I've been kicking an AU around for a while now, too. I've written wee snips of it for the ds_aprilfools thing. So this is a wonderfully timely post. Thank you!
I was asked why I didn't want to write it as original fic by a friend I was discussing it with. My answer was that the characters where not mine. I didn't make them who they are. I merely chose to put them in different places. So to take that and call it my own would be dishonest.
She then asked why I didn't change them and make them mine. Which is an entirely plausible question, the answer to which is... because I don't want to explore what other characters would do in this world. I want to play with RayK and Fraser. So fanfic it is
( ... )
Ooooh, you have? Coool! And it's a pleasure, nice to know there are other lunatics out there *g*
And yes, the original fic can be answered with that- it's a specific character's reactions, and one who has sprung fully formed into the story. A different person would become a different thing.
And yes, it's good in AUs to see how much one character's changed life can affect the characters who remain.
God, excessive exposition. It's so hard to keep it at the right level, and the hockey au is a towering example for us all *sigh* (but only from the ohmigod, benchmark perspective)
I'm glad you've got some things to think about, and yes, mmmmfraserasacellist
Anyway. Aside from that, what I'd been going to say was, stepping away from Due South for a minute, because I tend to be the most emotional about that... you know that Starsky & Hutch AU _unhurt_ was reading recently, where it's set in 2077 and the Roman Empire never collapsed and Starsky is still named Starsky and Hutch is Norwegian and
( ... )
You are the *best* at getting right to the point of something important, you know?
so it's back to the old historical fiction challenge of writing in a way that sounds compatible with the setting, but is much closer to modern language than the real thing.See, this is where I'd mention my dream of an Arthurian AU for due South. But it won't work, because a) no one would want to wade through the language and dialects (Ray Kowalski would *totally* use the language of the Pearl Poet, while Vecchio would speak Chaucerian Middle English, and Fraser would probably speak courtly French), and b) if I wrote it using modern language, I'd be annoyed and never finish it
( ... )
A due South arthurian AU- the thought fills me with utter and wonderful glee, but yes, trepidation. The dialects of something like thatwould be like stepping right into the middle of the academic war about translation, and what is allowable and what isn't (Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, for example) Historical AUs do present a challenge that the canon might...it might not be able to take it. It depends how much you think RayK's idiomatic way of speaking is integral to his character, or if it's more his way of thinking.
And alternate reality *facepalm* that's what I was trying to think of, but I think I'll leave it like that and plead ignorance. The laguage issue is one different writers have different standards on, but knowing how shirty I got over Shakespeare's treatment of the Welsh in Henry V (Fluellen, honestly, how many look yous do you want to use?) I completely sympathise.
The dialects of something like that would be like stepping right into the middle of the academic war about translation, and what is allowable and what isn't
It's really more of a pipe dream for that very reason--I would want to avoid the translation issues by, you know, not translating. Just writing it in the proper languages, and fixing the dialects that way.
(Beowulf is a whole *other* story. A story that I suspect I'll never write, even though the prompt is terribly tempting. And for the record, Heaney's Beowulf is no more problematic than any number of prose translations that *didn't* get slammed for playing fast and loose with the text. /rant
( ... )
Aww, thank you! It was a great quesion, and one I hope I answered at least slightly for you. Writing this essay did kinda bring home the sheer vastness of it all (in a slightly scary way), and crystallised the whole 'character/experience' things that hadn't really been clear in my head before. So it goes further than just keeping things in character, alas *g*
Yay, this is so interesting! I have a small handful of AUs, although I should probably preface this comment by distinguishing between Alternate Universes and Alternate Realities. In other words, Current, my Spanish Civil War AU is a time and place entirely different from the show. But Blood Sugar is an alternate reality, where Frannie is Detective Vecchio and Meg is Constable Thatcher -- the setting and basic premise of the universe (Canadian Mountie comes to Chicago on the trail of the killers of her father and remains as a liason, et cetera) are the same as in canon
( ... )
Oooh, I am bookmarking those to read- not only do I get great thoughts from this, I get more fics *wins*. Blood sugar sounds amazing- I'm really looking forward to that
The 'feel' of the due South fic- now that's an interesting point. I mean, the extra idea of having the plot ingredients of an episode means that for a fic to...qualify isn't quite the right word...be percieved as a due South fic, it should have these things. Perhaps a deviance from the accepted style is also a thing to be paying attention to, althout that makes it sound proscribed. Some AU fics include the 'magical realism', some don't- strange loops doesn't, and the hockey au might not either, and you're right, the feel of these fics is different, although not in any way lacking for it.
