FIC: The only dream I know (1/?) HIMYM AU

[idioticonion]

Title: The only dream I know
Summary: Everyone I know is doing genderswap stories right now, so this is my version: What if HIMYM had been written by women, with a woman protagonist? The story would have been very different.
Rating/Warnings: PG-15, genderswap AU
Word Count: 1,649
Fandom/Pairing: HIMYM: Female Ted (Terri) / various
Spoilers: AU Season 1

Comments

[pikka]

My roomie has just come in and asked, if I was okay, because I was hysterically laughing at this. ♥

BARBIE. Love it!

(But is it just me, or could HIMYM in genderswap be a bit like Sex And The City?)

[idioticonion]

Barbie is totally stolen from another genderswap AU written by bishojo_kitsune. But her AU was far more closely aligned to the canon of the show than mine is

[pikka]

I was going to say that I think you did a great job conveying the story so far, and altering it appropriately. Rewriting the story as it originally was and only swapping genders doesn't seem to be so much of an effort, to be honest.

And you're absolutely right about the "slut" aspect. But how do you feel about Marshall/Lily aka Marsha/Lee and their relationship? I'd find their relationship hard to transfer, because Marshall and Lily aren't always acting according to their "gender" in HIMYM.

[idioticonion]

Well, I wouldn't say that. There's a lot of really excellent gender-swap stuff out there. But it just felt to me like if you change the genders you have the opportunity to change something very fundamental about the way the story unfolds.

And yes, I agree that Marsha/Lee is probably the biggest change. I have some ideas in that direction but I'll probably leave it till the next part to reveal them.

[1angelette]

Aaaaaaah MARSHA MAKING TERRI PRACTICE HER PROPOSAL WITH HER

YES

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

...I actually ship that so hard now...

But yes, this is really impressive (ROFL SO HARD re Barbie the... well, Barbie), and I must see more. I mean it would be a little tedious to see it trudge through every episode, but at least a few chapters would be fun to read.

[idioticonion]

Yeah, I don't want to follow the show exactly - that's why the first three days haven't panned out like episode 1. I'm definitely messing with canon.

And now I'm thinking about writing femslashfic from my own AU! Damn you!

[da_phoenix13]

You know, one of the things I actually like most about HIMYM is that it's about a man who's obsessed with getting married, which in itself is an enormous subversion of normal gender expectations. Making Ted's character female makes his/her motivation to find a husband a little too stereotypical for my tastes?

But this was very amusing. I especially like the changes you made with Barbie (the name change made me laugh too), and I'm interested to see what you do with Marsha and Lee, since they both seemed pretty different from how I normally think of Marshall and Lily.

[idioticonion]

It's a fair criticism. It's very tricky with the gender subversion of the show. Trouble is, if I write Terri and Marsha as too masculine, it folds back on itself and doesn't quite work because it's like they're a parody of male characters rather than actually female characters.

So I suppose I'm saying I'm struggling to subvert the gender expectations of characters who have genuinely swapped gender.

*brain explodes*

[bishojo_kitsune]

Did I spy a 'Tick, Tick...BOOM!' reference there? ;) This wins just on the account of that (although it didn't need help trust me)

Eee! Loved this! (Much better than the drabble I wrote write my Sociology prof was lecturing on how Marx destroyed the family concept...or something like that)

That's what I love about genderswaps, the ability to explore how different everything would be and, at the same time, seeing everything that would be the same.

Plus, Barbie! Makes so much more sense that she's in it for the free stuff mirroring Barney's excuse to just score. Shag for swag I guess, lolol

[idioticonion]

You did indeed spy a Tick Tick Boom reference! And I'm so relieved that you like this, because obviously yours was a HUGE influence. I really want you to continue yours actually! But yes, I really want all the characters to have a different twist, you know? Especially Barney. I have more ideas for Marshall and Lily though.

It's twisting my brain!

[bishojo_kitsune]

It is really addicting to think about the pivotal moments in the show and how they would change with a genderswap, I just want to do random moments lol

Genderswapping is also a chance for a sort of character study. That said, the character I want to explore most would actually be Robin/Robert, would she/he change the least or the most? Hmmz...

[idioticonion]

Oh yes, it's definitely more fun to talk about the moments, or write drabbles or wotnot, than actually weave it into a continuous, single story. Maybe I'll do that too? GAH!

As someone else noted below, Robin should STILL be Robin, and actually I think it's true, because He'd be named after his MUM, right? Who wanted a girl? Who dressed him up in girl's clothes when he was little?

[magpieinthesky]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, because switching genders really does make this a completely different show - and I think you've shown that here. I'm interested to see where you go forward with this - are you planning on going episode by episode, or will things fly by a little faster? I think this is a good beginning!

[idioticonion]

I know it's brain bending - really brain bending! But I'm glad you like it so far. And yes, I wouldn't plan on following the show exactly. That wouldn't make a great deal of sense. It'll be interesting to see how it diverges. Or something.