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on AUs...
So I feel like babbling. About AUs, of all things. Yay, pretend-essay!
I'm thinking as I write, so feel free to contradict me, or point out unclear stuff or whatnot and I shall clarify. Also feel free to debate in the post if you want to.
... I run off the mouth so much, to say so little. XD;;;
So the point of an AU is to take characters and put them in other settings, while keeping them as in character as they can possibly be in that setting.
How much of us is a produce of our surroundings, though, is rather hard to judge.
-The ability to do magic or ninjutsu does not define one's personality. If you take away this ability, the character should still exist, and still be recognizable.
-The ability to make intelligent plans, or the drive to make yourself dangerous/train to have a good aim, with kunai, with guns, is part of a character's -- it's just the shape that changes. For example, Tenten has great aim with kunai; in a gangsta AU, she would more than probably also learn to throw knives, somehow. (wait, tenten is a bad example seeing as she has no personality of her own, and throwing pointy things and being perkily enthusiastic is the extent of it. Hrrm. You get it anyway, right? XD) Shikamaru would also be a good plan-maker when motivated everywhere he goes; it's just what he plans about that might change. Most character who are shown to be highly competitive would not stop being competitive; it would just take on a different shape.
-changing family and friendship and enmity bonds is harder. Sure, "in this non-canon universe, X and Y are siblings" is a valid basis, but you have to take into account how it would have changed the character. There's a core that doesn't change in most people, but traumatic events and personal history alter the rest a hell of a lot. The problem is that the more things your universe and plot needs to change, the less recognizable your characters become on the surface; and if you can't write a deep, layered characterization, then it ends up looking like an OC, not a canon character. When writing "what if" fics, it's best to limit yourself to one or two big changes, not three bazilion.
Example: Without Itachi killing all his clan, Sasuke would probably grow up to be a normal teenager, somewhat sarcastic, much easier to approach casually, and feeling about equal amounts of brotherly love and feeling of inferiority, which he might eventually accept. No real drive to get better, better, better.
It's possible to make a good "normal days" AU where Itachi didn't kill anyone, but in this case, Sasuke would be OOC for the settings if he hates his brother blindly. And seeing as his characterization has already been altered from canon, making him still feel like Sasuke despite that needs a lot more work -- not less -- than a canon-based fic. The more changes you add, the harder it is to see the identical core behind the changes.
Without Itachi at all -- born an only child -- I have no friggin idea who Sasuke would be, though it's by no means impossible to guess -- just hard to make him still recognizable. Add "secretly a girl," "a doctor" and "a shapeshifting unicorn" and people will tell you to lay off the crack. (Though a girl!doctor!Sasuke is already plenty cracktastic on its own.)
--Writing a girl!Sasuke is probably doable. (I want to do it, but then I love to genderfuck the hell out of the poor lad.) It just needs more than "same character, just dealing with PMS and playing with her boobs" to work. (girl!sasuke should not in any way, shape or form, be a way to introduce a canon!sue. ever, ever, ever.)
--Writing a doctor!Sasuke is also possible, though you'd need a good explanation to change a somewhat selfish and rather physically active boy with so many cops in his family into someone who wants to save lives in that way and is willing to study books for years and years. (cop!sasuke -- the justice angle, and the just-like-daddy, family-tradition angle -- and firefighter!sasuke -- yay!fire angle -- amongst other things, would be more physical, less nerdy, and probably seem a little more obvious to him, provided he doesn't have the revenge thing. Revenge changes Sasuke into someone who wants blind justice at the very least, and doesn't care about who it bowls over on the way. That doesn't make him into someone who wants to give healing.)
--Writing shapeshifting unicorn!Sasuke is also doable, and might have some interesting parallels (if you go the "kind of like horses" route for the unicorn civilization, one stallion rules the herd, which gives a reason for Itachi to kill Daddy -- but then it means that it was expected of Itachi to challenge his father one day, and that all males must submit or leave, and then while the event is similar, it changes Sasuke's reaction to it quite a lot.)
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sarolynne and I roleplay a mean girl!unicorn!Neji&Sasuke, just saying. But there's a reason it's not a fic. u.u
You'd think it would be easy to plop down characters into a setting you know like the back of your hand, such as Real Life, or your own personal creation, but the more changes you add to the canon universe, and the more work it needs, not less.
