Alternative universe (fan fiction)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An alternative universe (also known as alternate universe) is a type or form of fan fiction in which canonical facts of setting or characterization in the universe being explored or written about are deliberately changed.
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[edit] Fan fiction
In Alternative Universe stories, characters' known motivations may vary considerably from their decisions in the canonical universe. The author of an alternative universe story thus can use the same characters, but send them down different paths for a different plot.
Commonly abbreviated AU, stories of this type are usually what-ifs, where possibilities arising from different circumstances, decisions, etc., are explored. The appeal of the AU for both writer and reader is the exploration of which facets of the characters we know were and are determined by their environments. (For example, in Daria fanfic, "What if Jane was blind?" [1]) In addition, the author also gets a built-in audience for their story, many of the fans of that universe, which they would not get if they wrote it as an original story instead of fan fiction. (Certain of the best fan fiction writers who aspire to be published authors can perhaps take advantage of this in the opposite direction, having a built-in audience for books they might publish, namely, the readers of their fan fiction.)
Alternative universe settings are sometimes written when the author was unhappy with the direction taken by the original source, a major example being "The Gargoyles Saga" [2] fan fiction series, which ignores all but one of the episodes of Gargoyles' third and final season. The are also known as fix-its, HEXes, or denial-fics. Stories in this category of AU follow the established canon before veering away at a crucial moment (similar in concept to most of the entries in Marvel Comics' What If series), and are commonly called divergences.
Alternative universes also arise in fan fiction when the source material is released in a serial form, such as a television series running several seasons with holidays between or a series of books released with considerable time between volumes. For instance, much Harry Potter fan fiction in the nearly three years between the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was written as "continuation" fan fiction, but became AU as soon as the new canonical material appeared.
Also within this arena is the idea of taking all the characters from the series, placing them in a different time/place/situation, and working with it as a new series. An example of this is "Living with Danger" by Anne Walsh [3], the first story in a Harry Potter AU series in which Remus Lupin and two original characters kidnap two-year-old Harry Potter, break Sirius Black out of Azkaban, and jointly raise Harry, Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy in a far more loving family than either Harry or Draco would otherwise have had. Although this technique has been tried in the actual canon of many fandoms, it is still debated as a valid fanfiction form. This form of AU is popular among some new writers, who tend to move the characters of a series into a setting more familiar to the author (as in the "high school fic").
One type of alternate universe fan fiction involves swapping the characters with the actors who play them. The actors may find themselves actually in the fictional universe, or the fictional characters may find themselves in our real universe, or the story may feature both sides of the swap. Ironically, this type of AU has appeared in mainstream publication as well. The first example to come to mind is a pair of Star Trek short stories from the early 1970s in which the actors from the Desilu set were swapped with the 'real life' Starfleet officers via the transporter. ("Visit To A Strange Planet" "Visit To A Strange Planet, Revisited")
On occasions, a fan fiction writer will create a character that is supposed to be there from the beginning and does not exist in the actual program that inspired it. 'Danger' Granger in Anne Walsh's Harry Potter AU series is an example of this.
Another term that means essentially the same thing as AU is divergent timeline, indicating that at some point in the canon's past or present, there was a divergence from what 'really' happened.
[edit] AU in original fiction
Alternative universes are also used in original fiction works themselves, such as in the webcomic El Goonish Shive, where it is an integral part of the storyline, and has spurred works of fan fiction in these and other alternate universes. The webcomic Sluggy Freelance had an alternate universe storyline[4] which, while not integral, was revisited for another storyline[5]. Another example of an original fiction story taking place in an alternate universe is Red Son, a Superman graphic novel in which Superman landed in the USSR instead of the USA.
In the many Gundam anime series, there are six major timelines that are independent of one another (though there is some debate about the fifth timeline), and some fan circles (especially in North America) refer to the timelines created after the original Universal Century as "Alternate Universes". However, this does not truly fit the standard definition of AU, as the timelines share neither characters nor locations (aside from the solar system itself). Tenchi Muyo! and El-Hazard utilize the more traditional alternative universe concept, each beginning with an OVA series and followed by a TV series that utilizes many of the same characters and locations, but with alterations made to both (some minor and some drastic).
The Star Wars: Infinities comic series is an official aspect of the "What If?" style of alternate universe fiction, telling the story of the Original Trilogy Movies, if something went wrong.
[edit] AU problems
One of the most ongoing problems many fan fiction authors have with AUs is the fact that some authors totally disregard everything in the series, taking the characters' looks and names and placing them in completely different situations. The "high school fic" is a very common example. Another example is "Simple and Clean" by Ethelfraed, a Yu-Gi-Oh! story that sets the characters in Normandy in 1066. [6] Another type of AU that authors have a problem with involves the storyline given by a well-known movie or video game, for example Kingdom Hearts or Pokémon, played out by original characters or by characters from another series.
