Alternate Universes

[kriadydragon]

These days I find myself giving more and more into AU ideas. Another thing I love about the SGA fandom is the ability to explore alternate universes without feeling wierd about it, because the concept of AUs are actually canon. At the same time, though, I still feel wierd about writing them, even a little guilty as some ideas feel too much like character-stealing original fic. At the same time, though, they're still fun concepts to explore;)

But I have my limits - both in what I write and what I'll read. AUs work best for me when the team is still a team and, most importantly, when the characters are still in character; when there's some kind of bad-guy to defeat, adventure, or challenge to overcome; when the overall feel of the story is still very much "Stargate" no matter the setting or time period. I'm not really sure how to explain the latter, just that there are some stories I've read that might as well be original fic, and some that feel like the characters really have stepped into an alternate universe, with their minds reprogrammed to fit in that universe (yeah, I know, cheesy description, but it's a positive description, I promise ;)).

So, I suppose you could say there has to be a touch of canon in order for an AU to work for me, and that touch of canon needs to be the characters themselves. When the personalities are altered just as much as the setting, that's when I stop reading.

What are your thoughts/opinions on AUs?

Comments

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

I like well-written AUs, but for me they still need to be in the Stargate universe (so, Milky Way or Pegasus or even a made-up galaxy with an original group of aliens, but with stargates), and the characters need to be in character.

AUs in which their names are pasted onto original characters or they're set in average real world settings (no stargates or other alien tech, ie. no Goa'uld, Ancient, or Asgard) hold no interest for me.

I'll read AU for most fandoms if the basic universe of the fandom is in place (ie. changes an episode or season finale and spinning an AU series out of the result) and the characters remain in character.

I watch shows because I like the characters, thus if the characters are OOC, whether it's technically canon-verse or it's AU, then I'm not interested.

That's a huge part of my issues with ship and slash. The characters are (pretty near) always out of character in such stories. (I suspect because when it's in character for the characters to end up romantically entangled, the show's writers take full advantage of it.)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I can read almost any type of AU as long as it involves the conditions I mentioned in the post - even if the story isn't set in a sci-fi universe. Writing it, though... I have ideas, but have a hard time bringing myself to write such stories. and the further from canon the idea takes me, the harder it is for me to write.

I know some will say that putting the characters in very far-from-canon situations (using the eaxmple November SGA gave: Ronon owning a flower shop) is simply another way to explore the characters. I believe it's true to an extent, but a lot of these types of stories I've come across seem little more than wish fulfillment and original fic. And more often than not, it's genreally about porn (back when I was using Storyfinder, you would not believe how many "John the male model and Rodney the phtographer" stories there were, all of them NC-17 slash.)

I've read a few major AUs that have been fun (such as one where the group has mutant powers, but isn't an X-men fusion, and pirate AUs - yeah, I like 'em, I admit it ;)) and as long as the characters were in character, with the team intact, I could kind-of, sort-of buy it. More often than not, though, no matter how fun the AU, most tend to be hard for me to swallow.