ci5hq | AUs in the Pros community--discussion

Hi, all. You may have been reading the panel reports that I've been posting about CQ in my LJ and over on the CQ yahoo group as well. If not, go read 'em, and enjoy!

It occurred to me that I didn't have notes on a panel that I very much enjoyed---why do you think the Professionals has so many good AU stories---I think I was blasted on Sunday morning and had lost the will to write, hence no notes. Then I realized, there's no reason that discussion couldn't go on here, at

ci5hq.

gblvr got the ball rolling in the panel discussion, and I'll borrow the three things that I do remember from the panel to get things started.

1) If you look at the total number of stories archived at the Circuit and click the "only AU" stories option, you get about 7% of all the stories. So on the whole, there don't seem to be many AUs in the fandom.

2) Yet, if you ask somebody to rec in the Pros fandom, within the first few recs, they'll be saying, 'oh, but you need to read this AU.'

3) One comment that was offered by

flamingoslim at the con was that, back in the day, Pros picked up AUs that were scorned by the Starsky/Hutch fandom early on. As one of the oldest fandoms, she suggested, authors who felt closed out of one fandom moved over to another and went wild.

So, why the contradiction? Compared to other fandoms, Pros has very few AUs, but some are notably (and worthily) famous. And which AUs would you automatically rec to others? And what elements make for a successful AU, using Pros characters?

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Why is it that in AUs, Doyle's character is the one that seems to suffer the most, by being taken OOC? Is it the merc background that makes Bodie's character less flexible?

Yeah, I think I'm asking something similar above when I wonder why it is that writers in AUs seem to manipulate Doyle's character more than Bodie's. I'm really not sure of the answer....perhaps, as you suggest, that being an ex-mercenary Bodie appears more stoical, monosyllabic, unbending etc., whereas Doyle seems more volatile and so with him the writer is presented with a wider range of emotions and therefore more material to experiment with.....?

I was surprised to fall in love with Arabian Nights because I usually like really gritty, dark, realistic, melancholy kind of stories.

I think that's it. Bodie's brooding, almost austere behavior makes him seem less flexible as a character (imagine reversing the positions, with Doyle as the sheik and Bodie as the novice in the desert?? Impossible).

I also prefer grit, darkness and realism. I think that's why Pros keeps me interested. I don't think I'll run out of stories in this vein for a very long time!

Have you [completely unrelated] ever read the dystopic saga penned by

ms_manna called The Administration? You might want to give it a try. As original fiction, it is some of the most amazing writing I've come across.

I think that's it. Bodie's brooding, almost austere behavior makes him seem less flexible as a character

Oh, well put. That's what I was *trying* to say!

I've never heard of The Administration saga before - it looks really interesting so thanks for that

Not only is New London dystopic in The Administration, but there's a fair bit (read: lots) of BD going on in that series--handcuffs, submissiveness and so on. The psychology of the whole series is amazing. Give "Mind Fuck" (the first of the series) a try and let me know what you think.

but there's a fair bit (read: lots) of BD going on in that series--handcuffs, submissiveness

Ah, right, I didn't realise. I can take very small doses of that kind of stuff (Kitty Fisher?) but too much and it just sends me to sleep. But I have bookmarked the link and will keep it in mind.

Thanks, again.

Sorry, forgot to log out from Noble to Shooting

imagine reversing the positions, with Doyle as the sheik and Bodie as the novice in the desert?? Impossible
What?! Says who?! It'd just be the different characters playing the roles, and therefore the story would change a bit for it, of course - Doyle'd be a very hot-tempered, quick-witted and determined sheik, Bodie'd be a stoic, brooding prisoner! Hmmn... *pauses to let imagination run riot*... I've got to say, I'm quite fancying the idea... *g*

Let me ask this a slightly different way. Why is it that in a lot of AUs, Bodie's character is the one who seems to know what's going on, and it's Doyle's character who is so often in the dark? Professional Dreamers, Harlequin Airs, Arabian Nights, Batalla Ultima, Suitable Gravity, the Echo series--ok, we can call Whisper of a Kill a draw and Cook & the Warehouseman one that goes the other way--in an awful lot of AUs, it seems that Bodie's the one who more in charge, or more aware of what the real situation is, while Doyle's either suffering amnesia, being jerked around by Cowley, family members or outer space creatures. Isn't that connected to characterization? The sense that Bodie's character is more austere, brooding, whatever?

Well it wasn't so much that I was misunderstanding you as potentially disagreeing with you - or perhaps coming at the issue from a slightly different angle! What I was saying was that something like Arabian Nights could perfectly well be done with Doyle as the sheik and Bodie as the prisoner (because you seemed to say that it couldn't!). Just because writers have been less likely to write the pair that way around (as regards - what? Sub/dom, basically?) doesn't really mean that there's any canon basis for it - in fact I'd almost say the other way around - and so the roles could just as believably be reversed in an AU.

In canon, in fact, Doyle is generally portrayed as the one who understands the bigger picture before Bodie does, Bodie as the one who's less bothered or worried about the bigger picture anyway - and therefore less aware. He's not portrayed as stupid - in fact he himself plays on the idea that he comes across as a "neanderthal" - but Doyle is portrayed as overtly sharp and enquiring. So kind of the opposite to the way he's portrayed in the AUs you've mentioned. But then I'd also argue that just because Bodie looks "brooding" and "austere" doesn't necessarily make him the only "dom" choice either - to take the term I've borrowed to its extreme, there's always MFae's "Grievous Bodily Harm" series, where Bodie is perfectly believable as an actual sub.

What I was trying to say in my comment above, is that just because something isn't commonly done, doesn't mean it couldn't - or perhaps shouldn't - be done. *g*

Oh, yes! I could so buy into that. I'd love to see Bodie slowly seduced by Sheik Doyle.

We see Doyle suffering a lot more in canon, so maybe it just transfers to the fanfic. We know what he looks like in pain, bleeding, etc. whereas Bodie isn't hurt nearly as much. And we know Bodie's tougher. Heck, in Klansmen, the poor guy didn't even rate an IV. Just toughed out a stabbing and (apparently) a fever with no meds in sight. How that takes balls. LOL!

Oh, good point. Bodie takes the knives, Doyle takes the bullets. We see Doyle on crutches and with his ribs taped up, and half dead from heart surgery, but Bodie? The Energizer Bunny's got nothing on him! Balls is right!

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