AU or Not AU?

[honeybee]

So, I got inspired recently to write TnT in The Twilight AU (first chapter up!). And I know some people don't like canon AU fics, but clearly I like writing them. I've done E2 and I've done Twilight. I feel Mirror AU calling. . . .

With Dusk, I really decided to stick mostly with canon (except for one detail about The Columbia) and so I wanted to explain all the tension between TnT in the beginning and then explain why they weren't "together" for nine years since (obvious spoiler) I don't buy they wouldn't have leaned on each other for support. I also stick with the writers conceit that with Archer sick, the mission derails and TnT believe that was the cause. All the better for the reset button.

With Implications, I just couldn't figure why they wouldn't blow up the spheres instead of flying around the Expanse for 119 years, so I threw canon to the wind.

So, I'm asking the others who play with the canon AU - how do you like it? Why does it call to you? Do you have trouble sticking with canon? If you have written it, do you like reading it?

[WarpGirl]

Good Topic! I like AU stories provided they are well written. I like MU stories too if they make sure that TnT and (preferably Malcolm) have some redeeming qualities. But I admit I have a really hard time with the E2 universe. Now I know I'm probably a freak but... It has nothing to do with Trip dying, at all. It's just the whole concept that Enterprise spends over a century doing nothing but making babies and wondering, just waiting to find the other Enterprise. Yeah sure. I hated Lorien to be quite honest, he was a dangerous man IMO and not very respectful to his mothers. He made Expanse Archer look relatively sane. But the killing blow was Malcolm's fate, and you kind of admitted that you gave him a huge heartbreak. So I just couldn't do it. I like "Angst" but I tend to avoid things that make me cry tears of sorrow. Tears and I don't mix well if they're sorrowful.

I actually like AU because it's a challenge to write an accurate portrayal of the characters while throwing them in different non-canon stuff. Escriba is a magician at doing this. Me I'll generally toss canon with events I think were just WRONG (One night stands, and reasons for drug addictions) But I don't do it haphazzardly, and I never do it just because I don't like something. I have to really be offended. Also if I can't toss something and make it work, showing respect for the characters I won't toss it. That being said, I stick very close to RU, so I'm only AU one technicalities. I don't know if I could right a true AU like you or Escriba. And frankly I have to finish the one I'm doing now before I try.

[Aquarius]

I don't write much in the way of AU (unless, of course, you count the fact that I totally disregard that Trip is supposed to die when he does and I give him and T'Pol a long and reasonably happy life together ).

As a reader, I'm really finicky about AU. I am more likely to gravitate toward the kind of AU you're talking about--one where there is another canonically-established timeline where we've seen the characters develop differently than the ones on the show, due to different environments (the MU, for example) or a divergence from "our" timeline due to a catastrophic event (like "Twilight" or "E2"). So yeah, I'm all about those, because it's fun and interesting to do the comparison/contrast, especially with the characters, because we can see what parts of them don't change and what parts do. And in some way, they're still "our" characters--even in the MU, because we often come to think of those counterparts as "our" characters' "evil twins." And if an author can create an original alternate reality and pull this off, where I still find the situations compelling and I care about what the characters are going to do or say next, that's cool, too.

Otherwise...like I said, I'm very finicky. For many years I actually shied away from them completely because too many times I encountered "AU" fics that seemed to be labeled so in order to justify either laziness on the author's part in terms of staying consistent with the fandom's characters and milieu, or...something that's much harder for me to articulate in just a couple of words, so I'll give an example: an AU Star Wars fic I read a long time ago, in which Han Solo was not only an ace pilot, but also a part-time jeans model, and he discovered a long-lost sister who had cancer; Leia was cheating on her husband Prince Isolder (from the novels--who looked suspiciously like Fabio) in a torrid affair with Han. Now, had this been presented in a manner in which the author had said, "I wrote this AU fic so the Galaxy Far, Far Away parodies/mimics a prime-time soap opera," then I wouldn't have been so hard on it and might've even enjoyed it, because there is an understandable point behind all the melodrama that isn't usually inherent in the GFFA; the author would have provided a logical explanation for why the context of this universe has shifted, and out-of-character behavior (ie, Leia, who is supposed to represent all that is right and good and decent in the galaxy, running around behind her husband's back--I might buy that if SW had a MU!)...but rather, this was how the author really saw the characters and wanted to see them doing this stuff "for real," and she had little use for anything resembling the GFFA as it really was. Her stories had spaceships and blasters, and that's where the resemblance ended. She had her fanbase of readers who thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I noticed the more discriminating readers and writers referring to the thing as "Millennium Falcon Crest." (Folks in my age bracket or older are likely to get the reference. ) So any way, if there is a word for THAT kind of AU...well, if it's what people want to read and write that's cool if the readers and writers are making each other happy, but it's definitely not my cup of tea.

For me, when reading an AU, no matter how much of the milieu the author changes or what he or she does to the characters to change them (ie, the MU, where society is so different, the characters are going to reflect that in their values and behaviors), I think it's important to retain something familiar so the readers don't feel that what they're reading resembles Star Trek or Star Wars or whatever in name only. I guess I'm saying context is everything, and making sure the readers understand the context and see how it relates to what the characters are doing and saying is key to a "successful" AU.

[Silverbullet]

Thing about AU is that ther are so many possible alternate Universes. Gives writers a big Sandbox.

But RU and Canon makes a writer Think. AU a writer can go off into othe wild blue yonder and say it is just AU without using too many brain cells.

