Alternative Universes and Rewriting Installments

[author_by_night]

So I saw another fic for a fandom I'm in, and it was an AU for the last installment, which admittedly the fandom almost collectively hated. (I think there's a few people who liked and even loved it.) I'm definitely in the "hated it" camp.
However, I'm not a big fan of "if book X hadn't happened" fics. I never used to mind them, I even tried to write one, but that may have been around the time I decided I didn't like them.

I'm not a big fan of AUs altogether, not because I have issues with the concept, but because the execution often ends up being more wistful than purposeful. Let's use Harry Potter. There were many AUs where Harry was Sorted into the Slytherin House. This opens up all kinds of possibilities; the problem is, fanfics that did this were usually more interested in opening up the possibility of a Harry/Draco pairing and maybe a bit of general Slytherin love. So it's not really about exploring the "what ifs" so much as it is a slightly more plausible way for Harry and Draco to get together. The same is true with AUs of the book the writer didn't like; it's a matter of wish fulfillment, as opposed to a look at what could have been.

I think my other problem with them is that the way I see it... certain installments, awful though they may have been (at least to you), happened. It's like the embarrassing Grandpa - you cringe at his old fashioned humor (sometimes not so funny) and ideas, but he's still your Grandpa and he still gets invited to Christmas dinner. There's no point in pretending he's not there.

I don't mind AUs by themselves. I don't even mind retellings, exactly - as long as they're about a true alternative perspective, as opposed to wish fulfillment.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

(Also, because this post is public, I'm omitting the name of the fandom in question as it's small. Although to many of you it'll probably be fairly obvious...)

Comments

[rhiannonmr.livejournal.com]

I don't read fanfiction for a retelling of the canon. The canon is set by the original author, in the case of HP, JK Rowling set her canon. Everyone writing fanfiction by definition writes AU/AR. That said, the sorting of Harry as a divergence point often bothers me because it tends to go into bash Gryff or Weasley territory. Some do not but many do and honestly the other house story is more than a bit cliche since the fandom has been around for awhile, and has explored it in fanfiction extensively.

But I do like a good AU and some have been excellent. But you have to wade through a VAST amount of garbage to find the gems.