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Author Topic: The great AU debate!  (Read 4267 times)

mare

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The great AU debate!
« on: July 27, 2011, 06:03:39 AM »

We did it for romance, now it's AU's turn. LOL I think it'll actually be fun to give every genre it's own thread as the year goes on, plus it's been really quiet around here. I was going to wait until August, but why? Not everything has to start at the beginning of the month Miss Mare...thilly willy.

So, what's your thoughts on Alternate Universe fics?

What is it that draws or pushes you away from the genre?

Do you think AU's have a bad rep?

As a writer, do you enjoy writing AUs or do you stay away from them?

If you do write  AU's, is your writing process different then when you write regular Fanfic?



Those are just some questions to get everyone started but feel free to add more questions or just weigh in! :)
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Purpura Lipstick

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2011, 02:47:12 PM »

So, what's your thoughts on Alternate Universe fics?

You know, I don't find my eyes drifting down to the genre area when I'm deciding to read a story so if a story is labeled AU I don't usually find out until I start reading and can tell.  It's not a turn off for me when reading, if the author catches my attention I will read no matter the genre.

I have written a couple of AU fics and am working on a new one (and have an idea for several more) right now. 

What is it that draws or pushes you away from the genre?

Like I said, the genre is not what pulls me into read a story, I go off of the summary mostly.

If a story idea comes to my head that happens to be AU, I write the AU. 

I'm sure a few years ago I had a different opinion, but I try not to let labels steer my reading enjoyment.

Do you think AU's have a bad rep?

I understand why people would avoid reading them; they are on the site to read stories about the Boys being the Boys.   I do think that there are some excellent authors that would get bypassed because they write AU.   

As a writer, do you enjoy writing AUs or do you stay away from them?

I do enjoy writing them.  I feel it gives me a “more” creative outlet while still giving me some guidelines to follow.   I know these stories border closely on OF, but I like to write but don’t think I have the chops to get/be published so this is the way I can write my stories and still feel part of a community. 

If you do write AU’s, is your writing process different then when you write regular Fanfic?

As far as outlining and that, no, but, as bad as this sounds for my reg. fanfic, I think I take a bit more time on the wording of an AU.  I know it takes more for someone to be pulled in to an AU to read so I want to grab their attention and hold on to it. 



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mare

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2011, 04:07:44 PM »

I actually never look at the genre either when searching for something to read. I doubt anyone does. I think it's pretty easy to tell if something is AU based on the summary alone and if not then they are already not being clear enough for me to get into the story to begin with. LOL

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Purpura Lipstick

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2011, 04:16:49 PM »

True, most summaries you can tell if they are AU or not.
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mare

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2011, 04:19:18 PM »

So, what's your thoughts on Alternate Universe fics?

Generally I don't really enjoy them. When I read about BSB I like them to actually be BSB. The only exception for me is when they are brothers or relatives.

What is it that draws or pushes you away from the genre?

Again, what I said above. I guess this question is pretty redundant, huh? lol

Do you think AU's have a bad rep?

I think it's one of those genres that people may get a little bit confused about, especially if they are new to fanfics in general. I know it took me awhile to get what they were. I don't know if it has a bad rep, but I do think it is one of those genres that you either tend to love or not.

As a writer, do you enjoy writing AUs or do you stay away from them?

I enjoy writing them but don't do it that often. As a writer it's fun to have a little more freedom to play with them as chartacters when they aren't their real life selves.

If you do write  AU's, is your writing process different then when you write regular Fanfic?

Not really. I do think it's harder and takes a little more work to write an AU because it's sometimes hard to keep the guys or anyone else for that matter true to their real personalities if writing them as someone or something else.




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mare

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2011, 04:22:08 PM »

I was just thinking about this, how similar do you think AU is to fantasy and sci-fi? I don't think i've ever read a story where the guys are themselves in either of those genres. Can anyone else think of one?
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Purpura Lipstick

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2011, 04:32:01 PM »

I have a story that is AU and Fantasy and Nick IS Nick! LOL.  Now he's taken into an alternate universe where he joins a fight against an evil man with a bunch of other people from other alternate universes.  So, yes, he doesn't sing and dance (well maybe a little dancing) in my story but he is Nick form The Backstreet Boys in my story.  

Moral: don't wander through rips in the universe! ;)

I believe there are a few vampire stories that the boys are still the boys in.  Now are those AU because Vampires don't exist?  Even though the Boys are still themselves (minus the biting and sucking blood) would the vampire portion make this AU?

