hells_half_acre (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hells_half_acre) wrote2014-05-30 01:49 pm
hells_half_acre) wrote2014-05-30 01:49 pm
Entry tags:
To canon-AU or not to canon-AU....
My next month of ficlets is nearly upon us. If you want to leave me a prompt and haven't yet done so, head on over to my previous post.
Now, while we're on the topic of fanfic, let me complain to you about my current canon/fanfic troubles...
My main problem is that I want to write another demented'verse fic. I have had an opening all prepared (in my head) for the past two-three years... the problem is that timeline-wise, in order to use that opening, it pretty much has to be set in S9. I kept hoping that SPN would give me a good window and plot idea... but, alas, I've got nothing.
So, now my question is: Do I go AU? The last demented'verse fic I wrote was set in S7, so I'd have to catch up that time anyway, and, I think anyone who read my rewatch of S8 has probably realized that I had a lot of problems with the first half of that season. So, on the one hand, this could be my chance to change things a little...
...On the other hand, once you start changing things, where do you stop? How much do you change things? HOW do you change things? Do I still just run into the same problems?
The problem I have with AU, and the reason I very seldom write it, is because working within the constructs of canon gives me limits that I can use to form my plots... and I'm just not sure how good my writing would be without those enforced parameters. Also, going AU would remove the short-hand that I rely on with the readers, where I don't have to explain what Sam and Dean are currently working through, because the readers already know. That's what makes crossovers fun, after all - it's that half of your characters know things the other half don't, and you can have tons of double-meaning dialogue, where the reader is in on all the secrets without my having to explain what those secrets are.
Part of me is thinking I should just forget it. Put that 'verse to bed. Because if I can't think of a plot that fits, maybe that's just the end of it then. But, then, another part of me is pissed off because if I was going to end the 'verse, I'd have preferred to end on Seers, Souls and Scandinavians, rather than Brains and Bones, because SSS had a much better ending, IMO, and would have served as a brilliant 'verse ending. I remember struggling with the decision to write Brains and Bones for that reason, but in the end I did... and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't've.
Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
TL;DR: Struggling to write another demented'verse fic. Not sure if I should stick to my canon-nazi ways. AU is a slippery slope.
Now, while we're on the topic of fanfic, let me complain to you about my current canon/fanfic troubles...
My main problem is that I want to write another demented'verse fic. I have had an opening all prepared (in my head) for the past two-three years... the problem is that timeline-wise, in order to use that opening, it pretty much has to be set in S9. I kept hoping that SPN would give me a good window and plot idea... but, alas, I've got nothing.
So, now my question is: Do I go AU? The last demented'verse fic I wrote was set in S7, so I'd have to catch up that time anyway, and, I think anyone who read my rewatch of S8 has probably realized that I had a lot of problems with the first half of that season. So, on the one hand, this could be my chance to change things a little...
...On the other hand, once you start changing things, where do you stop? How much do you change things? HOW do you change things? Do I still just run into the same problems?
The problem I have with AU, and the reason I very seldom write it, is because working within the constructs of canon gives me limits that I can use to form my plots... and I'm just not sure how good my writing would be without those enforced parameters. Also, going AU would remove the short-hand that I rely on with the readers, where I don't have to explain what Sam and Dean are currently working through, because the readers already know. That's what makes crossovers fun, after all - it's that half of your characters know things the other half don't, and you can have tons of double-meaning dialogue, where the reader is in on all the secrets without my having to explain what those secrets are.
Part of me is thinking I should just forget it. Put that 'verse to bed. Because if I can't think of a plot that fits, maybe that's just the end of it then. But, then, another part of me is pissed off because if I was going to end the 'verse, I'd have preferred to end on Seers, Souls and Scandinavians, rather than Brains and Bones, because SSS had a much better ending, IMO, and would have served as a brilliant 'verse ending. I remember struggling with the decision to write Brains and Bones for that reason, but in the end I did... and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't've.
Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
TL;DR: Struggling to write another demented'verse fic. Not sure if I should stick to my canon-nazi ways. AU is a slippery slope.
no subject
I read AUs, and they don't bother me at all. I do think it's more interesting and believable when events diverge for a bit, then come back to the same point in a different way. And that way, you still have a point of reference for returning to canon.
If it's Kevin's storyline that's bothering you, is there any way to take it out completely? Like, Harry and co know that he's going to be killed, but they take him out to their world and put in some kind of construct to be killed by Gadreel/Sam? They know that it will make Sam feel terrible, but the only way to save Kevin is to have the boys think he's gone...and they'll eventually return him, healthy and whole and alive, to the Supernatural world.
I don't know...I'd actually buy anything that would return Kevin alive. And both universes have people "helping" by keeping major secrets for someone else's "own good".
no subject
I'm not really sure what storyline is bugging me... though, it did occur to me the other day that if I went AU, I might be able to save Gadreel... not that his ending wasn't good, it's just that I'm sad he's dead. So, I don't know... it's not so much that I want to rescue characters really, it's just perhaps that I can't figure out an interesting plot and want the option of completely changing things on the off chance that will inspire something.