Musing about AUs, creativity, and limited time #Snowflake Challenge

[wyld_dandelyon]

Challenge #3

In your own space, put some favorite characters into an AU, fuse some favorite canons together, talk about your favorite AU/fusion tropes, or tell us why AU/fusions aren’t your cup of tea.

I'm not sure what to do with this challenge. I've focused on original fiction rather than fanfition, to the extent that I have had time for writing (and reading, for that matter), for a very long time. It's not that I object to crossover fanfiction or exploring alternate ways things can happen, just that there's only so many spoons, only so much time and energy. Occasionally I've come a bit that I very much enjoyed.  But I don't write it and don't seek it out.

Alternate universes can be fascinating in general.  I read a lot of urban fantasy, which is basically alternate universes compared to today's world (It's certainly alternate to have a world with overt, flashy magic that is otherwise much like the one we live in.)

And I also have really enjoyed working in shared universes, and I miss the creative boost of bouncing ideas off other people in that kind of shared endeavor and getting inspiration from their ideas and thoughts in that cooperative creative mindset.  I miss it, especially Torn World, which was very active for a while.

Similarly, I miss role playing games, both tabletop and LARP.  I'd love to find a group doing a game via zoom where I could sit back and play a character.  I don't think I could do a good job running a game while also writing novels (I think either the game or the fiction would suffer from lack of mental bandwidth), so I don't want to try to gather a group around me, at least not at this time, though I miss running games too.

 

Comments

[rowyn]

I have a hard time getting into writing fanfiction, too. My brain goes "why invest a ton of time into writing someone else's characters when I can just write my own?" c_c

[wyld_dandelyon]

Yeah, right?

I mean, I get it that a person can fall in love with someone else's characters and want to see more of them, or you want things to turn out differently, or that the other writer maybe missed the thing that to you is the point of the whole story but--well, it IS their story. It feels more respectful, somehow, to let their story inspire a different one, something that is truly my story to tell.

And I know that fanfiction is always a work of love, I do get that, but if I want to do an homage to a story, some art or a song fits my personal headspace better.

[rowyn]

Yes, exactly!

I think I'd feel differently if I'd grown up with fanfic being something everyone did. But when I was a kid, there wasn't much audience for fanfic, and there was a strong bias against writing it. Everything I read encouraged me to take inspiration from fiction but to write my own original stories.

I eventually lost the anti-fanfic bias but the disinclination to write it has stuck with me. Even for the fanfic I did write (https://delight-in-wt.livejournal.com/), I created my own characters and used an RPG setting, so that it fit into my childhood concept of "acceptable". XD

[wyld_dandelyon]

Now, not so long ago, I did (with the author's permission) write a song in her world, but with my own characters and storyline. Well, I started it, and then decided I should ask, and she was enthusiastic. But that's more shared-world vibe than fanfic, I think.