Intermission - AUs

[kriadydragon]

I'm currently working on an AU to pass the time as I try to work out other current fics that are proving difficult. It's not one of those major AUs where I take the cast and make them doctors or cowboys or detectives at Atlantis hospita/ranch/PD whatever. It's actually pretty minor, but that's all I can say about it.

Anyways, it's got me thinking about AUs and what some might consider to be tolerable AUs and others plain ridiculous or nothing more than character stealing.

Friendshipper has a wonderful AU fic that doesn't take place in Atlantis, yet is written in a way that still feels like it could be part of the show. For one thing, she keeps the characters in character: Sheppard is still military (or was) Rodney is still a scientist, and though Teyla is earth born she's still an alien - an illegal alien - but that's all I'll say of the story as I don't want to give too much away if someone hasn't read it.

But there was another story I looked at where John and Teyla are cops and yet I couldn't stomach it. It wasn't that the story was poorly written, but that it was more a cliche original fic that had stolen the names and physcial attributes of the characters from SGA.

So when is a an AU fic tolerable and when is it crossing the line into character-stealing original fics? I would like to hear people's opinions on the matter (just please no specific fic bashing). For me, it's when the story contains major connections to the show, such as with Friendshipper's story, that it works. But when it's a story where the characters are suddenly detective, doctors, marine biologists or whatever, where Rodney is too nice and Sheppard a total grouch or jerk, that I'm turned away.

Keep in mind I'm talking major AUs, not the AUs that are Atlantis but taking a different direction from Canon (like with Retrograde by LtLJ). Although even those kind of AUs have been known to cross lines from time to time (at least in my opinion.)

Comments

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

I love AUs and all kind of AUs. I am okay with almost any scenario, but for me the characters have to be the same as they are on Atlantis. I don't want John to give forth of his personal easily or Rodney to be nice *shudders*. It's the characters that we see on the screen every week that I love and it's those characters that I want to see in new and different settings. I've read some pretty far away from the norm things where the characters work really, really well, but if they're OOC, that's when I hit the back button.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

This might be a ramble, but I'll try not to. On a normal bases I don't like AUs. When I read a fic, it's to get more out of a story than can be done on the show. Fleshed out plots, chracterzations, more emotion. Reading a fic is like getting a min-series and expanding upon what I love from what I see on TV.

Of course that means more imaginative scenarios and thats cool. Missions, action, wars, natural disasters, extreme character development what have you. Destroying canon by altering background and history is tearing apart what I grew to love. Making John a cop or Teyla a warrior princess, to me means the writer should just do something original and not steal an established character and mold them into something they are not.

There's a difference in trying to explain say John's hero complex /self sacrificing tendencies by creating a new background that's alluded to or even realistic based on canon. Saying that the Wraith war never happened or John knew Rodney back on earth during the Gulf War and they knew each other I'll avoid.

I also think AU can be misconstrued. If there's a gap in events from season 1 to season 2 and you write something that may have happened, but it's plausible..cool. Thats your imagination. I'm planning on writing an AU to Koyla's death, but one in which we never got the stupid plot for Irresponsible.

Destroying Atlantis and having the Team on another planet is pushing it but that could be future fic realm. I dunno maybe I'm on the fence. I like explore what ifs in writing I mean its sci-fi after all. I just don't like taking established characters and popping them in the 1880's old west for the sake of it.

[dragonfairymaid.livejournal.com]

I only like AU's that stick mostly with canon, but change some things, although I do like the "Regrograde". I have tried others that put the team into different times/jobs etc., but they just never grab my attention. I am not sure why, as I mostly like the personal interaction/relationships which are there in the AU's. Hmm, maybe because I like the characters as they are in canon so much. I don't know, I will ponder it.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

That's a hard one for me to reply to because if it's totally AU, I'm not likely to read it unless it's high recced. Alternate events, I don't mind, but I like the universe, that's why I watch the show.

So, that in mind, if the author stays true to the characters, AU is readable. SG1 has done AU-verses enough to make AUing almost a canon thing to do, but Sam is still Sam, even if she's married to Jack and went the way of science instead of the military, or if she's divorced from Rodney, etc.

Different choices and outcomes will, of course, have some effect on the personalities, but the reason for the change should be clear. For example in the AU-verse where Cam remained crippled, he was very different than the Cam of SGC, but the reason he is different is obvious, and we know he was the same pre-crash Cam in both verses.

So, for example, an AU-verse where Sheppard gets booted from the Air Force instead of sent to McMurdo, so his life takes a different path (FBI, Traffic reporter, whatever) and the expedition never discovers him, could be a fun read, so long as he still has that Sheppard feel to him. Or an AU where there's not enough power to dial to Pegasus, or Atlantis is not found, and outcomes for the characters are carried through to a logical end would be a quite readable AU for me.

But, again, the characters have to remain recognizable and their alternate paths should be plausible within the scheme of their personalities and histories.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm a canon-whore myself. A lot of my CSI:NY fics I'm not happy with because they don't feel canon enough to me. Yet when it comes to the Stargate fandom, I find that AUs - the ones that stick as close as possible to the actual show - actually kind of work. I'm comfortable with them. I think it's because the show itself deals with AUs so much that an AU done right could be seen as canon-ish.