Carterkid's story Tooth Fairy is fantasy but it's not AU.  AJ becomes a Tooth Fairy but he is still AJ from The Backstreet Boys and has to deal with being a tooth fairy and a backstreet boy on tour.

It's rare to find these genre's not connected but they don't have to be.

« Last Edit: July 27, 2011, 04:38:53 PM by Purpura Lipstick »
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RokofAges75

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2011, 04:47:31 PM »

So, what's your thoughts on Alternate Universe fics?
AU isn't my favorite category of fanfic, but I have learned to appreciate them, both as a reader and a writer.  The story that converted me as a reader was "Between the Lines."  I had tried to read that story a couple of times before I actually got into it, but once I did, it gave me an appreciation for AUs that I didn't have before.  It's such a well-written story, and I saw how, even though the guys weren't a boyband, they could still have the same personality traits and the same brotherly bond that we love.

From a writing standpoint, "Code Blue" was the first major AU I wrote, and I'll be honest; when my original co-author first suggested the idea of doing a story about the Boys as doctors, ER-style, I was totally against it.  She used my love of medical drama to convince me to give it a shot, and I ended up loving it, so that opened me up to writing more AUs.


What is it that draws or pushes you away from the genre?
What I don't like about AUs is that the Backstreet Boys aren't the Backstreet Boys.  If I'm gonna read some fanfic, I want to read about the guys as themselves.  I used to not get what the point of an AU was - if you don't want to write about the Backstreet Boys, why not just make up original characters to fill your story? 

That said, once I'd read some good AUs and written some myself, I understood the appeal.  AU gives you a lot more freedom to write about the guys as people, without having to write about the music business, touring, fame, their families, and all the other "baggage" that comes along with them.  With an AU, you can recreate the details of their lives from scratch and put them in any situation you want to.  It's like playing Barbies - Barbie always looks the same, but you can put her in any outfit and make her be anything you want her to be.  She does it all!  With AU, the Backstreet Boys can be doctors, secret agents, survivors of the zombie apocalypse, baseball players, soldiers in a war, knights in medieval times, whatever you want!  AU is almost limitless.

The only limit I put on AUs is that the guys still need to seem like the guys, in terms of personality.  If they're completely unrecognizable as the non-BSB versions of themselves, I lose interest.  Then it's no longer a fanfic to me.


Do you think AU's have a bad rep?
I don't think they get a bad rap, per se; it's just a category of fanfic that's not for everyone.  Some people love AUs, some people hate them, and some are like me, where it's certainly not my favorite kind of story, but I'll read them if they're well-written and do the Boys justice.  I can totally understand why some people won't touch them, because they want to read fanfic about the BACKSTREET BOYS.  That said, I agree with Lore that there are probably some talented authors who get overlooked because they only write AU.  But the same could be said for romance, slash, sci-fi/fantasy... any of the more divisive genres.


As a writer, do you enjoy writing AUs or do you stay away from them?
I've learned to enjoy them, mainly through collaborating.  Code Blue, 00Carter, and Undead - I've had so much fun helping to create and write in those universes.  I don't do as much AU on my own, though I do have at least a couple.  I will always prefer straightforwar d BSB fanfics, but AU is a great alternative for ideas that just wouldn't work with the Backstreet Boys as a music group.


If you do write  AU's, is your writing process different then when you write regular Fanfic?
It takes more time to set up the universe in an AU.  You have to decide what details you're keeping the same, what you're changing, and how you're going to fill in the gaps.  If the guys are all in it, you have to decide what kind of relationship they have at the beginning of the story, or how that relationship is going to develop over the course of the story.  When I write AU, I tend to take more time on things like back story and physical description with the guys than I would in a non-AU, where I assume the readers already know the basics.  I want to make sure the guys are recognizable as themselves, but I also write more like I would an original fiction, where the characters are being introduced to the readers for the first time.  I see AU as kind of a stepping stone between fanfic and original fic.
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RokofAges75

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2011, 04:57:08 PM »

I was just thinking about this, how similar do you think AU is to fantasy and sci-fi? I don't think i've ever read a story where the guys are themselves in either of those genres. Can anyone else think of one?

Actually, I think most of the sci-fi/fantasy fics I've read do have the guys as themselves, the Backstreet Boys, but since that list is pretty short, it could be just because that's kind of the only way I'll read sci-fi/fantasy.  If it's a sci-fi/fantasy AND an AU... psh, fat chance! LOL  I'm more open to the weird fantasy stuff if the story starts out completely normal, with the guys as themselves in the real world.  If it starts out with them as different people in some different world already, I'm lost.