Keeping a connection while making it different from the canon ("translating" it, per se, into something that fits the new universe) might make for a kickass AU. Say a "hospital" AU where Naruto has a case of multiple personalities disorder. (course it can also suck, and suck mightily, but then 90% of everything sucks. so.)
The main problem with a lot of Real days!Naruto AUs is that Naruto has been shaped by the hate, fear and contempt of the villagers toward him. It's extremely hard to justify a whole village hating and fearing a baby in non-magical or historical universes. It can be compensated by Naruto being belittled and hated by his family, but then Naruto having a family at all might also change him, since one of his defining characteristics is his being an orphan. And Naruto loses his drive to prove himself if his family is loving.
... Might be able to do something close enough if he already has his alternate personality at age six or eight (which should be possible, I heard that in lots of cases it started very early), and Kyuubi beats up a little playmate with a rock or something like that. *ponders*
Anyway -- a good AU keeps the characters as in character as possible and manages to translate the important background bits into something equivalent that works in the new setting but still produces something of the same effect on the character's personality; or manages to explain the changes in behavior from canon in a believable way : "what might have been". The AU that fails as an AU is the one that keeps the same person, with similar hates and friendships, when none of the stuff that molded them in canon happened in this universe, or that changes their defining characteristics so much they might as well be an OC. (the AU that piles up so much evil angst on a character that it makes them unrecognizable fails on account of too much emo, not on account of AU. XD)
The problem of the AU is that it rests on a very deep, detailed and precise characterization; if the author's usual characterization is already vague and approximative, if they don't know how to layer their characterisation so that we can still see the same core underneath, and then they take away the usual background, past and abilities, then the character becomes unrecognizable. People might love it anyway, for the plot or the settings, but then they'd probably love it if it was Ofic as well. (...or if it was the same pairing, and they supply their own personal fanon where the fic isn't giving it anyway. =_= might write another essay on that phenomenon -- where they just read a fanfic for the canvas, and end up devouring horribly sucky stuff because most of the shiny is in their head, or even getting as result a fic that has nothing to do with what the writer intended; IE: "aww, it was so cute when Itachi threw Sasuke against the wall andbroke his wrist whispered horrible cruel things in his ear. True love!!" But I digress.)
Basically, to write a good AU, characterization has to be your strong point, or else, no matter how inventive and interesting your new universe and storyline are, it's just an original story with familiar names. It could be coolness personnified, but if it's not recognizable characters, then it's not really fanfic at all.
I'm thinking as I write, so feel free to contradict me, or point out unclear stuff or whatnot and I shall clarify. Also feel free to debate in the post if you want to.
... I run off the mouth so much, to say so little. XD;;;
So the point of an AU is to take characters and put them in other settings, while keeping them as in character as they can possibly be in that setting.
How much of us is a produce of our surroundings, though, is rather hard to judge.
-The ability to do magic or ninjutsu does not define one's personality. If you take away this ability, the character should still exist, and still be recognizable.
-The ability to make intelligent plans, or the drive to make yourself dangerous/train to have a good aim, with kunai, with guns, is part of a character's -- it's just the shape that changes. For example, Tenten has great aim with kunai; in a gangsta AU, she would more than probably also learn to throw knives, somehow. (wait, tenten is a bad example seeing as she has no personality of her own, and throwing pointy things and being perkily enthusiastic is the extent of it. Hrrm. You get it anyway, right? XD) Shikamaru would also be a good plan-maker when motivated everywhere he goes; it's just what he plans about that might change. Most character who are shown to be highly competitive would not stop being competitive; it would just take on a different shape.
-changing family and friendship and enmity bonds is harder. Sure, "in this non-canon universe, X and Y are siblings" is a valid basis, but you have to take into account how it would have changed the character. There's a core that doesn't change in most people, but traumatic events and personal history alter the rest a hell of a lot. The problem is that the more things your universe and plot needs to change, the less recognizable your characters become on the surface; and if you can't write a deep, layered characterization, then it ends up looking like an OC, not a canon character. When writing "what if" fics, it's best to limit yourself to one or two big changes, not three bazilion.
Example: Without Itachi killing all his clan, Sasuke would probably grow up to be a normal teenager, somewhat sarcastic, much easier to approach casually, and feeling about equal amounts of brotherly love and feeling of inferiority, which he might eventually accept. No real drive to get better, better, better.
