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Post by Salmastryon on Oct 7, 2004 13:11:07 GMT -5
I'm glad you thought it was a good point. ^^ Though I'm afraid I seemed to have killed the thread. *sighs*
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Post by Ganheim on Nov 19, 2004 18:15:21 GMT -5
I don't know about killing the thread ... it just seems that everything to be said already has been. The most I can say without repeating is that I agree with what's already been said.
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Post by elven dreamer on Nov 20, 2004 3:54:54 GMT -5
Haven't killed the thread. When all is said and done, I still have more to say. In some cases the characters of an AU it's not the personality of the character is not changed. Often it's their past(s). I've read Saiyuki fics where they are incredibly similar. Like if they are dumped in say, modern USA. Sanzo might not have his harisen, and the gun would be unlikely. Komyuu Sanzo may have been his adopted father. Sanzo might not be a monk. He might not be dressed in monk's robes and leather. He might not even have those beautiful violet eyes *sigh* but he'll still be the cranky bastard that he is in the series. You know?
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Post by slizziechan on Jan 20, 2005 3:53:46 GMT -5
An AU crosses the line when nobody is who they are soppossed to be and the're not even in ther're own world!
Thats when AUs cross the line.
I read one of those, the people didn't even talk like thet should!
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Post by darkraion on Apr 30, 2005 1:28:57 GMT -5
I hope it's not too late to comment on this. I've been writing fanfiction for over three years now, and 97% of it has been AU. The main reason for that is, I suppose, because with the fandom I worked with, it had a clean ending with all loose ends firmly tied, and I didn't actually find the wonderful world of fanfiction until many of the 'after the story' ideas had been done and done to death. Still, I wanted to work with those characters and those relationships, so I did AU to be different. At first the AUs were vaguely similar to the original plot line and setting, but the longer I worked with that fandom, the farther away from the original plot of I got. It was in an attempt to do what hadn't been done before in a place where ideas were milked dry constantly. If you wanted attention, you had to give people a reason to look.
Even with all the radical changes I've made in various stories though, characters almost always retain their personalities- the story loses some of it's charm if you go looking for a story about a certain character only to find a stranger masquerading with their name, after all. They were still their original selves, I just came up with different reasons why... sometimes stupid reasons, but that happens when you're a budding writer.
Yet another reason to do AU- I was insecure building my own characters, but felt comfortable working with someone else's. AU stories prepped me to eventually go it alone and do more original work. The two worlds remain seperate, however... almost two different styles of writing, mostly because I feel free to abuse my own babies more than someone else's (I'd make a great babysitter and a horrible mother). When I write fanfiction, I'm still writing for reviews. When I write original work that I don't publish on the net, it's far more serious and personal- I'm writing to change the world because it's what I want to do someday. That's why my AU stories will never become original stories of mine. They're not good enough in my mind, though I often question if I'll ever find something of my own good enough. Something well-written in fanfiction land may not be be good enough for the rest of the world- the insecurity remains, but on a different level. Something new to this fandom is probably not new to rest of the world because it's a much bigger, borader place to contend with.
I can't say it's the same for everyone who writes a lot of AUs, I just know that's how it works for me. Fear and a need to cling to something that gives you safety. So long as good reviews are coming in for something I wrote, I can draw strength from that even if it isn't the most original or fresh idea in the world. I've still got a form of reassurance.
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