Alternate Universes

by Annoying Schizoid

Originally intended as an answer to the Ask Fowl question “Why AU? What makes a good Alternate Universe?” (submitted by Blue Yeti) but grew so significant that it deserved its own article. Let it never be said the Observatory crew are slackers.

For those of you who don’t know, AU is short for “Alternate Universe”. In other words, it’s where a fanfic author deviates from the canon when creating his/her own story.

The reasons people enjoy writing or reading AU are simple.  Oftentimes, fans will want to read something that could never really occur in the canon, and so they turn to fanfiction, which gives readers and writers complete freedom. However, what people consider to be “proper” AU is constantly under debate, and this is because the extent to which canon is changed in an AU fic varies from making slight alterations to creating parallel universes.

The type of AU fic that is usually created from bad luck and circumstance often “ignores” entire events that happen in one of the books or, sometimes, pretends that particular book never even existed. We shall call this sub-genre Denial Fics, as usually the fics deny aspects of canon, but are not intended as a complete new universe. The advantage to this type of AU is that an author can continue on with a previously planned plot after such a plot was proven impossible by the release of a new installment in the original series. Oftentimes, a fic will become AU while it’s still being written. For instance, imagine yourself writing a fic about Butler’s troubled and adventurous life with the Fowls; but, halfway through it, Eoin Colfer releases his new book: Artemis Fowl and the Spandex Complex, in which Butler must tragically abandon his career as a manservant for he has become a slave to disco balls and the dance floor, and his only masters now are Earth, Wind, and Fire. Obviously, your fic’s plot can’t work out now, but instead of scrapping it and starting over, all you have to do is label it “Alternate Universe,” then everyone will be happy.

Dealing with canon-induced plot complications, accidental or not, are a major reason authors write AU. When you find you cannot “get around” a canon obstacle, the easiest path is always the straightest one. By calling your fic “AU”, you can get away with banishing from existence any element that gets in the way from the original books or change it into something more agreeable to you. We will call these types of AU fics, which omit or alter events and information, “Divergent Worlds.”

Writers often omit certain aspects of the canon because: A) it interferes with their own fanfiction ideas; B) they want to depict a “Cause-and-Effect Scenario” to show how events would have played out if “this” had never happened or if “that” had never been said; and finally C) they just didn’t like something and wanted to purge it from their own fiction. Omissions allow writers to rationalize things that could have easily been disproved were the fic “true to canon”. For example, writing Divergent Worlds can let you skip right over those nasty Character Deaths and pick up where the story left off, but with the same characters we’d thought long gone and pushing up daisies. Or, you can write a Divergent World that explores, “What if So-and-So never died?” which, instead of getting rid of an issue to ignore it, gets rid of an issue in order to speculate about it. Thinking about it this way, you may write about what would happen if Artemis did not get to find his father in the second book. Would Artemis Fowl the First have died? How would the surviving Fowls stand the loss of their patriarch? Would Artemis fall into desperation and madness, and if so, who would follow? All of this is at the hands of an AU fanfiction writer, an opportunity to “rewrite” the books with only a slight omission.

Rewriting elements of the canon is also part of Divergent Worlds. Instead of removing events the author gets to change, manipulate, or “correct” them. Just like omissions, these changes are used to work in favor of a fanfiction plotline and to explore the wonders of cause-and-effect. A fanfiction author might adjust or alter the canon until a situation is created that suits the writer’s story, while still strongly resembling the original. An author might also “correct” something in the canon to instead become the way they think things “should” have been. If someone didn’t agree with the death of Commander Root, they could easily get away with making him survive in an AU fic. Or, if someone wanted to point out a plothole (or two) from the AF books, they could just change said canon plothole into something that makes a bit more sense.

Finally, the last sub-genre of AU involves a completely different universe than what is written in the canon—this is probably the first type of fic that comes to mind when talking about Alternate Universes and is also the farthest away from the canon universe. These will be called Elseworlds. When an author creates an Elseworld, that author is given the ability to create everything and control everything. Events, past, present, future, setting, appearances, character development… This means being able to throw AF characters into your dimension of choice and having to decide how they would react to those new existences.

If you wanted to create a world where vampires roam freely while craving the blood of beautiful women, beautiful men, and moderately attractive cows, all you’d have to do is dress Artemis up in a black cloak and call him Dracula. If you wanted the same characters to play pirates instead, just substitute the Transylvanian castle for a ship, crew, and a Jolly Roger. While you’re at it, you can make Artemis into an undead pirate, captain of a blood-sucking, buccaneering crew of misfits, along with his trusty first-mate Bootstrap-Butler. Elseworlds allow writers to illustrate circumstances that are familiar to them, yet would not fit in with the usual canon. In our fandom, Artemis has had the privilege of being nearly everything, including a talented rock star with rippling muscles and perfect hair, a Slytherin wizard prodigy with magically rippling muscles and enchanted hair, a jaded assassin with rippling, deadly muscles and dark, deadly hair…and even the aloof, perfect, popular High School Hottie whom all the girls want—but without any rippling muscles because, really, that’s just unrealistic.

Whatever the situation, Elseworlds allow us to see the same old characters in completely new situations, sometimes familiar to us, sometimes downright unusual, and at other times, interwoven with parallels to the canon that create a mirror image between worlds if you just look at the right angle.

But, I suppose I haven’t yet properly answered your question of, “Why AU?” Writing AU opens up a million doors of opportunity for the writers but also gives readers the pleasure of reading a fanfiction without having to mentally force it into the mold of the real books. This way, readers will not be measuring up a fic to pass as a continuation of canon and writers will be saved from the flaming persecutions of, “That would never happen,” and, “Artemis goes to an all-boys school—Holly can’t be a student!”

Figuring out what makes a good AU is a bit more difficult.  Enjoyable fiction is subjective and depends on what people like.  When an AU is entertaining, it usually is very creative and creates a story that captivates and makes the reader want more, often also involving plenty of well-placed romance and action.  

A “good” AU, however, concentrates on both story and characterization.  In AUs where the entire setting has been changed, characterization is very important.  A good AU of this nature should build for readers a gradual mirror image of the canon and their AU counterparts, while still letting readers guess at what’s different and what stayed the same.  And just because drastic changes were made, changes in a character’s personality have to make sense.  For example, if Artemis was written as a regular high school student, it would be confusing if he was also a cheerful, fun-loving boy, unless it was properly explained.  However, AUs are usually written to show an old character in a new light, so it would be best to have character personalities more or less the same.

This is not the case for all AUs, however.  Some other good AUs are written in order to show how a change of events can alter the way a person develops.  Many good AUs alter a single detail and let events play out differently than they might have due to that change.  A well-written stories make these changes seem natural and are essentially studies of cause and effect.  Also, when changes are made to the canon, the writer should be able to make those changes reasonable.  Having Commander Root survive the explosion in The Opal Deception because he was able to Apparate at the last minute is not reasonable.  

But other than being realistic, a good AU should have a little something more.  It should be able to take full advantage of each unexplored possibility.  It should be creative and cannot be forced.  The borrowed characters should feel as if they’ve always belonged in the new world you’ve created.