It's possible to make a good "normal days" AU where Itachi didn't kill anyone, but in this case, Sasuke would be OOC for the settings if he hates his brother blindly. And seeing as his characterization has already been altered from canon, making him still feel like Sasuke despite that needs a lot more work -- not less -- than a canon-based fic. The more changes you add, the harder it is to see the identical core behind the changes.
Without Itachi at all -- born an only child -- I have no friggin idea who Sasuke would be, though it's by no means impossible to guess -- just hard to make him still recognizable. Add "secretly a girl," "a doctor" and "a shapeshifting unicorn" and people will tell you to lay off the crack. (Though a girl!doctor!Sasuke is already plenty cracktastic on its own.)
--Writing a girl!Sasuke is probably doable. (I want to do it, but then I love to genderfuck the hell out of the poor lad.) It just needs more than "same character, just dealing with PMS and playing with her boobs" to work. (girl!sasuke should not in any way, shape or form, be a way to introduce a canon!sue. ever, ever, ever.)
--Writing a doctor!Sasuke is also possible, though you'd need a good explanation to change a somewhat selfish and rather physically active boy with so many cops in his family into someone who wants to save lives in that way and is willing to study books for years and years. (cop!sasuke -- the justice angle, and the just-like-daddy, family-tradition angle -- and firefighter!sasuke -- yay!fire angle -- amongst other things, would be more physical, less nerdy, and probably seem a little more obvious to him, provided he doesn't have the revenge thing. Revenge changes Sasuke into someone who wants blind justice at the very least, and doesn't care about who it bowls over on the way. That doesn't make him into someone who wants to give healing.)
--Writing shapeshifting unicorn!Sasuke is also doable, and might have some interesting parallels (if you go the "kind of like horses" route for the unicorn civilization, one stallion rules the herd, which gives a reason for Itachi to kill Daddy -- but then it means that it was expected of Itachi to challenge his father one day, and that all males must submit or leave, and then while the event is similar, it changes Sasuke's reaction to it quite a lot.)
sarolynne and I roleplay a mean girl!unicorn!Neji&Sasuke, just saying. But there's a reason it's not a fic. u.uYou'd think it would be easy to plop down characters into a setting you know like the back of your hand, such as Real Life, or your own personal creation, but the more changes you add to the canon universe, and the more work it needs, not less.
Keeping a connection while making it different from the canon ("translating" it, per se, into something that fits the new universe) might make for a kickass AU. Say a "hospital" AU where Naruto has a case of multiple personalities disorder. (course it can also suck, and suck mightily, but then 90% of everything sucks. so.)
The main problem with a lot of Real days!Naruto AUs is that Naruto has been shaped by the hate, fear and contempt of the villagers toward him. It's extremely hard to justify a whole village hating and fearing a baby in non-magical or historical universes. It can be compensated by Naruto being belittled and hated by his family, but then Naruto having a family at all might also change him, since one of his defining characteristics is his being an orphan. And Naruto loses his drive to prove himself if his family is loving.
... Might be able to do something close enough if he already has his alternate personality at age six or eight (which should be possible, I heard that in lots of cases it started very early), and Kyuubi beats up a little playmate with a rock or something like that. *ponders*
Anyway -- a good AU keeps the characters as in character as possible and manages to translate the important background bits into something equivalent that works in the new setting but still produces something of the same effect on the character's personality; or manages to explain the changes in behavior from canon in a believable way : "what might have been". The AU that fails as an AU is the one that keeps the same person, with similar hates and friendships, when none of the stuff that molded them in canon happened in this universe, or that changes their defining characteristics so much they might as well be an OC. (the AU that piles up so much evil angst on a character that it makes them unrecognizable fails on account of too much emo, not on account of AU. XD)
The problem of the AU is that it rests on a very deep, detailed and precise characterization; if the author's usual characterization is already vague and approximative, if they don't know how to layer their characterisation so that we can still see the same core underneath, and then they take away the usual background, past and abilities, then the character becomes unrecognizable. People might love it anyway, for the plot or the settings, but then they'd probably love it if it was Ofic as well. (...or if it was the same pairing, and they supply their own personal fanon where the fic isn't giving it anyway. =_= might write another essay on that phenomenon -- where they just read a fanfic for the canvas, and end up devouring horribly sucky stuff because most of the shiny is in their head, or even getting as result a fic that has nothing to do with what the writer intended; IE: "aww, it was so cute when Itachi threw Sasuke against the wall and
Basically, to write a good AU, characterization has to be your strong point, or else, no matter how inventive and interesting your new universe and storyline are, it's just an original story with familiar names. It could be coolness personnified, but if it's not recognizable characters, then it's not really fanfic at all.
