What If....The Universe Was An Apple....Hm.....Yummy

Ah the first topic of the A to Z challenge.  This one had me worried only because it's the first one and it's always the one that you have to cut your teeth on.  So my topic this post is alternate universes or AU fan fiction.  For those already familiar with the topic just kind of skim my ramblings and pick out the more interesting bits :)

AU is basically a type of fan fiction where you take your favorite characters and put them into situations they'd never normally face.  In order to do some research I checked out wikipedia and I got some interesting information.  Though honestly the point of this is not to quote wikipedia so I'll provide a link at the end of the post.  I write fan fiction, though not so much lately.  I like to add in my own characters and sometimes even rewrite episodes.  I love AU fiction because it can get really fun. 

It's hard for me to put an exact definition my fan fiction writing since I'm not deep into that community of writing.  I'm purely a dabbler.  I've written several stories that I haven't finished yet. The problem I've run into in the past is that I get so obsessed with the details that I can't go on with the writing.  It's a problem that's present in my novel writing too, which is why I'm trying to keep the research to a minimum for now...unless it's necessary.

Back to the AU fiction.  Whether I write it or not, I love reading it.  While the stories can be serious, it can also get quite silly but sometimes that's what you're craving.  Crossovers are my favorite since they take fictional characters from two different universes and put them together.  It's the kind of stuff you always imagine, like say for instance what it would be like if the characters on Star Trek met up with oh I don't know...Doctor Who.

That's an obvious example but there you go.  A few of my favorite AU fiction even puts Star Trek characters into the real world.  My favorite involves Kirk and McCoy from the newest Star Trek and made them into real world police officers and partners.  If I can find the link to that story I'll post it and you guys can check it out.  It's great fun.

People either love AU fiction or they hate it.  Personally as long as it's well written and entertaining that's all I care about.  Everyone's got an opinion about it and that's fine.  I look at that kind of writing as kind of an exercise.  When I'm stuck and can't go forward on my novel I turn to AU fiction for no pressure kind of writing.  You want it to be good but you can take it a little less seriously than your main project...or just as seriously but with much more whimsy.  At least that's how I see it.  It also depends on how big a fan your are of the topic you're tackling.

AU fan fiction is just a great way to explore all those things we think about or talk about when we're watching our favorite shows, or reading our favorite books/comic books, etc.  We can make the story into something we imagine, though still paying as much respect to the original intent.  Fun can be had while still enjoying that little obsession we know well and love.

Here's the link to the wikipedia article: Alternate Universe: Fan Fiction

Also here's a link to a great place to read a wide variety of fan fiction: http://www.fanfiction.net/

Side note...ah fun with pictures in blog posts...I could get used to this.