AUs in the Pros community--discussion

[faramir-boromir.livejournal.com]

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?

Comments

[jagr1968.livejournal.com]

It seems to be a common progression that the longer you've been in the fandom and the more stories you've read and/or written, the more likely you are to turn to AU's or be more tolerant of them. I know that's true for myself. In the beginning, I was only interested in CI5 based fics but after you've read all the available ones, you branch out. Of course, I may have been more receptive because I started out in Trek and knew the enormous pleasure that could be derived from reading a good AU. It also helps if you can view the source material that inspired an AU. I'm lucky enough to have tapes of such fare as: Facelift, Cassidy, Ladder of Swords, Cream In My Coffee, The Chief, etc. and may perhaps better appreciate why a writer might find it interesting to set a story in that universe. For example, I've always thought that the Zax character had a lot in common with Doyle. Plus, the actor that portrayed Bob in Facelift also played Ojuka; in both roles he had very good chemistry with Martin Shaw.

I forgot to mention two other American writers that started out in Trek: DVS and FJ. FJ was inspired by the classic Trek episode: Mirror, Mirror to write The Looking Glass World, which in turn inspired Ellis Ward to write her sequels to the story's open ending. DVS's experience with futuristic settings was put to good use in Suitable Gravity.

[jagr1968.livejournal.com]

Oops. Made a boo-boo. My memory is playing tricks on me. Felicity Parkinson wrote Looking Glass World, not FJ. Frankie's AU's included the First Step series, Brother's Keeper (semi-AU), and Starlight, Starbright (semi-AU), which had nothing to do with Trek.

[magenta-blue.livejournal.com]

Yes I agree, you do get to the stage when you branch out, I guess it depends what you first branch out into whether you can stomach it or not. So if you start with an AU that still has a bit of CI5 in it, it is like a gradual progression to the circus, if you see what I mean. Stories like Nightmoves, Catch a Fallen Star, Whisper of a Kill, Waiting to Fall… as someone said above, more AR than AU! I think I read these all before I went to Arabian Nights, Harlequin Airs, Larkin etc.

I haven’t seen Facelift and the others, yet I did read Sebastian’s Who Gave Us Delight and Zax (back when I was at the stage of reading everything I could get my hands on!) and was a bit boggled about what was happening, yet it was still intriguing enough to make me read on. I guess it depends how the author presents it. And thanks for commenting, I am fascinated with the history behind Pros writing, so it has been good to read all of your comments!