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Why don't people *get* that about AU? Sometimes it's as if people want to rehash the canon in every single fic that exists, AU or not, or make it so incredibly OOC that I have no attachment to anything in the story.
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And that is why it rarely works. Good essay/comment/thought - whichever it is? ^__^- it really summed up all the possible problems of AU-writing. I can't disagree with you on any particular point here.
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I've been playing around with an idea for an AU involving Naruto as a rogue demon and Sasuke as a fallen angel. I think the way I'm going to go at it is that Sasuke will have been responsible for protecting Sodom and Gomorrah , and Itachi, the angel he most looked up to and admired, was the one who was sent to destroy them. It's not exactly the same, but it's close enough that I should be able to get a Sasuke who is fairly similar to canon!Sasuke--although his need for revenge will have simmered more slowly because it's kind of hard for an angel to take vengeance on another angel.
I'm not so sure about Naruto, but I think he's always been alienated from the other demons by being part human...I'm not sure what made him turn to wanting to help people instead of wanting to torment them. *ponders some more* Possibly an analog to Haku.
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Anyway... this is one of these ideas that rest on the author's skills. Not everyone should be trusted with such a bunny; it has the potential to be horrid as much as to be great fun. Let's see what you can do? XD
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Enfin, bref… Ta théorie est très bonne. J'adhère à 100 %.
Franchement, c'est très vrai, mais j'y avais déjà plus ou moins songé en me disant que les UAs sont plutôt complexes à mettre en place. En même temps, je n'avais jamais lu quoi que ce soit sur le sujet, donc, même si en théorie chaque auteur un tant soit peu sérieux en est conscient (reste le fossé entre "en être conscient" et "prendre cela en compte"), c'est très bien que quelqu'un pense à le dire haut et fort. Alors voilà, très bien ce petit texte. (Et en plus ça m'a fait bosser mon anglais pendant les vacances. XD)
Sinon (petite digression en passant), j'ai vu que tu abandonnais définitivement werewolf. Même si j'aurais voulu savoir la fin, je ne t'en veux pas. Je sais ce que c'est de s'éloigner d'un fandom et de perdre l'inspiration qu'on pensait inépuisable quand on était à fond dedans, alors je compatis et pis c'est tout.
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*random thoughts* Ca j'en suis pas si sûre... Bon, clairement pas au même point que le manga (et je suis pas la "seconde saison" (et n'ai jms regardé l'animé) mais il reste sa relation relativement merdique avec son père qui aurait continué à vachement influencer sa personnalité et l'aurait poussé à continuer à se surpasser avec tjs ce but de rattraper son frère. D'autant que même sans massacrer sa famille, Itachi resterait très certainement un gd frère distant qui a mieux à faire que de s'occuper de son petit frère (en tout cas jusqu'à ce que Sasuke ateigne un âge "intéressant" ; et encore...)
Enfin bref, pour le reste je suis dans l'ensemble d'accord, sinon c'est effectivement une originale déguisée (et, parce que maintenant je n'ai quasiment plus qu'envie de lire des ori et que c'est dur d'en trouver des bonnes
aussi parce que j'ai la flemme de chercher, ça a tendance à m'agacer parce que mince, quoi ! c'est tellement dommage, pourquoi en faire un "fanfic" quand C'EST une originale ! è_é)no subject
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Actually, Itachi was a motivation for Sasuke to get better even before the massacre. Sasuke was living in his brother's shadow, and he wanted to improve so that Itachi and his father would acknowledge him. It wasn't as desperate or intense, but the drive to get better was definitely there.
might write another essay on that phenomenon -- where they just read a fanfic for the canvas, and end up devouring horribly sucky stuff because most of the shiny is in their head
Yeah... having a good stock of shiny in your head really can make a badfic tolerable... I plead guilty. The really intolerable badfics are the ones that are OOC and also leave no room for the reader to insert their own shiny.
Also, why don't people get that "Alternate Universe" is different from OOC or Divergent Timeline? Justifying OOC on the grounds of "oh it's an alternate universe where Naruto has no tan and is a weepy baby uke" requires more than just an AU label.