Name changes and the importance of national identity are issues that need seperate posts, nay, communities to debate. I suspect that as a welsh peson, I don't have the tools necessary to debate this, but it's definitely a cause for much pondering *g*
Hehe, it's a wonderful life is something I would like to see dS crossover of written. I figure if I send out enough subliminal messages, someone's going to pick up on it eventually *g*
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I was asked why I didn't want to write it as original fic by a friend I was discussing it with. My answer was that the characters where not mine. I didn't make them who they are. I merely chose to put them in different places. So to take that and call it my own would be dishonest.
She then asked why I didn't change them and make them mine. Which is an entirely plausible question, the answer to which is... because I don't want to explore what other characters would do in this world. I want to play with RayK and Fraser. So fanfic it is ( ... )
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And yes, the original fic can be answered with that- it's a specific character's reactions, and one who has sprung fully formed into the story. A different person would become a different thing.
And yes, it's good in AUs to see how much one character's changed life can affect the characters who remain.
God, excessive exposition. It's so hard to keep it at the right level, and the hockey au is a towering example for us all *sigh* (but only from the ohmigod, benchmark perspective)
I'm glad you've got some things to think about, and yes, mmmmfraserasacellist
From the bottom, G,D,A and E, a fifth apart.
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Anyway. Aside from that, what I'd been going to say was, stepping away from Due South for a minute, because I tend to be the most emotional about that... you know that Starsky & Hutch AU _unhurt_ was reading recently, where it's set in 2077 and the Roman Empire never collapsed and Starsky is still named Starsky and Hutch is Norwegian and ( ... )
Reply
so it's back to the old historical fiction challenge of writing in a way that sounds compatible with the setting, but is much closer to modern language than the real thing.See, this is where I'd mention my dream of an Arthurian AU for due South. But it won't work, because a) no one would want to wade through the language and dialects (Ray Kowalski would *totally* use the language of the Pearl Poet, while Vecchio would speak Chaucerian Middle English, and Fraser would probably speak courtly French), and b) if I wrote it using modern language, I'd be annoyed and never finish it ( ... )
Reply
And alternate reality *facepalm* that's what I was trying to think of, but I think I'll leave it like that and plead ignorance. The laguage issue is one different writers have different standards on, but knowing how shirty I got over Shakespeare's treatment of the Welsh in Henry V (Fluellen, honestly, how many look yous do you want to use?) I completely sympathise.
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It's really more of a pipe dream for that very reason--I would want to avoid the translation issues by, you know, not translating. Just writing it in the proper languages, and fixing the dialects that way.
(Beowulf is a whole *other* story. A story that I suspect I'll never write, even though the prompt is terribly tempting. And for the record, Heaney's Beowulf is no more problematic than any number of prose translations that *didn't* get slammed for playing fast and loose with the text. /rant ( ... )
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It was a pleasure
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The 'feel' of the due South fic- now that's an interesting point. I mean, the extra idea of having the plot ingredients of an episode means that for a fic to...qualify isn't quite the right word...be percieved as a due South fic, it should have these things. Perhaps a deviance from the accepted style is also a thing to be paying attention to, althout that makes it sound proscribed. Some AU fics include the 'magical realism', some don't- strange loops doesn't, and the hockey au might not either, and you're right, the feel of these fics is different, although not in any way lacking for it.
Name changes and the importance of national identity are issues that need seperate posts, nay, communities to debate. I suspect that as a welsh peson, I don't have the tools necessary to debate this, but it's definitely a cause for much pondering *g*
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