thoughts about AU fics

[salixbabylon]

I finally finished going through all the categories and voting in the slashy_oscars (go vote - only 2 more days left!).

Anyway, I've noticed a serious abundance of AU fics and have been wondering why that is. Are people tired of speculating on the actual real lives of the actors? Are they fed up that no one has come out/been outed in the last 5 years?

Or is does the trend simply lend more weight to my theory/concept that RPS fic is just a shorthand for not having to explain the characters and what they look like to death? Although people do frequently include physical descriptions, but still. It's like playing with Barbie dolls (or Ken dolls, I suppose) - you dress them up and let your imagination run wild...

The other odd thing is that in my whole career writing in HP/POTC/LOTR/LOTRPS, I've only ever written *one* AU fic, and I never finished it. Generally I keep everyone in their "appropriate" world. Most strange.

Comments

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

I don't write AUs, either. I think overall your theory that people write rps (or fanfic as a whole) in order to bypass character development may be accurate when applied to the genre as a whole. There are lots of otherwise very talented fic writers who succumb to the "they're my characters, that's why" explanation whenever a characters' motivation is questioned. Sometimes a fic seems to be an original character given the appearance and name of a famous actor. I confess my preference is for characters who resemble what we know about them in reality, with extra exploration into what we may not readily see.

That being said, most people, I think, prefer to take things at face value. It's a much less complicated way to live on the whole; shame I never learned it.:P So the current-day realities of the actors on the surface don't seem to lend themselves well to fanfic. All people see are actors who never see one another, probably have lost touch, are immersed in other projects and dating other people.

There is a group of Viggorli authors who write rather extensively in the present. I think people tend to write it off as a way to explain away things currently going on.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Face value? What is this that you speak of? ;)

Maybe I should try writing a current-day rps fic, just to see how far I get from the "known" characters...

[willowwing.livejournal.com]

I thought this was an interesting post and didn't have time to comment on it so I came back. One of the AU stories over at the slashy oscars was mine...I've only written two AU stories and they were both for the same reason. I was assigned a secret santa request for V/O AU. The first story I wrote got too long so I wrote a second. Honestly it had never really occurred to me write AU before receiving the request, but I have to admit it was fun.

I hadn't thought about it much, but I guess I assumed that the number of AU's that have been around lately was due to the length of time people have been writing in the fandom. There are only so many ways to write Viggo and Orlando (or any of the other characters for that matter) getting together. If you bring it up to present time, you really have to get creative (read farfetched) to come up with an idea that has any basis in reality.

Au = dressed up Ken dolls...probably, but I've always liked playing with dolls. Ultimately, I don't write or read RPS for it's truth value. I enjoy a story more when the characters 'ring true', but I've read some AU characters that strike me as very true to my view of the boys and I've read characters in 'real' settings that don't remotely resemble the people whose names they bear. *shrugs*

Just my two cents and probably not worth that - LOL I'm also incredibly tired so I can't guarantee that what I was trying to say was at all coherent.

Night *hugs*

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about the length-of-time-in-the-fandom issue, and that's certainly an excellent point. One would get tired of writing the same things over and over again. Thank you for calling that to my attention.

And I agree, I don't care if it's "true" or not, so long as it "rings true" - you said that very well. I do love AUs, I was just a bit surprised by the abundance of them at the slashy_oscars. :)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!