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The drive to get better was there, but there's a distinct possibility that eventually, that drive would have been smothered in front of the lack of result and died, and he would have become resigned to being second best all his life. There was no tragedy to make this utterly unacceptable; it would have just be bitter to swallow. Or Sasuke's jealousy could have become resentment when he noticed he wasn't getting anywhere and then he may have gotten somewhat estranged from his family, or at least his brother. That's just... not comparable. At all.
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And crack!fic has its place in the world, I think. Just so long as you remember that it's crack. XD
Good thoughts. :)
~A
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That's why I think it's the responsibility of the author to choose his/her AU so characters are recognisable; then I also think people should try concentrating on one change. Either something happened in a wildly different way in canon, including family links (Sakura as the Sandaime's grand-daughter, and god knows let's-change-the-characters-blood-relations is the AU I find myself having the most difficulty to accept), or the setting is different (oh! lookie! Victorian AU!), but if the author mixes the two... Street-rat Itachi tries to conquer snobbish Hinata, is it true love or just cold ambition? - no. Just... no. One major change from canon is hard enough to explain as it.
As a side note, I really, really want to read fics in which Sasuke took Sakura on her offer to become a missing-nin for him. Points it's not romantic. *wide sadistic grin*
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Anyway, one of the ways I can think of to keep Naruto more or less the same in a Real Life!setting could be that he gets shuffled from foster home to foster home, but I can't even begin to think of one for Sasuke without twisting his character way too much. AU=The Hard
Ohh! I think This Time Around (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2461703/1/) by Crimson Skies might go into the what kind of changes Sasuke would have with his family around, at least I hope she goes into it.
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(here via metafandom)
Because I must ask.... don't think this makes sense.
You give the impression that Alternate Universe does not change the character so much, but only changes the setting. I had the impression that Alternate Universe those two almight letters A and U together gave a sort of free reign over all shit! lol, or am I wrong and you would have to put AU and OOC or something. Because now we are getting technical and talking a whole other story genre now! Cause someone make up this term.
Because I have always used AU as the characters are subject to change and it is just the idea and process that "I'm too fucking lazy to make up my own whole knew charcter so I will steal this one and put them in a different setting entirely and pair them with who knows what or who I usually would cause I feel like it etc" basically, a case of "lazy and don't want to make up who my character looks like and Mendokuse yadda, yadda." now if this isn't the case, correct me now. Cause that was sure the impression I got. AU was fair game. If not, then what would one call that? What is the genre. Cause it does happen with me and Hee-chan often when we write that we are just too lazy and emotionally exhausted etc to make up a character profile and rather than waste some little energy on the character looks etc we just statch other characters from other animes/manga. I know, lazy, but happens. A lot! Cause you know... people tend to have lives and then there are just emotional drains too... yadda, yadda, yadda. So. correct me now. Cause this is an interesting point.
And I really liked about AU in a way that someone could stamp that on there, and know up front "this character is HIGHLY subject to OOCness" it was like a given. And it makes me sad to realize I could have gotten it wrong. Because some AUs are awesome things when done right. I think they are fun things to play with too! ^___^ And yes, it is a lazy form of Orginal Fiction, but hey, whatever. And sometimes there is the case where some characters are incredibly in character for the series they are from but then others aren't then what? Start specifying who is possibly OOC and who isn't? I suppose with these genre and terms I am getting incredibly confused. That is all.
I have high respect for you so I take the time to stop and read all of the above before I said this, and I see where you are coming from. But is it safe to assume that ALL AU writers intend for ICness rather than outright OOC? Or maybe they like the mix. I know also of the write on not being easy on novice writers.... but still. Sometimes it is a safe start for writers etc. And it is also a good way to get a feel for a new fandom, which I often do. lol. ^__^
So, I ask all this, with the upmost respect. Gomen nasai if I offend or trampled into some unknown pet peeve or something. I do mean that I adore you and half idolize you (gomen for the creepy again) therefore the respect to read your entire post rather than comment on the first sentence alone and also to give you the chance to correct me, for I may be wrong. So in return I ask for an honest and as a patient a response as possible. (And give me a break I have been up over 12 hours straight and it is like 5 AM... dear god... why am I still awake?! lol)
Sincerest,
Shinigami Twin 04
(Quatre Raberba Winner
Re: Because I must ask.... don't think this makes sense.