[WarpGirl]

My favorite type of AU is where the character's personalities are basically intact (although some elements can be more exaggerated) but everything else is completely different! Mirage by Escriba is my best TnT example. I'm one of those people that thought the season 4 finale of "Bones" was a perfect AU. However if something is done just to be comical and completely rediculous I can do it if I REALLY need a laugh. But it's rare.

Silverbullet I don't think that's fair to say. Because I'm sure ALL writers think hard about their stories. It doesn't mean they turn out well. But to just chalk it up to JUST lazyness is harsh. Besides some people also write really awful Canon and RU stories.

[Aquarius]

I disagree. I don't think "ALL" writers think hard about their stories. Yes, as you suggest, some do but deliver a less than desirable result any way. Others don't and somehow manage to deliver something passable or better. And then you have all the different degrees in between.

I believe I understand what Silverbullet is saying, that as a genre, AU is easily abused as a justification to excuse bad writing. This is not saying that either one of us believes all AUs are bad. Yes, personal taste and what's "good" and "bad" is subjective and all that, but as an editor I can generally read something critically and point to tangible reasons and examples of why I think a story is "good" or "bad" other than a blanket "I liked it" or "I didn't like it." Once you get accustomed to doing this in a particular fandom all the time, after a while you really can suss out who's lazy and who really tried but just didn't know any better. It doesn't mean you're right all the time, but you do develop a good feel for it. An author's own attitude about what they've written is usually the biggest tipoff.

[honeybee]

I think bad AU gets cross-wired with excuses for writing out of character - often to feed the writer's own fantasy, whatever that may be. I read an Enterprise fic where a main, male character used to be a prostitute - and the writer clearly was turned on by this idea - while I was "hell to the no" - none of these characters (male or female) would ever have such a rough background, especially in the future. So, no. That didn't work for me. It was self-indulgent.

I really liked the Mirror Universe episodes because it portrayed the characters as they would be if raised in such a nasty world. The only one that didn't sit so right with me was Ho-Hoshi. That seemed also about the writers fantasy rather than the character.

On the other hand, E2 appeals to me for different reasons. TnT wind up together and are happy, at least for a time. That was fun to imagine.

[WarpGirl]

Hey Honeybee was that a VOY AU? I think I might know which one you're talking about, and yes that WAS FREAKY! I didn't buy MU Hoshi either. Not because I thought she was a lily white virgin (although I wouldn't have objected if she had been) but because she's supossedly a certified genius with smarts to put the whole crew to shame except T'Pol, and yet how does she acsend to power... Lying on her back! Yeah right!

[Aquarius]

It was self-indulgent.

THAT'S the concept I was looking for with the "Millennium Falcon Crest" example! Thanks for articulating what I couldn't!!

[honeybee]

Hey Honeybee was that a VOY AU?

No, it was Enterprise. Not my thing, either.

[Escriba]

Well, I support the radical idea that all fics, except the ones that are "missing scenes", are AU. Especially TnT fics with them as a long run and happy couple (for obvious reasons, that's it *the_abomination*) But in a more technical way, I like AUs because, when doing well, are an incredible tool to take a good grasp of the characters. I'm usually more "canon friendly" in other fandoms, but in Enterprise I find it easier to write AUs because I care about characters, not plotlines (or not so much about them.)

But, as I've said, the AU must be done right. It must be the same characters in a different situation, and if there is some kind of difference in the behavior of any of them, the AU must explain it. Besides, when I talk about AUs, I'm talking about stories that change something about canon and then tell how it affects everything (like "what if Archer had died in "The Twilight" episode?" or "What if Humans had a first contact before the First Contact?" or "What if T'Pol had decided to marry Koss in "Breaking the Ice"?" Just to say some of the premises I used, because I'm that narcissistic ) Things like "All the cast of Enterprise are High School students in our time" is not an AU in my book (can have its use in other fandoms, but not in Star Trek.)

PS: Honeybee, I'm intrigued by your take in Mirror Universe, if you decide to do it

[WarpGirl]

Honeybee Oh I think I know what you're talking about. YIKES! Where's the scared smiley? We really need one that shows fear. Dang! Escriba I was just wondering where the heck you were! Because you are the undisputed QUEEN, DOMINATRIX, and MISTRESS of the AU!

[Escriba]

Kneel before me, my subjects!

[WarpGirl]

[honeybee]

More thoughts on Twilight. Many SPOILERS ahead if you haven't seen it.

I think the episode really works well as a narrative and elucidates the third season stakes. It's exciting - and the dynamics between Archer/T'Pol/Phlox in the final scenes are riveting. These people will sacrifice their own lives for the sake of the world - and that's really great for all of the characters. The episode also gives us Captain Trip (swoon) and Captain Malcolm (swoon) - and I don't agree with the criticism of the episode that they are "bad captains" - it's just that after nine years their luck runs out. It's Phlox's journey that gives their position away and they are screwed no matter what they do.

But the two big things I don't like about the episode 1) The implied A/T romantic attachment. As written, it's a weird Florence Nightingale syndrome thing that is creepy given Archer's memory issues. And illogical, so I don't buy T'Pol would allow herself to get attached in that way. On the other hand, the early scenes with Trip and T'Pol dealing with Archer, they seem to have a united front and (once again) I don't buy they wouldn't have connected over their shared concern for their friend/captain's illness. 2) The fact that no one remembers anything after the reset bugs me. The great DS9 episode "The Visitor" leaves Sisko with memories - and that allows for the story to have an impact on his as well as the audience. In "Yesterday's Enterprise" - Guinan remembers. Twilight frustrates because no one remembers.

So, my humble fic set out to fix those two major issues. It was gratifying to write it. And very gratifying to read the response. :blush: