it's actually becoming alarming
I got distracted from NaNo because I went back to writing the Sanji Breaks His Arm fic. I got distracted from that fic because I started on a Kuina Lives and Zoro Dies AU fic.
I'm feeling good about it, kind of loving Kuina, liking AU Zoro, haven't decided how to do AU Luffy yet. But anyway the problem is that the conceit is that both Kuina and Zoro live on after they have their 2001th battle and make their promise, right? So they both get to grow into adolescence. And I am finding that 15-year-old Zoro, without the emotional intensity driven by Kuina's death, is actually a pretty normal dude. He's not even really cranky or anything. So I'm really debating whether to just run with it, or if I should do a character rehaul.
Because I'm not sure if he's turning out differently because he truly is missing a character-defining element in the canon, or if this is just lazy reading. I spend a lot of ficcing time with Marimo, so it's a bit disorienting - yet intriguing - to suddenly discover that I don't know this version of him very well.
At first I was kind of flippant about it, like, that's the point of an AU - but of course it's not. A good AU isn't a mask for OOC. An AU should reveal something about the canon by looking at characters or scenarios through different lenses. I feel pretty confident that Kuina's doing that for Zoro , but what is Zoro doing? It's no good if he's just there to be killed off. Then it's just a gimmick.
Hmmmmm....
I'm feeling good about it, kind of loving Kuina, liking AU Zoro, haven't decided how to do AU Luffy yet. But anyway the problem is that the conceit is that both Kuina and Zoro live on after they have their 2001th battle and make their promise, right? So they both get to grow into adolescence. And I am finding that 15-year-old Zoro, without the emotional intensity driven by Kuina's death, is actually a pretty normal dude. He's not even really cranky or anything. So I'm really debating whether to just run with it, or if I should do a character rehaul.
Because I'm not sure if he's turning out differently because he truly is missing a character-defining element in the canon, or if this is just lazy reading. I spend a lot of ficcing time with Marimo, so it's a bit disorienting - yet intriguing - to suddenly discover that I don't know this version of him very well.
At first I was kind of flippant about it, like, that's the point of an AU - but of course it's not. A good AU isn't a mask for OOC. An AU should reveal something about the canon by looking at characters or scenarios through different lenses. I feel pretty confident that Kuina's doing that for Zoro , but what is Zoro doing? It's no good if he's just there to be killed off. Then it's just a gimmick.
Hmmmmm....