I would never call AU the same thing as sci-fi or fantasy.  I think of AU as more of a subcategory of fanfic, rather than a genre.  In fanfics, there are AUs and there are canon stories, where the guys are the Backstreet Boys.  Within each of those subcategories, there are all the different genres - drama, romance, suspense, sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, etc.  A story can be AU and sci-fi/fantasy, but it can also be AU and realistic fiction or historical fiction or whatever.

The term "Alternate Universe" sounds like a sci-fi thing, which is misleading; I think that's what I thought AUs were the first time I heard the term.  But I don't consider them a type of fantasy just because they feature the guys in a completely different lifestyle, if everything in that universe is completely realistic.  It's just, like the term suggests, an alternate reality.
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mare

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2011, 06:45:53 PM »

I have a story that is AU and Fantasy and Nick IS Nick! LOL.  Now he's taken into an alternate universe where he joins a fight against an evil man with a bunch of other people from other alternate universes.  So, yes, he doesn't sing and dance (well maybe a little dancing) in my story but he is Nick form The Backstreet Boys in my story. 

Moral: don't wander through rips in the universe! ;)

I believe there are a few vampire stories that the boys are still the boys in.  Now are those AU because Vampires don't exist?  Even though the Boys are still themselves (minus the biting and sucking blood) would the vampire portion make this AU?

Carterkid's story Tooth Fairy is fantasy but it's not AU.  AJ becomes a Tooth Fairy but he is still AJ from The Backstreet Boys and has to deal with being a tooth fairy and a backstreet boy on tour.

It's rare to find these genre's not connected but they don't have to be.



That's a good question concerning vampires. I would think as long as they are the BSB then it wouldn't be AU.

It's funny because the story i'm working on now about them being in an alternate universe isn't an AU becaue they are the BSB but it's also sci fi-ish so I guess mine would fall into the category as well. LOL
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mare

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2011, 06:49:57 PM »

I guess I still have trouble getting what an AU is lol
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RokofAges75

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2011, 08:07:58 PM »

In our fandom, any time it's a story where the guys aren't the Backstreet Boys and never were, that's AU, no matter what genre it is.  So Mare, your story isn't AU, because the guys are/were still a music group.  It is a sci-fi, but sci-fi has nothing to do with AU.  Lore, same with the vampires.  The existence of vampires in the story makes it a fantasy or horror, but not AU, as long as the Boys are still the Backstreet Boys.

For Harry Potter fanfics, AU could mean an alternate universe where they aren't wizards, but just Muggles... maybe the wizarding world doesn't even exist.  For Twilight fanfics, it could be an alternate universe where Edward's not a vampire, Jacob's not a werewolf, and Bella's not totally lame.  LOL

It's like you're using the characters, but changing the thing that makes you write fanfics about them in the first place.  Kinda weird, but like I said, I get the appeal more now than I used to.  It's all the fun and freedom of writing original fiction, with the comfort and safety of using characters you're familiar with and you know people want to read about.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2011, 08:12:20 PM by RokofAges75 »
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Purpura Lipstick

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2011, 08:36:38 PM »

Ah I see about the vamps being horror... lol. 
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FrickingKaos

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2011, 07:55:05 AM »

Sorry I am late to the party. I write AU myself and I read it to an extent. In my one AU, Nick is a singer in a nightclub but not a BSB....in another story he and AJ are storm chasers. I guess AU is a cool way to make the guys however you'd like them to be. AU is fun depending on the story, there are actually a lot of good ones on the site.
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Carter-Orange

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Re: The great AU debate!
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2011, 08:19:42 AM »

So, what's your thoughts on Alternate Universe fics?
Personally, I like them.  Like any other fic, they have to be written in a way that appeals to me.  I don't mind if their character is way off or the same.  If I like the story then Nick could be anything!


What is it that draws or pushes you away from the genre?

I'm never really drawn by the genre, it's the summary which gets me.

Do you think AU's have a bad rep?
Not really, I suppose it's like any genre, you either like it or you don't.

As a writer, do you enjoy writing AUs or do you stay away from them?
I've written a couple of AUs and enjoy writing them as much as other genres I've written in.

If you do write  AU's, is your writing process different then when you write regular Fanfic?
Not really.  I just have to try to keep them recognisable as the people they are supposed to be, even though they aren't Backstreet Boys.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2011, 08:21:14 AM by Carter-Orange »
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