Snowflake Challenge #3

[kate]

From the ubiquitous coffee shop to traveling as a band, from Witchers fighting on spaceships to take-your-fandom-to-work day, alternate universes and fusions of multiple canons are a staple of fandom imagination! In your own space, put some favorite characters into an AU, fuse some favorite canons together, talk about your favorite AU/fusion tropes, or tell us why AU/fusions aren’t your cup of tea.

Oh. Oh my. I love all the AUs. Take your fandom to work day is literally one of my favorite things, and something I have done multiple times. My work now is too complex and boring to do it (though I imagine it is a bit what a chief cultivator might do, all bureaucracy and very little actual doing good in the world), but hopefully someday I will retire and do something stupid and fun that I can write my fandom into again. But I've written band camp, ER, research administration… I feel like there's another one but I can't remember it. OH SHIT, professional musicians, lol.

So yeah, I love them all so much. I am a sucker for coffee shop AUs (and my Sastiel big bang that never got done was kinda sorta one of those) and flower shop, bakery, all that kind of stuff. GIVE ME FLUFF AND MEET CUTES ALL DAY LONG. I do also like space, but I am not nearly as much of a sci fi nerd as I thought I was? I don't write it. I read it, though. I like historical romance, I love royalty AUs. Arranged marriage. GIVE THEM TO ME. ALL OF THEM.

I love fusions when they are the perfect blend of two canons and hinge on some weird but perfect thing. There is an SG-1/SPN crossover out there where the demon's yellow eyes means he is a goa'uld. Perfection.

Jelly and I just did a podcast about the sort of detailed occupation AUs you get from take your fandom to work day in MDZS. That was a lot of fun and full of so many awesome AUs.

So. Yeah. Love me an AU, fusion, crossover, you name it. Only thing is that it makes me want to go read them now, and it's already 4am, I need to get up for work in 4 hours.

Comments

[paulamcg]

What a lovely contribution to the challenge! You make me realise that although I don't write setting-change AUs, let alone fusions or other crossovers, I've ended up enjoying some historical AUs (so admirable!) and meet cutes in coffee shops, in the tube... Something good, too, follows from the Any Two Men syndrome that my favourite characters suffer from. :)

[kate]

Awwww, yay!!! I think most people can enjoy a good AU, even if it's not their scene to write them. It's definitely a particular take on a fandom, and for me, some are easier than others. I don't think I wrote a single AU in Supernatural, actually, but everything I've written for my current fandom is an AU. I hadn't really put that together until just now. HMmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

[larissabernstein]

Oh, there is so much joy and excitement and enthusiasm coming from this post that it really makes me want to read a few AUs right now. <3

[kate]

:D :D :D

I love them! AUs are the best! I could read them all day long! I am currently reading through a 2021 "best of" of Rule 63 for my pairing, and damn if they aren't all great (and modern AUs, what's up with that).

[sodium_amytal]

I love the positive energy in this post T_T

I too love AUs with all my heart and soul. I adore when authors utilize details or information they know from their special interests or jobs to give the fic a little something extra in the way of authenticity.

[kate]

UGH YES EXACTLY!!!! When you're like.... you actually trained horses, didn't you? or I just bet you've got a beehive in your backyard. It's just so good, the authenticity is amazing. Unfortunately that bites me in the butt sometimes because I was a professional musician and for whatever reason, people seem to think they can fake music AUs? And it drive me absolutely bonkers. Same with medical stuff, as I worked in an ER for many years, and that's annoying in TV and movies, too. But mostly I can suspend disbelief, and if it's not something I'm intimately familiar with, I'm all good. ALL THE AUS. ALL OF THEM.

[sodium_amytal]

people seem to think they can fake music AUs?
I'M IN THIS IMAGE AND I DON'T LIKE IT

XD Sadly I'm probably one of those people. TvT As much as love music and bandfic, I just don't "understand" music theory or the intricacies therein. So I try to shy away from describing things in a way that might be obviously bullshit, but I'm sure someone who knows anything about musicianship could call me on it.

I think what bugs me more is like, when it's totally clear the author did zero research on the subject. I see it a lot in legal/cop AUs, where obviously this author learned about the US justice system through episodes of Law and Order or crime procedurals. Like, I'm no expert on any of that stuff, but I know some things are exaggerated or outright made up for the sake of television (it annoys me to no end when TV lawyers approach the stand without asking the judge...).

Sometimes I give the authors the benefit of the doubt, maybe they're not from the US and assume the US justice system works the same as their own, but... TvT

TBH if the characterization and story is good enough, I can forgive those little flaws. I have to, because I'm sure I've made egregious, laughable errors in my own writing, and I would want a reader to forgive me if I've written an otherwise decent story, y'know?

[kate]

Ahahahahahha no no, you're fine, especially if it was bandom or Kpop fandom. I was in a band, but it was never a super famous one, so while I would know if the music theory stuff was wrong, I certainly wouldn't know about travel or their schedules or commitments, so that stuff doesn't bother me. And most people don't really talk music theory in their music AUs, it's just vague stuff about rhythm or melody or whatever, and that's fine! As long as you're not talking specifics, it's all good. It's the schedules, the requirements, the amount of free time you have when you're music students at a conservatory that drives me nuts. Not knowing what rehearsals are like, how they're organized. In classical music, that stuff absolutely makes me crazy. Pop/rock band AUs I can ignore with the best of them.

And agreed - I have read terrible music AUs because the story was just that compelling! So there are exceptions to every rule. :D And I read all kinds of other stuff that's just... not realistic (the number of people that make twenty-somethings CFOs, CEOs, or even just directors of offices is hilarious - that's simply not a thing that happens - but I don't care because the story is good!).