But sometmies I want to slap those writers who snatch John and Rodney just to stick them in their version of Brokeback Mountain. Ugh, now I feel queasy.

I like the what-ifs but only if they stick as close to the show as possible. Even if John and Rodney didn't end up on Atlantis, as long as they're the same guys that's okay by me. But I prefer those AUs that take place on Atlantis. Even the wierd ones (like the gang having super powers or something) can be interesting if done just right.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I think when you take the characters completely out of their realm and stick them in another job/setting - with a completely different background - no matter how hard the writer tries you're just not going to get the same characters because they haven't been through the same experiences that made them who they are. If you make John a doctor, you're not going to get the self-sacrificing hero who never leaves a man behind. You're going to get somebody entirely different. It's the experiences that help create the characters.

I think that's why Friendshipper's story worked, because they were the same characters with the same back-ground and experiences, so it was only the setting and plot that was altered, not the people.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That's why I say that an AU works best if the writer can stick as close to the show as possible, especially letting the characters keep their background and most of the experiences that made them who they are. When a writer flat out makes Sheppard a detective with no military background, then you're drastically altering the character and pretty much doing a character-stealing original fic.

I prefer canon but some AUs create fascinating scenarios and interesting character or culture studies. I like the subtle AUs, the ones where John might have a hidden power that no one knows about or never will know about, for example. Nothing heavy or that deters from the show per se, but gives us a unique look into a certain character.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I've read some interesting, out there AUs that work, but for the most part such AUs tend to be few and far between. I know a popular AU is the Mensa verse, which is interesting in it's own right, but makes John a rather dislikeable character (I think lot of writers have been using that AU as a chance for some subtle Sheppard bashing.)

But, yes, as long as the characters are the same people, with the same background that made them who they are, then I find the fic not only tolerable but interesting if done well. The show itself deals with AUs all the time, so even alternate realities can be seen as almost canon.

[lauriel01.livejournal.com]

Interesting question! Isn't it against LJ rules to pose a question that requires thinking and intelligent answers? This is a hard question to answer because I haven't really thought about why I like some AUs and not others before, but I definitely have a strong aversion to some. After pondering, I think I agree with the assessment that when you remove the character's past, you remove the traits that make them identifiable. The AUs I've enjoyed are either 'whatifs' or those that put the characters in different scenarios but don't alter the characters history or identity. The psychological makeup of characters holds a great appeal to me - both the spoken and the unspoken. If you alter the character too much, change their history and what makes them who they are, then this factor is undeniably different too. I think an AU crosses the line when it alters the characters beyond interpretation or exploration of a specific trait.

Afterthought - this is probably the biggest problem I have with shipping and slash too. The only ones I can enjoy are those that make it an extention or an extrapolation of the canon relationships. There's a lot of room to extend the on screen relationship between John and Rodney into slash, for example, because they have a very homosocial relationship(relationship that prioritises a male bonding aspect without being homosexual). It isn't too far fetched to put a 'whatif' extrapolation on that relationship. However, if Rodney is suddenly romantic and gooey and John is suddenly open about his emotions, then it no longer adheres to the original relationship or characters, and I lose interst very quickly. So I think this baseline guides me in my interest in all fics, as well as AUs. Did any of the above ramble make sense?

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It made perfect sense. I posed this question to see others opinions of the matter, so there is no right or wrong answer. I'm currently working on an AU fic but I'm nervous with it as some may find it wierd, but the concept won't let me be (plus I have a picture I want to draw that goes with it).

So far it seems a unanimous agreement that if the AU alters what makes the characters who they are - their background and experiences - then that's when a line is crossed into something intolerable.

Slash never works for me. Het pairings too since they always lead to the characters sleeping with eachother. But slash more so because SGA is not the kind of show where characters end up having such relationships (I'd be quite surprised if they did). I take things at face-value and it has been shoved into our faces many times that Rodney and John like women. I'm not saying people shouldn't write slash for this reason, I'm just saying that - in my opinion - making them gay is making them out of character, even if it is handled well.

[lauriel01.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it made sense!

I was only using the McShep as a general example. I'm a little flexible if the storyline is good and the fic well written, and I'll dust out the old 'suspension of disbelief' quite often. I think in this area, it's a matter of people's interpretation of the character. I'm not generally a slasher/shipper, but I do see the seeds in canon for a lot of it, so therefore I can go with the extension of those seeds in fanfic. But if they start rewriting the characters, then it no longer holds the appeal for me.

I also like to both read and write explorations of character traits - focus on one or two and really explore that side of the character, but this is another area of where do you draw the line between exploring a specific part of the character's personality and changing the intrinsic personality of the character. I think for any of it most of us are going to hold differing opinions.

As far as the AU stuff goes, I'll look forward to reading your fic, because you do have a good grasp of the characters, and I think even in a 'weird' AU you'll be able to keep that.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

You bring up an excellent point when it comes to character study fics. A lot is eye-of-the-beholder stuff but there are some character exploration stories that can really go overboard with a specific trait - such as Sheppard having a dark side. Yeah, he killed a whole lot of Genii, but that doesn't make him some mass murderer or socio-path (I read somewhere that, initially, the writers wanted Sheppard to shed a tear for the Genii killed. That would have been interesting, but there had been no room for it).

Plus some character-study stories, I swear, are just subtle forms of character bashing.