So yeah. They might be fun fics, and they might be popular fics. And lots of people enjoy some measure of OOC anyway, because keeping too close to canon is too restrictive. I'm not saying no one should ever, ever write them, as I am not the law in the fandom. If you are having fun, go ahead, and don't let anyone convince you not to. Really, it's all that matters. Personally, I won't read them, but then it's impossible to write a fic that will please EVERYONE, and I have never pretended not to be an elitist bitch.
No, seriously. You have fun with them? Readers have fun with them? That's what fandom is for. Go ahead. My standards are not inherently better because they're stricter. When we get down to it, there is no law in fandom, there is no "right way to do this", there is no authority. As an author it should be your pride demanding that you post the most-polished fic you can, but it should fit YOUR standards of "good fic", and not other people's. (on top of universal standards such as grammar and spelling, of course.) So decide what's important to YOU and then do it.
I'm very flattered you think so highly of me, but it also makes me feel a little awkward, because really, as a person I'm nothing that special. So please, there's really no need to repeat that you respect me so many times. I get it, and I am honored. You don't need to placate me in case I get angry or something. XD
Re: Because I must ask.... don't think this makes sense.
Indeed I do have fun with them. And readers do as well. I am well adversed in these stories of sorts. ^___^ One I am reading now so far gets nothing but positive feedback, I was surprised because I figure as you said, someone had to disagree with SOMETHING. And I remember the days of Gundam Wing fiction well were everyone loved a lot of different things, and it wasn't so odd to read AU as I thought at first. That is why I pointed out this particular thread. (I noted you seem to have a series of things for letting writers have it, lol. I love it! ^__^)
Gomen, on the placating, that is habit! ^____^ And it is so rare that I truly do like what people do, I was amazed. It was new and interesting. So I was just astonished out of my mind. There are great a many people on livejournal I love and adore and talk to and become the best of friends with in this internet realm, but rarely do I want to ravish and rape their entire site worth of fics. So that is why I attack you. Sometimes people like the attacking sometimes not. But that is how I do it and set it clear. So I will start being more "down to earth-ish" and such when approaching you rather that "fangirl scream your head off" lmao. ^__^ What can I say, I like to spread the love!
Now... the only thing is, you never quite answered. Does an AU not denote the "right" to anything and everything. They are supposed to stick to the character persona? Or does it? If not does that OOC sticker have to be on there? Or do we need to create another genre name out there in fan fic land one day for those lazy people like me. And I will be honest, some of the writing I do start with using anime characters as a basis and then later when I realize I like the story enough to make it my own I change the coloration and the looks of the characters to my unique style, in hopes of one day publishing it. (I must say though, lol, I do indeed not wish to be sued by one of my favorite manga ka one day either! lol)
That said, just wondering. And I do realize everyone has their own opinions, but I wanted to know if this was a majority as well, considering so many seemed to agree with you so readily looking at your comments page. Therefore, I had to double check.
Gomen nasai for making you feel kinda akward too! ^_~
Sincerest,
Shinigami Twin 04
(Quatre Raberba Winner)
no subject
Here from Metafandom
But that's episodic TV for you. The characters are relatively static, and come fully formed into their adult selves, so they can fit into practically any situation.
As for Naruto, it's a bit harder because he's still growing up, many formative things are still happening to him, and that's the plot, not the alien-of-the-week like SGA.
I write a little bit in the Naruto fandom, and I have two unfinished fics on my hard drive that are both AUs. And those are nothing like the SGA fics I just described. I had to think a lot about how to justify how Our Heroes remain Our Heroes in a completely other setting. (Both are Naruto/Neji fic, because that's my drug of choice.)
One is a sci-fi-ish universe where Neji's part of the branch-family personal army of his uncle's corporation, and Naruto is an indentured slave (orphaned at birth and working off his "debt") who turns out to be an experiment in cybernetics. It seems to hold up their personalities pretty well, allowing for them to be the characters we recognize (at least I hope it does!)
The other is a fusion with Anne McCaffrey's Pern universe. That was easier in some ways, because the dragonriders are militaristic, and harder in others, because there is no analogue for the Kyuubi. Neji's in his usual place as the Branch family of a Lord Holder, Naruto is the survivor of a hold that was wiped out by a plague, hence his crappy childhood.
