thoughts on the fannish AU

[hradzka]

It's funny, but my SPARTACUS office AU, which I wrote pretty deliberately as badfic, reminds me just how much I really dislike fanfic AUs. Part of this is because it turned out worse than I intended, looking at it, but part of it has to do with the nature of fanfic AUs in general

Comments

[seperis]

Just a point of curiosity (I marked your Spartacus AU for reading tomorrow at work when the servers inevitably go down again; trust me, that may be the only good thing about my day)--AU in the sense of transporting everyone to becoming like, gardeners, or timeline variation changes or role changes? The reason I'm curious is my own tolerance is in direct proportion to how long I've been in a fandom and the source material itself. In this order, actually: crossovers, timeline changes, role changes, fusion, completely different time/place, then the ones where someone is an ice cube or a girl scout cookie. And how fast I move through those (anywhere from three weeks to a full year) depends less on the amount of fic available than how the show has been explored in fic and how the source itself explores the characters.

Also, I downloaded Spartacus. I don't even judge myself at this point. I read Colleen McCullough with a distinct lack of irony and have read her Rome series since I was like, twelve.

[hradzka]

I don't think that timeline variation or minor role changes is much of an AU -- it's the same characters in mostly the same situation. The ones where they're all working in fast food puzzle the bejesus out of me.

I think a lot of this stuff comes about the longer a fandom goes on, and fans search for novelty. People write the same stories over and over and over (hey look another Tim/Kon story!), but at a certain point they try new things, like everybody working in a coffeeshop.

[hjcallipygian]

I like AUs when they do one of three things: put the characters in a situation that allows the writer to explore some different aspect of the characters that standard canon doesn't; take a character and provide that one character with a fundamental change, then see how that ripples outwards affecting everyone else; just fuck around and make zany stuff (and nine times out of ten, the writer totally fucks this up and it's horrible). But, if you delve through the AU pile, usually it's written by someone who likes a character who doesn't come out on top much and the story makes it so s/he does. (Xander is the first character to come to mind here.)

On something of a dare (much like your Sparticus AU, I imagine) I once wrote a Harry Potter Marauders-era AU in which the Marauders were a mid-70s punk band in England.

[thefourthvine]

I'm not surprised to hear that you don't like AUs, but I think there's a selection bias at work there. If you look at your favorite fandoms, most of them are the definition of "bad AU fandoms." (I mean, who is Batman if he's not, you know, Batman? Either a lunatic or a sane guy, and either way, he's no longer very interesting.) The elements that make a fandom great for AUs are elements that will actively drive you away.

You seem, for one thing, to be drawn to - I don't know how to put it. Interlocking canons? Canons where the people are who they are because of the (interesting) world they're in. That is exactly what makes a fandom bad for AUs.

[hradzka]

This is a really remarkable comment, because it make me think about my fandoms and the kind of thing I like. (I would really love a good Disney Princess AU, and have actually talked a friend's ear off on the concept in chat, but I think that's mainly because I want the Disney Princesses hanging out with and talking to each other, and an AU makes that readily possible. Though I'd probably enjoy a straight-up crossover more.)

What are the elements that make a fandom great for AUs? And what are fandoms that are great for AUs? I would think, for example, that shows like STARGATE wouldn't invite them (why would you *want* to hear about those folks being baristas, rather than universe-hoppers?) but apparently they did...

[thefourthvine]

Okay, I'm hugely sick, so let's see if I can make any sense at all.

Fandoms that make for great AUs are fandoms where the characters appear in front of backdrops rather than integrated in complex, believable worlds, where who they are is relatively irrelevant to where they are. Ideally, you should be able to describe them as archetypes or using just a few key phrases - the Sarcastic Reluctant Hero with Issues, or the Mouthy Genius Scientist.

So. Oz makes for terrible AUs - who are these people if they aren't in prison? Not the people we know; almost the only way you can get them into the roles they have now and the relationships they have with each other is by locking them in a hole together. And then, even worse, the characters change over time - so now, if you write an AU, you have to do a snapshot, or you have to find some miraculous way for the characters to develop in your AU the same way they did in canon (which, wow, good luck, because like I said, prison is key to who they've become), or you have to say fuck it and have

[hradzka]

I love these comments so much, and you should really make them a post on your own LJ. Failing that, I'm gonna point people here.

Imagine how you would write a story about a small group of people who travel to a distant, populated galaxy to explore a dangerous and mysterious artifact. Would it look anything like SGA? Not unless you were totally phoning it in. That crappiness makes for fantastic (and extensive) fan fiction, leagues better than the show, and it also makes for great AUs.

Okay, so my comment about sucky stuff making for more AUs wasn't too far off the mark? It's odd, considering that the show I'm the most fannishly active about is a show that is mostly crap, but your comments about my brand of fandom are really interesting. You're right; I tend to really go for characters tied into their setting and dynamic, and am not that interested by source materials that don't have a strong, all-pervading, intrinsic sense of place and purpose.

[droolfangrrl]

I still liked it. I have a fondness for crack fic. Bad fic, in my opinion, is above all else poorly written. Yours was well written, so I count it as crack fic.