Fanfic in AU, a galaxy how far away?

Stories about the GFFA, even yet untold, are as vast and varied as the imagination. EU, AU, canon, etc. are all debatable terms and everyone has their preferences. Amateur or professional, we're all either just re-writing or expanding the SW universe. But we're all here because we like the sandbox, whether you're adding sand in, taking it out, or just moving it around.

 

Personally, I love a good AU. Some of my current favorites on boards, like Alexis Wingstar's The Bond definitely take a sharp turn from canon. I'm sure I could find a few more, though I don't know if this is the place for recs.

 

Back when I wrote fanfic, all the SW stories I wrote were considered AU in a BIG WAY. But then my muse died....

Anyway, once the new movies are released, I think that even the EU 'canon' books will be considered Alternate Universe.

 

sorry to hear that
a good point, JJA is going to likely turn canon upside down to some degree IMO

 

Just tell me they won't be stuck on some island.

 

Too late.... I already did that.

 

As an AU author myself, I do feel like AUs are shunned, at least here on TF.N (I’m not on that many sites). I have an AU called Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One in the fan fic board here, and only two people have replied after many, many months. One is someone I know from another site (ohai TrakNar), and the other is someone who read a previous version of my story and who I personally reached out to this time. Other than that, after 5 months of my story being in the fan fic board, there have been no other takers. I’ve found most of my audience on the Star Wars Fanon Wiki and on my own website.

Of course, it’s also important to note that my experience is completely anecdotal and could be totally different from what other AU authors experience here.

I’m the same way. While I can’t say that I’ve read a whole lot of them, I love the general idea of AU, which is one of the many reasons why I decided to start writing my novel The Chosen One and the series that it takes place in. I feel like the rare fan that likes the idea of reboots and re-imaginings, so I think of my story like that. I’m writing my own Episode I of a whole new version of the saga, so I think of it not like an AU fic that takes an event and spins it another way, but as Batman Begins, or Casino Royale, or J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. I think it can be done really well and can be very interesting to see a new take on old characters.

 

I'm definitely a fan of a good AU, as well as a writer of AUs (which I hope are good). Specifically, all my SW fics are set in an AU which ignores everything post-TUF, owing to my extreme distaste for how the post-NJO era has been handled. Probably my favorite SW fic series is YodaKenobi's alternate-NJO-ending/post-NJO epic, for that matter.

 

I too love AU, I gives the possibility to explore other destinies for the characters.

 

I can't think of more than a handful of non-AU fanfics I have ever read...and that is out of probably a hundred fanfics I have looked at. Maybe it is because I am a L/M 'shipper and those writers are often upset about the wasted ten years between the time Luke and Mara met and the time they got married. Or they want to wipe out any memory of the bodysnatcher. Or they want to blot out the fact that Mara was killed by Darth DumbKriff. The EU got so screwed up I don't know why anybody would want to write a canon-compliant story.

 

Well, if I am going to write in a particular franchise, I always like to set some ground rules for myself and what sandbox I'm in. For Star Wars, it's simple; only the films are canon, and I write only with that basis. EU of any kind has no bearing on what I write, I don't want to be hindered by such cumbersome work. But, I like to have some laws and guidelines, and that's why I place the films as the only canon I'll recognize, if I'm writing during that specific era, anyway.

I love fan fiction, I obviously don't expect others to follow any rules as I do, and some really good fiction has even thrown out the films. So, I really don't care what others do, no matter how AU something is I will still read it. The restrictions I put on myself are not reflective of what I believe any other author should do. Fans have written work far better than any licensed work. And, hell, even the EU is really just glorified fan fiction.