Kyuubi itself isn't really essential IMHO if you're not going to follow the original universe plotlines closer, as you just need to find a way for Naruto's loneliness to exist for him to be Naruto, but given his lofty ambitions, it sure helps if he has some analog of the advantages Kyuubi gives. (And the disadvantages. I haven't seen or read any of Naruto II, but I have heard it's getting somewhat out of control...)
The idea that an AU is AU because the characters are OOC is a little stupid to me. If I wanted people who weren't the characters I love, I'll go read some profic. I want to stay close the "real thing," so actually worry that I'm copying too closely to the source material when I design origins for Naruto and co in my AUs.
Re: Here from Metafandom
(Anonymous) 2006-08-19 12:57 am (UTC)(link)*sighs* I don't think I said any of what I wanted. Let me try this again.
My understanding of an AU is when something breaks off from canon. It could be anything from "Naruto manages to bring back Sasuke" to "Itachi didn't kill the clan" to "Life for them in Tokyo, Japan, 1943". But then, that's pretty much labeling almost all fanfiction as AUs, considering that the constantly changing canon, well, changes. I believe that stories like "what Iruka does in his spare time" might be safe or "how Anko became Orochimaru's apprentice" would be alright, considering that the chances of finding out in the manga are very slim.
*sighs* And once again, I miss the point I was making, and said more than I meant. I've gotta stop doing that....
Nice rant. *"good guy" pose*
Re: Here from Metafandom
I don't mean to the ultimate extreme, where, say, Sasuke gets a brand new personality. But really, their experiences are what shape the character, so, due to circumstance, they might be changed slightly.
Yeah, I agree with this. I think that's more what I meant, not that any small deviation was totally impossible. After all if Naruto didn't grow up in Konoha as we know it, he probably doesn't have the big love for ramen. But the broad strokes of him--his optimism, his open-mindedness, his stubbornness, are all central to him and should still be present.
Should... well, on the other hand, I just remembered an AU I read of One Piece where two characters meet up in a mental hospital. Clearly they aren't the same people as they are in the show.
I guess when I think of AU I first think of the one where the characters as we know them are in new and different circumstances (like you said, "Itachi didn't kill the clan," or "Tokyo, 1943") but then I'm discounting all those AUs that are designed to explore the what-ifs of personality instead of storyline.
What if Naruto was raised like Gaara, with people actively trying to kill him? What if he or Sasuke had been placed in good families instead of left alone? I can't think of anything particularly more creative just now, but I just undermined my original argument! LOL. Yep, AUs can definitly have have the characters acting OOC. It can be the whole point!
Except I guess that the OOCness in those stories to me isn't illogical or random. It's drawing from how we know the characters, and how we think they would develop if this had happened instead of that. Most of the time--I read a creepy Stargate Atlantis AU that had the entire cast remade as being criminally insane and their city of Atlantis being a prison. "What if character X turned out this way instead of that way" is AU fodder too. What if Naruto wasn't the generously forgiving guy he is? What if he wanted power above all to get revenge instead of respect?
But at heart, I think everyone should still be the recognizeable characters from the source material, though perhaps the dark, or reformed, or deformed, or insane version.
I guess when I said OOCness seemed stupid to me was more along the lines of--writing an AU with familiar character names but a complete lack of correspondance to their canon selves. Having an AU isn't an excuse to write a character with complete disregard for their basic personality (like, Naruto being a goth in modern day Japan for no apparent reason) Something has to link back to the original versions. If a character is gonna appear way OOC based on his or her canon portrayal, there should be a trail of logic presented at some point along the way for the reader to follow so that culminates with the fic author's version of the character and lets the reader go "oh, okay, yeah."
Er... did that make sense? It's a bit late and I'm not sure if I'm coherent.
Re: Here from Metafandom
(Anonymous) 2006-08-24 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)... Sorry. -_-;;
I guess when I think of AU I first think of the one where the characters as we know them are in new and different circumstances (like you said, "Itachi didn't kill the clan," or "Tokyo, 1943") but then I'm discounting all those AUs that are designed to explore the what-ifs of personality instead of storyline.
I suppose, but a 'what-if' is just a branch off of the AU subcategory. People just don't normally label them as AUs simply because it's pretty obvious when you say 'what-if' that you mean 'its different from canon' which is the basic description of an 'Alternate Universe'... and I think I just used up my quota of apostrophes -_-;;
Other than that, I totally agree. Weirdo AU character X + Trail of Logic(c) = Acceptable!