On the other hand, I wouldn't say all AUs are self-indulgent, not even all the really outre ones. Some of them are all about getting at what makes the characters tick, what changes would take place if you changed their ages, their surrounding, their relationships with each other. Some of them are about the window dressing, of course, and some of them are about both window dressing and characterization questions.
*nods* Very true. And of course there've been AUs that I loved more than any closer-to-canon fic. A lot of it depends on the author, how well they know the characters and the effort that they put into predicting how changes in the enviroment lead to changes in characterization. Window dressing can be fun, but it can rarely hold a reader's attention up for longer fics unless there are other compelling elements to the story.
I was thinking, in particular, of an AU I'm writing- the ClubSoka epic, if you've heard me babbling about it. I'm getting fairly close to publishing it, or at least to sending it to a beta, which means of course that all my second thoughts and reservations are coming out. I keep going back and forth: it's a story that I want to tell, but I can't decide if it's a story worth telling, if it says anything. And while I ceetainly could write it just to amuse myself, I don't know if I want to put it so much time in effort if it would be better spent on other things. Plus, you know, I'm just shallow enough to not want to be known as 'that chick who writes the really weird AU and we humor her'.
LotRips high school, huh? I'm...disturbingly intrigued.
Ironically enough, it was updated (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=circe_tigana&keyword=LOTRIPS+High+School+AU&filter=all) this morning.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-09-28 08:08 pm (UTC)*nods* Very true. And of course there've been AUs that I loved more than any closer-to-canon fic. A lot of it depends on the author, how well they know the characters and the effort that they put into predicting how changes in the enviroment lead to changes in characterization. Window dressing can be fun, but it can rarely hold a reader's attention up for longer fics unless there are other compelling elements to the story.
I was thinking, in particular, of an AU I'm writing- the ClubSoka epic, if you've heard me babbling about it. I'm getting fairly close to publishing it, or at least to sending it to a beta, which means of course that all my second thoughts and reservations are coming out. I keep going back and forth: it's a story that I want to tell, but I can't decide if it's a story worth telling, if it says anything. And while I ceetainly could write it just to amuse myself, I don't know if I want to put it so much time in effort if it would be better spent on other things. Plus, you know, I'm just shallow enough to not want to be known as 'that chick who writes the really weird AU and we humor her'.
LotRips high school, huh? I'm...disturbingly intrigued.
Ironically enough, it was updated (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=circe_tigana&keyword=LOTRIPS+High+School+AU&filter=all) this morning.