A Fanfiction-Related Meta Question

[gnomi]

Do canons with established romantic relationships lend themselves more to AUs because otherwise you don't have the opportunity to write the how-they-met story, the how-they-got-together story? I mean, yeah. Many canons have the how-the-characters-met story in canon. But why, for example, are there a ton of Glee AUs for Kurt and Blaine but not

Comments

[elrhiarhodan]

Interesting question.

I think there were a lot of how-they-met stories (not yet AU) in S1 and early S2 for White Collar, because until Forging Bongs Bonds (BTW - I typed "Bongs" three times), we didn't know just HOW Peter and Neal met. Afterwards, maybe the peeps seemed satsified (don't look at me, I say that Peter and Neal met just before Neal jumped off the Rialto Bridge in Venice) with that origin story.

There are quite a few stories - whether a/u or not - on how Peter and Elizabeth met - fleshing out the details of the little we know (the art gallery scam, Peter surveilling Elizabeth, Elizabeth's "I ♥ Italian" sign).

Does this answer your question?

Also, isn't the Glee fandom bigger than WC by an order of magnitude?

Also, I've missed you. Good to see your face again.

[gnomi]

I've missed you, too! I'm glad to be back, at least in a small way.

I'll have to see in AO3 (just as a random metric) how many Klaine stories there are as opposed to Neal/Peter stories (and there's a whole essay in blended pairing names vs. pairing orders in my brain, but that is because in fandom terms I am Very Old); you are right that Glee is probably significantly bigger. I chose White Collar as a random example; I wonder if there are more AU stories in, for example, Stargate: SG-1. Of course, in SG-1, almost any AU is almost canon; SF shows are flexible like that.

(There's a quote floating out there somewhere about how you can write a gender-swapping, body-swapping MPREG story in something like SG-1 and two seasons later it can become canon.)

I remember the early how-they-met stories (and I like "Forging Bongs" as a title for an episode). (I also love your Venice headcanon.) (I clearly went to a parenthesis sale recently.) And I love the Peter/El meeting stories, since much of that is untold in canon.

[michelel72]

SGA has a ludicrously high percentage of AUs; its canon romantic relationships were initially few and largely irrelevant. The show did eventually develop more central canon romances, but that hardly dented the AU production; I would guess that the majority of those AUs are John/Rodney, who were hardly canon.

And there are gen AUs, too. (Two gen fanfiction authors who come immediately to mind wrote novel-length gen AUs.) I don't think canon 'ships are nearly so relevant to AU production as characters with distinctive personalities, which can make it fun to imagine them in other settings ... and fandom size, for the critical mass.

[sorek]

Castle AU's beat out Glee AU's by a bazillion. Especially if you Include the "I wrote this in the summer between cliffhangers and so it became an AU the instant the next new episode aired" AU's.

As for White Collar:

1) It's on cable so less people watch it versus something on one of the over the air channels.
2) White Collar started with this whole "in media res" thing so maybe potential authors feel they're lacking a template to base their story off of. We know Peter chased Neal and eventuaqlly caught him. We don't know on what case he got caught (other than it was bearer bonds). On the other hand I'd wager that a fifth of all stories on fanfiction.net for Castle are retellings of the book party scene where Castle meets Beckett for the first (actually second) time. Sorry I can't speak about Kurt and Blaine, I can't actually stand Glee.

[woodwardiocom]

I don't know that I've ever met a fandom as full of AUs as Glee.

Evangelion? Which has, like, five official AUs?

[autotruezone]

Stories that involve interplanetary travel within the solar system do indeed tend to involve AUs, but ones that are based strictly on earth tend more towards Mi or KM as AUs are much too large, whereas interstellar canons tend towards LYs, since AUs are much to small.