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Fanfic Tropes Meme (#34)
AU:
34. Do you like UAs (universe-alterations, when the main universe and characters are the same but one plot point/decision/outcome is altered)?
Yes, absolutely! As a matter of fact, this is my favorite type of AU to read and write about. My Snupin Always series involves a couple of major alterations from canon: (1) Snape and Lupin are secretly lovers, and (2) Sirius didn't die in OotP. While the series is mostly focused on the shippy stuff, the latter alters the canonic Harry-vs-Voldemort plot much more. In my fanon 'verse, Snape saved Sirius, so Harry has much less reason to resent and distrust Snape, and even has some gratitude for him. I've also written several stand-alone Snupin fics that mostly follow canon through DH with the main alteration that Snape and Lupin survived the war, which is relatively easy to incorporate if you ignore the epilogue. Lupin's death can be handwaved with an explanation that as a werewolf, he only appeared to be dead, or that a werewolf can be resurrected with some special magic spell or ritual (usually involving the full moon). Snape's survival is even easier to explain: the text says only that "he moved no more," and it's not like Harry checked for a pulse, so it's easy enough to say that Snape only fell unconscious and was saved later, or that he feigned death and healed himself after Harry and Hermione left. And Tonks's canonical death is actually helpful to the ship, since it eliminates her as an obstacle to the Snupin ship, and clears the way for Snape and Lupin to raise Teddy together (if one is fond of kid!fic). However, I do like Book 5 Tonks (if not the depressed, obsessive Tonks in Book 6), so I'm quite happy if Tonks and Lupin just have an amicable divorce and share custody of Teddy.
My Petshop fics have relatively minor alterations to canon, mostly for shippy reasons: Leon and D become lovers while the latter is still living in L.A., so D has no reason to run away; or D flees L.A. as he does in canon, but Leon manages to track him down and they accept their feelings for each other and return home together. Since Leon is canonically searching for D in Shin Petshop of Horrors (aka Tokyo Pet Shop of Horrors), the latter could almost be construed as a post-canon story. (If one ignores the last scene at the end of the first series, which says that Leon went searching for D 20 years ago but Chris doesn't know whether Leon ever found him, which means that either Leon disappeared and never returned, or that he returned but for some reason never told Chris whether or not he found D.)
My Haru fics have the fanon ship of Kikuchi/Onozuka, but technically, it's not actually contradicting canon: we never see Kikuchi and Onozuka meet in the manga, but it's never explicitly stated that they haven't met, either. So their relationship could be presented as something that happens either post-canon or "offscreen" during the canon storyline. The one major canon event that I altered was havingIwaki Katou actually get shot during the Academy Awards, partly for the added drama and because I like to play "what if" in my head, and partly to help move along the Kikuchi/Onozuka relationship. However, aside from the extra drama and some hurt/comfort, it doesn't really affect the main canon storyline since Iwaki and Katou remain a committed couple, with Katou taking over the presidency of the talent agency.
ETA: corrected the one being shot to Katou, not Iwaki, duh! You'd think I would remember how my own story went. >_<
Most of the examples I gave are shippy ones, but I do like seeing how one (or two, or a few) small changes can change the outcome of a story and take it in a different direction.
34. Do you like UAs (universe-alterations, when the main universe and characters are the same but one plot point/decision/outcome is altered)?
Yes, absolutely! As a matter of fact, this is my favorite type of AU to read and write about. My Snupin Always series involves a couple of major alterations from canon: (1) Snape and Lupin are secretly lovers, and (2) Sirius didn't die in OotP. While the series is mostly focused on the shippy stuff, the latter alters the canonic Harry-vs-Voldemort plot much more. In my fanon 'verse, Snape saved Sirius, so Harry has much less reason to resent and distrust Snape, and even has some gratitude for him. I've also written several stand-alone Snupin fics that mostly follow canon through DH with the main alteration that Snape and Lupin survived the war, which is relatively easy to incorporate if you ignore the epilogue. Lupin's death can be handwaved with an explanation that as a werewolf, he only appeared to be dead, or that a werewolf can be resurrected with some special magic spell or ritual (usually involving the full moon). Snape's survival is even easier to explain: the text says only that "he moved no more," and it's not like Harry checked for a pulse, so it's easy enough to say that Snape only fell unconscious and was saved later, or that he feigned death and healed himself after Harry and Hermione left. And Tonks's canonical death is actually helpful to the ship, since it eliminates her as an obstacle to the Snupin ship, and clears the way for Snape and Lupin to raise Teddy together (if one is fond of kid!fic). However, I do like Book 5 Tonks (if not the depressed, obsessive Tonks in Book 6), so I'm quite happy if Tonks and Lupin just have an amicable divorce and share custody of Teddy.
My Petshop fics have relatively minor alterations to canon, mostly for shippy reasons: Leon and D become lovers while the latter is still living in L.A., so D has no reason to run away; or D flees L.A. as he does in canon, but Leon manages to track him down and they accept their feelings for each other and return home together. Since Leon is canonically searching for D in Shin Petshop of Horrors (aka Tokyo Pet Shop of Horrors), the latter could almost be construed as a post-canon story. (If one ignores the last scene at the end of the first series, which says that Leon went searching for D 20 years ago but Chris doesn't know whether Leon ever found him, which means that either Leon disappeared and never returned, or that he returned but for some reason never told Chris whether or not he found D.)
My Haru fics have the fanon ship of Kikuchi/Onozuka, but technically, it's not actually contradicting canon: we never see Kikuchi and Onozuka meet in the manga, but it's never explicitly stated that they haven't met, either. So their relationship could be presented as something that happens either post-canon or "offscreen" during the canon storyline. The one major canon event that I altered was having
ETA: corrected the one being shot to Katou, not Iwaki, duh! You'd think I would remember how my own story went. >_<
Most of the examples I gave are shippy ones, but I do like seeing how one (or two, or a few) small changes can change the outcome of a story and take it in a different direction.