highlighting cleverness and effort.
- Cursed with Awesome
- Daydream Believer
- Devoted to You
- Deus ex Machina
- Died Happily Ever After
- Escapism
- Even the Girls Want Her
- Even the Guys Want Him
- Everybody Wants the Hermaphrodite
- Expectation Lowerer
- The Extremist Was Right
- Fairy Godmother
- Fanservice
- Fantasy
- Feminist Fantasy
- Fiction 500
- The Four Loves
- "Getting My Own Room" Plot
- Ghost Reunion Ending
- The Gift
- A God Am I
- Godhood Seeker
- The Good Guys Always Win
- Guardian Angel
- Happy Place
- Harem Genre
- Healthy in Heaven
- Heaven
- Heaven Seeker
- He's Just Hiding
- Humanity Is Advanced
- Humanity Is Superior
- Humans Advance Swiftly
- Humans Are Special
- Humans Are Warriors
- Humongous Mecha
- The Idol's Blessing
- I Just Want to Be X
- Intrepid Fictioneer
- Invincible Hero
- I Want to Be a Real Man
- I Wish It Were Real
- Joins to Fit In
- Laser-Guided Karma: Because Real Life feels no necessity to incinerate evil people with lightning.
- Little Sister Heroine
- Longing for Fictionland
- Mad Dreamer
- Magical Girl
- Magical Girlfriend
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl
- Mary Sue and all its associated subtypes (well, except for Parody Sue).
- Moe
- Mon
- New Life in Another World Bonus
- Never Gets Fat
- Next Life as a Fictional Character
- No Animosity in the Afterlife
- No Poverty
- Nostalgia Heaven
- Not Disabled in VR
- Nude Nature Dance
- The One Who Made It Out
- Only Has Same-Sex Admirers
- Pals with Jesus
- Power Fantasy
- The Promised Land
- Proud Beauty
- Rags to Riches
- Rags to Royalty
- Randomly Gifted
- Real-World Episode
- Revenge is Sweet
- Right Makes Might
- Romance Novel
- Sailor Earth
- Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!
- Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!
- Self-Insert Fic
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse
- Special Snowflake Syndrome
- Super Hero
- Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person
- Superpowers for a Day
- Together in Death
- Token Mini-Moe
- Transformation Comic
- Transformation Fiction
- Trapped in Another World
- Trapped in TV Land
- Tsundere
- Unwanted Harem
- Utopia
- Vengeance Feels Empty
- Wanting Is Better Than Having
- With Great Power Comes Great Hotness
- With Great Power Comes Great Perks
- "World's Best" Character
- Yamato Nadeshiko
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are
- You Are Not Alone
- Youngest Child Wins